www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080303 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 3/3/2008
Last Visited: 3/3/2008
Tom Clark, chairman of the OU board, said the Claremore community, RSU employees and students told regents they did not want a long search and a vacant presidency.They, along with Wiley, the Pryor mayor, legislators and University of Tulsa President Steadman Upham, strongly recommended Rice for the job, Clark said.
...
Clark said Rice had the necessary qualifications: a relationship with the Legislature, having been a legislator; a doctoral degree; and an understanding of higher education.
Rice began his career at RSU, then named Rogers State College, and wrote his doctoral dissertation on RSU's history.He lives in Pryor, where RSU has a branch campus.
"When you find people that have the relationships (and) have been here, we think they're better than trying to bring a guy in from Florida or New York," Clark said."There's a lot to say about using people from Oklahoma."
At TU, Rice has learned to execute everything at a standard level of professionalism and excellence, he said, and he can carry that over to RSU.