Mar 11, 2025 Updated 17 hrs ago
Assistant news managing editor
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. announced in a mass email to the OU community Tuesday the university’s strategic plan refresh, “The Next Phase” of OU’s Lead On, University campaign.
In 2020, OU launched Lead On, University, an eight-year strategic plan. The plan included five pillars representing goals set by the university.
- Make OU a top-tier research university.
- Prepare students for a life of success, meaning, service and positive impact.
- Make OU attainable and affordable.
- Become a place of belonging and emotional growth for students, faculty, staff and alumni.
- Enrich and positively impact Oklahoma, the U.S. and the world.
On Monday, the OU Board of Regents approved the refresh that alters the five pillars outlined in the original strategic plan.
The refresh process for the strategic plan incorporates the OU Health Sciences Center’s strategic plan and a new five-year strategic plan for OU-Tulsa.
Changes
The first two pillars of the original plan remain in the refresh plan with slight alterations. Instead of working to make “OU a top-tier research university” the pillar now reads to “lead” as a top tier university.
According to Harroz, OU’s research enterprise has achieved an average “12% annual growth rate for awards over the last four years, and the 4th-fastest rate of growth in research in the nation.”
In October, Harroz announced in a mass email the departure of vice president for Research and Partnerships Tomás Diaz De La Rubia, who Harroz credited for several of OU’s research achievements.
“With Tomás spearheading our research strategy, we have fully embraced our role as Oklahoma’s leading research engine and accelerated our trajectory as a world-changing leader in innovation and collaboration,” Harroz wrote.
The second pillar now reads to “empower students” rather than “prepare students” for a life of success.
The main changes are the replacement of the third pillar to make OU “attainable and affordable” with “ascend as ONE OU.”
According to Harroz, OU has increased need-based aid by 38% and enhanced scholarships awarded by more than 20% and net tuition and fees for resident freshmen have reduced by nearly 30%.
“We have continuously prioritized ensuring an OU education remains affordable and accessible, especially for those with the greatest need. While college tuition skyrocketed nationwide, today an OU degree is more affordable than it was five years ago,” Harroz wrote.
On Monday, the OU Board of Regents approved increases to housing and food rates. Over the past five years, tuition and fees have risen by 5.8% for undergraduate residents and 8.8% for undergraduate nonresidents.
“We’re going to continue to focus on affordability and accessibility, and we’re going to approach this thing the only way a truly great state can do, and that is together,” Harroz said during Monday’s regents meeting.
The fourth pillar to become a place of “belonging and emotional growth” for students, faculty, staff and alumni has been replaced with the effort to “Lift the Health of Oklahoma.”
Fall 2024 marked the halfway point of the eight-year strategic plan. A year prior, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order calling for a formal review of diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education. OU complied with the executive order, replacing its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office with its Division of Access and Opportunity office.
According to Harroz, plans to expand Stephenson Cancer Center to Norman and Tulsa are currently underway.
The fifth pillar to “enrich and positively impact Oklahoma, the U.S. and the world” was replaced with the pillar to “shape the future through discovery, creativity, and innovation.”
In the email sent Tuesday, Harroz wrote that the refresh plan asks all OU stakeholders to commit to joining the Association of American Universities, maintain commitment to affordability and accessibility, advance Oklahoma’s health and well-being, leverage key partnerships to develop a coordinated “Strategic Plan” for the state and unite as “One University.”
In a 2023 press release, Harroz wrote part of the goal of the strategic plan was to join the Association of American Universities, an invitation-only organization of top research universities.
According to the association’s website, there are 69 universities with membership status. The latest entry was Arizona State University in 2023.
“With the full support of the OU Board of Regents, we now turn to implementation,” Harroz wrote. “In the coming months, divisions, colleges, and units will align their strategic plans with the University’s Strategic Plan to ensure we continue advancing with clarity and purpose.”
