The OU Board of Regents will consider naming new deans at the College of Law and the Honors College, according to an agenda released in advance of the meeting.
The names of the deans are not released in the agenda.
Also, the Regents will discuss awarding posthumous degrees to three OU students who died recently.
Julia Gilbert died in a car crash Jan. 8, according to Daily archives. She was a French major, one semester away from graduating before her death, according to a draft of the Regents’ agenda released Monday. The agenda states she will receive a Bachelor of Arts in Arts and Sciences, if her degree is approved by the Regents Thursday and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education at a future meeting.
Gilbert died while driving home from a watch party for the BCS National Championship Game, according to Daily archives. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s office cited blunt force trauma and acute alcohol intoxication as the causes of her death in its report of her autopsy, according to Daily archives.
Mariee Mena died in an Oct. 6 motorcycle crash, according to Daily archives. The former OU softball player was not wearing a helmet when she was thrown from the back of a motorcycle on which she was a passenger, according to Daily archives. Mena, who was a human relations major, would receive a Bachelor of Arts in Arts and Sciences if her posthumous degree is approved, according to the agenda.
Keri Standifer died Dec. 7 after an illness, according to the agenda. She was working on a thesis as the final step towards a master’s degree in human relations, the agenda states. Her posthumous degree would be a Master’s in Human Relations, the agenda states.
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education can award a posthumous degree “to recognize the meritorious but incomplete work of a student who is deceased, generally during the last semester of work,” the agenda states.
Additionally, the Regents will consider the adoption of a conflict of interest policy which will cover all campuses, the agenda states. The proposal would cover OU Regents and executive officers, along with employees involved in research, technology and other forms of development. The goal of the policy would be to ensure the University’s financial and research interests are not in conflict, and resolutions if they are or appear to be, the agenda states. A similar policy exists at OU’s Health Sciences Center and will be subject to possible modification at the meeting, the agenda states.
A comprehensive bicycle transportation plan for the Norman campus and planned renovation of two Adams Hall classrooms also are on the agenda.
The Regents also will consider changes to the College of Dentistry’s faculty bylaws, and changes to the conflict of interest policy at the OU Health Sciences Center at the meeting.
The Regents will meet at 2:30 p.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
The complete meeting agenda can be viewed online at www.ou.edu/regents/official_agenda/MarchFinalAgenda.pdf.
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JJanowiak 2 years, 1 month ago
People who kill themselves in drunk driving accidents do not deserve posthumous degrees. Would the Regents be having this conversation if Gilbert died in a head-on collision with a car with a family inside? Tragedy of absolute responsibility.
Why do dead people need degrees? The Regents are being extremely stupid if they think this is a valid issue on their wishy-washy plate. If I died (not from drinking myself half to death and finishing the job on a highway after a football game) among other things I'd like to know that the Regents were overwhelmingly concerned with the university educations of their LIVING constituents.