After over 100 years of male presidents, the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) announced its first female president, Oklahoma Christian University alumna Patti Neuhold.
Neuhold will succeed President Don Betz, who held the position for eight years, when he retires June 30. She will be the university’s 21st president.
“I really do feel that this is an opportunity for other women to see that this is a possibility,” Neuhold said. “It’s always been a possibility. Women are competent, they are smart decision makers, they’re great collaborative problem solvers, and this simply raises it to people’s attention that this is a possibility. And, maybe it encourages another woman to decide to go for something she hadn’t thought would be attainable. I’m excited to show people that they can do it.”
Neuhold currently serves as UCO’s vice president for finance and chief financial officer, and has worked at the university for the last 12 years. She has held eight different positions, ranging from professional development and contract training to administrative services and budget.
Although Neuhold was born and raised in Lisle, IL, a suburb of Chicago, her family moved to Oklahoma when she was 13. She said she chose to attend Oklahoma Christian because her family attended the Church of Christ and believed in a Christian education. As she looked at her options, she said Oklahoma Christian felt like the best fit.
At Oklahoma Christian, Neuhold was a member of Gamma Rho and co-directed a first-place Spring Sing show her sophomore year. She was also a Spring Sing hostess her senior year and said some of the very first people to congratulate her on this new job were her “best friends” from Oklahoma Christian.
“Here I am some 20-odd years later, and we’re still in contact with each other,” Neuhold said. “My time at Oklahoma Christian was a great time for me to solidify relationships and friendships. That’s a really good feeling for me, to know that OC is kind of like an extended family all through your life.”
Neuhold graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s in psychology and a minor in management, before attending the University of Tulsa for her master’s in industrial organizational psychology. She said her degree from Oklahoma Christian has provided her an amazing amount of opportunities career-wise.
“Having majored in psychology, at the time it was unheard of to minor in something that wasn’t directly related to your major,” Neuhold said. “So I went to them when I learned it was a possibility to do organizational psychology. I wanted to kind of marry this concept of business and psychology together, and I got permission to minor in management. And that has been door-opening for me. I think it’s a fantastic program.”
According to Neuhold, she has worked behind the scenes at UCO in her previous positions, but now looks forward to going out and being the No. 1 cheerleader for what the university does.
“Part of what I do, even as a vice president for finance, I’m an ambassador for the university everywhere I go,” Neuhold said. “It’s a philosophy that my parents instilled in me, that when I go out into the world, I am a member of my family to whoever meets me. And so it’s important that whatever I put forward, I am representing way more people than just myself. I’ve taken that very seriously my whole life. So being the face of the institution won’t be that much of a shift, but what it does is it opens up possibilities for me to work more closely with members of our community and our students.”
Neuhold said over the last 10 to 15 years, more people who have not come from a traditional academic path have become university presidents. Because of her previous positions, Neuhold said she has experience with making tough financial decisions—a lot of which comes from state support being withdrawn from public education.
“I have managed the $187 million budget for the last three years and been able to navigate that,” Neuhold said. “While we’ve lost $12 million from the state, we’re still able to keep all of our people in positions and all of our classes going. I think that knowledge of how the operations work, where the money comes from and how you can use it, and then just some good foundational business sense is really going to be helpful in this position.”
As the most diversely populated institution in the state, UCO serves underrepresented students and groups on campus who might not typically have access to affordable education, according to Neuhold.
“It’s been a very intentional journey for us,” Neuhold said. “We serve a very diverse population, and we take this opportunity very seriously. We pride ourselves on raising people from the bottom quartile of the earnings chart and moving them to the upper quartile by the time they’ve been out of school for 12 years with us. We are a future changer for families and generations, and I’m excited about that.”
Neuhold said she loves the people at UCO and believes it is an amazing place to be.
“The people who work [at UCO], love our students and love what they do make all the difference,” Neuhold said. “I want people to remember how they felt when they were here, when I was here. I want people to look back and be proud that they were part of this community. That’s the legacy I want to leave.”
0
0
Be First to Comment