Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little

University of Kansas

August 2009-Present

• Only female chancellor or president at a Big 12 university.
• Gray-Little received her bachelor’s degree from Marywood College in Scranton, Pa., and her master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Saint Louis University; Gray-Little previously was executive vice chancellor and provost from 2006 to 2009 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Gray-Little’s goals for KU include “enhancing student achievement so that more KU students graduate in four years, as well as spurring more research and scholarly activities that enhance quality of life and create economic growth.”

President Kirk H. Schulz

Kansas State University

June 2009-Present

• Schultz moved to Mississippi State University from Michigan Tech to become director of the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering and holder of the Earnest W. Deavenport Jr. endowed chair in 2001. In 2005, he was selected as dean of the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering and the inaugural holder of the Earnest W. and Mary Ann Deavenport Jr. endowed chair. In 2007, he was named interim vice president for research and economic development and was named to the permanent position later that year.
• Schulz is an active member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and also the American Society for Engineering Education. In recognition of his work in chemical engineering, he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007 and a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education in 2008. 

Interim President Stephen J. Owens

University of Missouri

January 2011-Present

• Owens previously served as the university’s general counsel.
• He will provide “interim leadership for the university system until the search for a new president concludes. During this transition, Owens will work closely with other university general officers to continue pursuing the priorities and initiatives outlined” by former President Gary Forsee.
• Owens received his bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law.

William Powers, Jr.

University of Texas

February 2006-Present

• Powers served as dean of the university’s school of law, where he won recognition for recruiting a world-class faculty and attracting highly diverse and talented students.
• As president of The University of Texas at Austin, Powers has identified four areas of emphasis: building support for higher education throughout Texas, elevating the university’s academic standing to the best in the nation among public universities, recruiting a diverse student body and faculty and reforming the undergraduate core curriculum.
• Powers received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Navy and was stationed on Bahrain Island in the Persian Gulf. Following his military service, he attended Harvard Law School, where he became managing editor of the “Harvard Law Review” and graduated magna cum laude in 1973. He taught at the University of Washington Law School before coming to The University of Texas at Austin in 1977.

Dr. R. Bowen Loftin

Texas A&M

February 2010-Present

• Served as interim president from June 2009 until he was name president.
• Before his appointment as president, he served as the Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas A&M University’s branch campus in Galveston, Texas, where he was also a Professor of Maritime Systems Engineering.
• Loftin served at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, as professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of computer science. Additionally, he was Old Dominion’s director of simulation programs and had responsibility for the institution’s graduate programs in modeling and simulation.

Guy Bailey

Texas Tech

August 2008-Present

• Bailey aims to boost graduate and undergraduate enrollment and increase restricted research expenditures, as well as meet other criteria set forth by the legislature to ensure “Tier One” status for the university.
• Prior to assuming this office, he served as chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) from January 2006 until July 2008. He previously served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) from 1999 through 2005. Prior to his appointment as provost at UTSA, he served as associate vice president for research and dean of graduate studies at UTSA, as dean of liberal arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and as chair of the English departments at the University of Memphis and Oklahoma State University.

Kenneth Starr

Baylor University

June 2010-Present

• Prior to coming to Baylor, he served for six years as the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine, where he taught current constitutional issues and civil procedure. He also is of counsel to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner from 1993 to 2004.
• Clinton stuff.
• Starr previously taught constitutional law as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and was a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University School of Law and Chapman Law School. He earned his B.A. from George Washington University in 1968, his M.A. from Brown University in 1969 and his J.D. degree from Duke University Law School in 1973.

David L. Boren

University of Oklahoma

November 1994-Present

• He is the first person in state history to have served as Oklahoma governor, U.S. senator and president of University of Oklahoma.
• A graduate of Yale University in 1963, Boren majored in American history, graduated in the top one percent of his class and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University in 1965. In 1968, he received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
• Served as Oklahoma’s governor from 1974 through 1978.
• Under Boren’s leadership, the University of Oklahoma has developed and emerged as a “pacesetter university in American public higher education,” with 20 major new programs initiated since his inauguration. They include establishment of the Honors College, the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, a new expository writing program for freshmen modeled on the program at Harvard, an interdisciplinary religious studies program, the Artist-in-Residence Program, the International Programs Center, and the Faculty-in-Residence Program putting faculty family apartments in student residence halls.

Burns Hargis

Oklahoma State University

December 2007-Present

• Hargis has guided OSU to record fundraising and is leading the $1 billion Branding Success campaign focused on student scholarships, faculty and other vital resources and programs. He also is overseeing a construction boom that is transforming the OSU campus to be more competitive in academics and athletics.
• Hargis claims “a bold vision of creating a modern land-grant university that cuts across disciplines to better prepare students for success.”
• Was in on the award-winning television program “Flashpoint.”
• Prior to coming to OSU, he was Vice Chairman of Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. Before joining Bank of Oklahoma in 1997, Hargis practiced law in Oklahoma City for 28 years, most recently with the firm of McAfee & Taft.

— Information collected from each university’s respective official website.