Video from OSU's Facebook page on April 6, 2021. Dr. Shrum speaks with current OSU president Burns Hargis, who will leave the position on July 1.
STILLWATER — Come July 1, Oklahoma State University will be under new leadership.
After almost 20 hours of closed door meetings over a two-day window, the OSU A&M Board of Regents voted unanimously late Friday night to name Dr. Kayse Shrum the 19th president of Oklahoma State University.
The president of OSU’s Center for Health Sciences since 2013, she will be the first woman to lead the OSU system.
“I am so honored and humbled by this announcement,” Shrum said. “OSU has a special place in my heart. I am thrilled at the opportunity to lead this vibrant university and system into a successful future. Leading the OSU Center for Health Sciences and helping students, faculty and staff come together to create something truly impactful to our state has been immensely rewarding for me.”
Shrum will succeed Burns Hargis, who announced his retirement in October. The former vice chairman of Bank of Oklahoma was named president in 2008.
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Hargis congratulated his successor late Friday night on Twitter.
“I am confident that she will do an excellent job building on our current momentum and focusing on OSU’s land grant mission of teaching, research and outreach,” he tweeted.
Originally from Coweta, Shrum earned her doctorate in osteopathic medicine from OSU Center for Health Sciences. A former member of the state’s COVID-19 taskforce, she served on Gov. Kevin Stitt’s cabinet for 15 months as the Secretary for Science and Innovation.
Under Shrum’s leadership, the enrollment at OSU-CHS has more than doubled. The school has also launched initiatives to address the state’s shortage of doctors in rural communities through expanded residency training programs and partnering with the Cherokee Nation to launch the country’s first tribally-affiliated medical school in Tahlequah.
Shrum and her husband Darren have six adult children. At Friday night’s press conference announcing the selection, Darren Shrum said he was excited for his wife’s opportunity and for the chance to be the university’s first “First Cowboy.”
“This is a once in a lifetime position for Kayse,” he said. “I support her 1000 percent. We’ve traded off and on in our professional careers over the years. She’s done an exceptional job and I’m going to do whatever I can to support her, along with the kids.”
Friday night’s vote came after a marathon 14-hour executive session at OSU’s Student Union.
Rick Davis, chairman of the OSU A&M Board of Regents, said the late night was due to the eight-member board of regents being thorough and deliberate with the decision.
“Our board takes this position, this decision more seriously than any other task we’re charged with,” he said.
The 38-member search committee initially brought 34 names forward to the board of regents, before whittling the list down to four. As initially reported by OSU’s student newspaper, the O’Colly, Auburn University provost and 1993 OSU graduate Bill Hardgrave was also among the finalists.
A spokeswoman for the university declined to name the other two finalists.
“Our national search brought us back home with the selection of Dr. Kayse Shrum,” search committee chairman Joe Hall said. “Dr. Shrum is well known and respected not only by the regents and our university community but by the state and national community as well.”
Photos: A look back at Burns Hargis' career
Photos: A look back at former OSU president Burns Hargis' career
Burns Hargis announces retirement as Oklahoma State University president
Burns Hargis
The Oklahoma Academy's 3rd Annual Congressional Salute V. Burns Hargis, left, and Michael C. Turpen, offer their analysis of the approaching elections during the The Oklahoma Academy's Third Annual Congressional Salute at the Adam's Mark Hotel on Aug. 23, 1996. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis and Mike Turpen at the Tulsa Press Club's monthly newsmaker luncheon. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis, vice-chairman, Bank of Oklahoma, left, leans on cardboard boxes full of petitions, as he talks with Oklahoma Secretary of State M. Susan Savage, right, after the coalition of Oklahomans for Safe Bridges and Roads delivered petitions to the Secretary of State calling for a statewide vote to reform transportation funding, in Oklahoma City, Monday, Dec. 20, 2004. AP File Photo
Burns Hargis
OSU President-designate Burns Hargis in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Newly named president of Oklahoma State University Burns Hargis in the Alumni Center on campus in Stillwater on March 7, 2008. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
A celebration May 21, 2008 in front of Oklahoma State University's Edmon Low Library to announce the gift of $100M to OSU academics from Boone Pickens. Here, Boone, Gov. Brad Henry, OSU President Burns Hargis, and others celebrate as a thank you/happy birthday banner is dropped from the library. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis drives a mini baja racer up and down the reopened road of Hall of Fame. The event took place on the North side of Boone Pickens stadium to commemorate the reopening of the street after being under construction for more than three years. PRESTON BEZANT /For the TULSA WORLD
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis poses for a portrait March 6, 2009. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis and Dean Peter Sherwood look on as Professor for Military Science, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Hansley (center) presents plaques and swords to ROTC cadets Troy Duerr, Stephen Gagnon and John Andrews (accepting sword) during a special ceremony outside of Thatcher Hall on the campus of OSU in Stillwater, OK Aug. 27, 2008. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU President Burns Hargis congratulates graduate Joe Blythe, a student with rheumatoid arthritis, before Oklahoma State University's graduation ceremonies at the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, OK, Saturday, May 9, 2009. PAUL HELLSTERN/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
T. Boone Pickens, center, answers a question during a news conference Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, in Stillwater, Okla., after touring the new stadium renovations at Oklahoma State. At left is athletic director Mike Holder. At right is Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis. Through a series of donations, Pickens provided the bulk of the funding for a $286 million stadium overhaul. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Burns Hargis
Boone Pickens is hugged by OSU president Burns Hargis as OSU head football coach Mike Gundy looks on during a dedication ceremony for Boone Pickens Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
This year's Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductees (from left) G. "Ike" Glass, Lee Roy Selmon, Polly Nichols, C. Kendric Fergeson, Regina Tisdale accepting for Wayman Tisdale posthumously , Steven W. Taylor and V. Burns Hargis at the Renaissance Hotel in Tulsa, OK Nov. 12, 2009. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis and his wife Ann ride in the New Year's Day Parade in downtown Dallas, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis, right, claps on stage during the announcement of a $1 billion fund raising project named Branding Success before a crowd in Oklahoma State's Student Union. ZACH GRAY/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, right, speaks during a news conference as University of Oklahoma President David Boren. left, looks on, in Oklahoma City, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. The presidents of the state's two largest universities joined with Gov. Brad Henry to bemoan likely cuts to higher education they say would result from passage of a ballot measure. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis, OSU president, speaks during the 12:30 p.m. undergraduate commencement ceremony inside of Gallagher-Iba Arena at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, May 7, 2011. This was the second of three undergraduate commencement ceremonies at OSU that day. NATE BILLINGS/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis speaks to an audience during a memorial service at Gallager-Iba Arena on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater on Monday, November 21, 2010. The service honored Kurt Budke, Miranda Serna Olin Branstetter and Paula Branstetter who were killed in a plane crash last week.
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State President and Chairman of the Big 12 board of directors Burns Hargis, , left, and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, talk at the end of the Big 12 meetings at the Four Seasons Resort and Hotel in Irving, Texas, on Friday, May 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Stephen Hawkins)
Burns Hargis
(left) Howard Barnett, Gary Trennepohl, Jim Halligan, Penny Williams, Charles Ford, Frank Keating and Burns Hargis gather before a photo is taken of them for the 15th OSU Tulsa Anniversary in Tulsa, OK, Jan. 29, 2014. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
President Burns Hargis addresses the graduates during Oklahoma State's commencement ceremony held in Gallagher Iba Arena on May 10, 2014. JACKIE DOBSON/ For The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State President and Chairman of the Big 12 board of directors Burns Hargis, , left, and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, talk at the end of the Big 12 meetings at the Four Seasons Resort and Hotel in Irving, Texas, on Friday, May 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Stephen Hawkins)
Burns Hargis
Burns Hargis (left) and Mike Gundy react to the ice cold water after participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Wednesday morning in fron of Edmon Low Library on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater. Burns Hargis challenged the student body of OSU to participate in the challenge within the next 24 hours. JACKIE DOBSON/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University medical student Matthew Else, left, places a blood pressure cuff on OSU President Burns Hargis, right, in a mobile medical unit parked at the state Capitol, following a news conference to announce that Oklahoma's Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust will provide a $3.8 million grant to the Oklahoma State University Medical Authority to help reduce the shortage of physicians in rural areas, in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, right, hugs Stillwater Mayor Gina Noble during a community-wide memorial service in Gallagher-Iba Arena, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 in Stillwater, Okla. The memorial honored those that lost their lives and those injured in a crash at the OSU homecoming parade in October. Adacia Chambers, 25, is being held on $1 million bail in connection with the deadly crash. BRYAN TERRY/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis faces protest as he arrives in the morning in front of Whitehurst in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Monday, January 23, 2017. The protest was organized after a second OSU blackface incident in a week. Hargis met with several students shortly after he arrived. Photo by KURT STEISS/The O'Colly
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis speaks at the grand opening ceremony of the A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Medical Academic Building at the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa on Friday September 29, 2017. Tulsa World File
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis shakes hands with former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer after Hargis spoke during Step Up for Teachers advocacy day at the Oklahoma State Capitol Feb. 12, 2018. Looking on at right is former state representative Jeannie McDaniel. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World File
T. BOONE PICKENS
In May 2018, four Oklahoma State leadership figures were together for T. Boone Pickens' 90th birthday party in Dallas. Pictured from left are football coach Mike Gundy, then-athletic director Mike Holder, Pickens and then-university President Burns Hargis.
Burns Hargis
OSU president Burns Hargis joins the crowd that gathered for the unveiling of the new Stillwater Strong Memorial on Oct. 26, 2018, in Stillwater, Oklahoma at the corner of Main Street and Hall of Fame Avenue. DEVIN LAWRENCE WILBER/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
Cowboy great Barry Sanders (left) talks with university president Burns Hargis at at the Oklahoma State homecoming parade in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, October 27, 2018.
Burns Hargis
Bill John Baker, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, welcomes OSU President Burns Hargis to the Cherokee National Peace Pavilion in downtown Tahlequah where they announced the establishment of the nation's first college of medicine to be located at a tribal health facility in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The joint venture between the Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is set to open in 2020. MIKE BROWN/For the Tulsa World
Burns Hargis
President Burns Hargis at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., on Thursday, February 14, 2019.
Burns Hargis
OSU President Burns Hargis and his wife, Ann pose with former Governor George Nigh at the Governor's Arts Awards at the Capitol, Tuesday, April 16, 2019. DOUG HOKE/The Oklahoman
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State University President V. Burns Hargis takes a photo of an OSU tie draped over a white floral bouquet after the funeral service for T. Boone Pickens at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. Longtime friend Alan White removed his tie following his remarks and draped it over the cross. TOM FOX/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool
Burns Hargis
Oklahoma State President Burns Hargis during The Celebration of Life of Businessman and Oklahoma State Alumni T. Boone Pickens at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019.
Burns Hargis
(Left to Right) Mark Blakeman, Ross McKnight and Burns Hargis open the night with a couple words prior to the performances. The McKnight Center for the Performing Arts opened in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Oct. 11, 2019 with a performances by the New York Philharmonic and Broadway's Kelli O'Hara. DEVIN LAWRENCE WILBER/For the Tulsa World
