Oklahoma State University President Jim Hess and OSU Institute of Technology Provost Richie Roberts engaged in an in-depth discussion about OSU’s new strategic plan and OSUIT’s success and individual needs within that plan.

The discussion was held in Covelle Hall on Friday, Oct. 2, and featured Dr. Roberts asking Dr. Hess questions that employees submitted.

Hess grew up close to OSUIT in Henryetta and took his first college class on the Okmulgee campus while he was in high school.

“The great thing about OSUIT is every student who comes here already knows what they want to do with the rest of their life. And I think that's the greatest asset that this institution has,” Hess said in an interview prior to the State of the System discussion. “But it also has a family environment. You can feel it on campus when you walk on the campus. Our faculty and staff are very, very cohesive. They all really love one another and support one another.”

Hess reminisced about the important role OSUIT played in his educational upbringing. He said his grandmother had him enroll in a bookkeeping class in the fall of 1974. The school was called Oklahoma State Tech at the time.

“I had a wonderful experience here. It set me on a trajectory,” Hess said.

Roberts welcomed Hess to campus at the start of the discussion.

“It's a shot in the arm anytime that you come here and really get to see OSUIT and interact with our faculty and staff. I know I constantly hear how proud they are to be part of the OSUIT system,” Roberts said.

Following Roberts' presentation, as well as a general overview of the new systemwide strategic plan by Dr. Melanie Morgan, dean of the OSU Graduate College, the Q&A portion of the discussion began with Hess explaining why it was important for OSU to establish a new, systemwide strategic plan.

“We had a strategic plan, and it was about to sunset this last year. And it was a plan that had been developed some five years ago and it served its purpose. But I had a different vision for how we ought to operate as a system,” Hess said.

Hess said every OSU campus is equally important, and the new strategic plan seeks to support each OSU campus’s unique mission of serving a specific niche and a specific population.

“Part of our strategic planning process was how to honor the missions and the uniqueness of every single campus and what they bring to the student population that they'll be serving. So, we wanted to have an umbrella plan,” Hess said.

The new strategic plan has the following eight goals:

1. Enhancing academic excellence and life-changing opportunities
2. Transforming the OSU student experience
3. Powering discovery for the public good
4. Amplifying statewide impact through extension
5. Championing the Cowboy family culture
6. Embracing digital transformation and emerging technologies
7. Elevating one system, serving all of Oklahoma
8. Advancing OSU’s national and global reputation

“But you all have a unique strategic initiatives plan that will fit underneath that [umbrella plan] and be equally as important,” Hess said.

Roberts and Hess concluded the event by presenting the inaugural Living the Cowboy Code Award.

“This award recognizes faculty and staff who make a meaningful difference, not only through what they've accomplished, but through how they lead, how they serve, and how they treat people around them,” Roberts said. “They represent the kind of Cowboy we want to celebrate. Someone who answers the call, steps up when needed, and makes OSU a stronger, more caring place.”

The award was presented to Mark Gibble, assistant dean of the School of Transportation and Heavy Equipment.

Gibble said he was surprised to receive the award.

“I feel like what I do is what I'm supposed to do. I come to work, and I do my job, and I want to make sure that things are taken care of. So, I didn't expect to receive any kind of award for it or anything. I felt like this is what I'm supposed to be doing,” Gibble said. “I guess if you look at it, that is living the Cowboy Code."

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