PRESIDENT HARROZ: Hi. I am Joe Harroz, President of the University of Oklahoma. I want to welcome you to our conversations with the President. This platform gives me the chance to talk to some of the great people who make OU so special. Make sure you are subscribed to conversations with the president, and you will be the first to know when new episodes are released. Let's get started.
Happy New Year's to each of you. Welcome back to the program and I hope your 2023 is off to a great start. Now, I know that coming out of this new year you are hoping for the next episode. In that, I hope that you watched the last episode. It was an exciting one and if you haven't watched it yet, please do. Our two guests were the two leaders of the Oklahoma legislature. We had Senate Pro Tim, Mr. Greg Treat and Speaker of the House, Mr. Charles McCall. Discussed a variety of topics. If you have not had a chance yet, please do go back and watch it because they each had some remarkable things to say about their personal life and about the state of our state and the University and its role that we play in the life of our state.
Hopefully, you will watch that. Don't forget to leave a five‑star rating. No other rating will do if you watch this on the YouTube channel or on any podcast platform that you have.
Now today's topic, today's topic continues on that line of individuals that lead our state that work with the University of Oklahoma to try and positively impact the lives of the citizens of the state, the region, and the country. So today's guest is the recently reelected Governor of the State of Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt. Governor Kevin Stitt is a native of Norman, Oklahoma and went to Norman High School. Just finished his first four‑year term as governor and last night, we enjoyed the Oklahoma City inaugural ball. Right now, please welcome the Chief Executive, the Governor of the great state of Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt.
Here we are. Governor Kevin Stitt, welcome to the show, absolutely thrilled to have you. It is hard to believe that you have been governor for four years, and last night we were at your Oklahoma City inaugural event. Did a great job, and after a 19-hour day, you show up here to be on this show, so thanks for being here.
GOVERNOR STITT: Absolutely. It was great to celebrate with all of my friends in Oklahoma. Thank you to you and Ashley for being there. It meant so much to us and my family was there. It is surreal to serve your state and get another chance at four more years to continue to serve and I'm just having a blast.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: It is clear you are, and it is amazing how quickly four‑years goes. I came into this role about five months or six months into your first term. The ‑‑ it has been fun to kind of work and grow with you in these roles, and that is really what I wanted to talk about today was just have a conversation about your experiences over the last four years as you think about the next four years, as we move toward this common cause, this goal that you have articulated well of being a top 10 state. What is the role that OU can play, what role is it playing, how can we expand on it and sort of your view on that.
GOVERNOR STITT: First off, you have been a tremendous partner, and workforce and commerce, they go hand in hand, and then you have to throw in higher ed there. Every time we are recruiting companies, they always want to talk about workforce, and you have been such a great partner. We have called you and you have flown with us out to pitch companies, and I think that unified working together is so important for our state, and we are seeing tremendous benefits right now. Top 10 of people moving into our state, the economy is going really, really well. Most diversified economy in our state's history. We hit lowest unemployment this past summer we have ever seen. I think that is so important.
To me, it is really simple. What are the jobs of tomorrow and how can we prepare Oklahomans to meet the jobs of tomorrow. That is higher ed, common ed and career techs and aligning them with those jobs in the workforce for tomorrow and you are doing a good job. I want to encourage all of us to continue to think like that. What are the jobs the companies are looking for and how do we write those curriculums, how do we make sure we have the right majors and look at the things that we probably shouldn't be investing money in and really put the resources where we can really be top 10.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: Absolutely. The one thing I have learned over the last three and half years in this role and watching you over the last four is for us to move forward as a state, it has to be a team effort. It has to be the top levels of government, the executive branch, the legislative branch, but the private sector and the research universities and all of education have this role that we have to play together.
One of the first stories that you might relate that you told me was in that first meeting you walked me through this idea of how do you create this blueprint for success and how do you actually move into a top 10 spot. I would love it if you would share that conversation because it certainly stuck with me.
GOVERNOR STITT: Well, you know, one of the things, I came from the business world, and you cannot be all things to all people. One of those first meetings that we had was you, and I think Burns Hargis, at the time was the president of OSU, and we all sat down in the conference room and said guys listen, we are too small of a state to duplicate efforts all over and we have the University of Tulsa. I said let's pick three things that we are already really good at that we can really invest in heavily. We can all get behind from the legislative, executive branch and the higher ed and really be number one in the world at. I encouraged you to go back and come back with three ideas that you could be number one at the world at. I think that is so, so important.
In my opinion, we should not be having a lot of degrees where you graduate three or four people. Not that those degrees aren't important, but let another university be the top 10 in those and let's really focus on what we are really good at. So I think OU, you came back with cancer research, we certainly want to continue to invest in that. Weather radar, engineering, aerospace defense type thing. So those are the things that I'm encouraged about because we already have Tinker Air Force Base, we have the National Weather Center. We already have these things that we need to continue to invest in.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: You are being too kind to me and to Burns Hargis, the former OSU president, for that matter. When you told us to bring three back to you, how many did we each bring back to you.
GOVERNOR STITT: You came back with six or seven and you thought I was kind of joking, and you were looking at maybe if we bring six or seven back, we can ask for more money from the legislature.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: Right. Absolutely. You did that. I got so tickled because you were like three pick three areas of research where you can truly be world‑class and if they are big ideas, they can be investable, and we will back them. We came back with eight and you were like, no eight is more than three. You know, in a very big way, that had an impact on how we put together our strategic plan. We wound up with four research strategic areas. A big product of those conversations and also the idea, which is certainly reflected and is reflected in your cabinet with how can you apply business principles to areas of government, and in our case, education that can really give it a competitive advantage.
So those conversations were impactful. We did come back with three ultimately, and they just creeped to four now.
GOVERNOR STITT: It is really good, and the other thing that I love to encourage people to do is we have to continue to think bigger. I look at Texas A&M and I think about how big that university has grown. I think they have 60, 70,000 students now. They were very dissimilar to the University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State University 30 years ago, but they really set a vision to have 25,000 engineering students. They started marching toward that. I just want to continue to encourage you to think bigger and your provost, and the different people running your different departments, especially around those three areas. Let's continue to push the needle, and let the world know that you need to come to the University of Oklahoma if you want radar and weather, if you want cancer research, if you want aerospace, defense, and engineering, this is the right spot to be. Oklahoma is the best state to be in and the University of Oklahoma is our flagship university, and we need to let everybody know that.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: And to trump those successes we have had. Just this past year as you know because you have been part of the celebrations and a part at them happening. Number one aviation program in the country, number one in the nation around atmospheric and weather and those are areas, like you say, to leverage off of. And one thing I want to do, it is amazing how quickly a few years go by, but I was just getting ready for this I put together, what have you been part of and signed into law that are around big ideas and big investments.
Around those three areas where I think we can help, which is education certainly, building that workforce you were talking about around healthcare, and around research and economic development. Let me just read these numbers because they are stunning, and they speak to the big ideas and big investments. In education, breaking this into three areas. 5 million for engineering with 13 million more for engineering labs. 1.8 million for nursing during the nursing crisis. $11 million to bring in and create more education and training for physicians, nurses and physician specialties.
In healthcare, it was 44 million for digital health records. It was 39 million, which your wife was a big part of around pediatric behavioral health, which was never available in our state and is currently still not available, but with this amount of money we are building it. 7.5 million for a pediatric ER that we have to have. $20 million for Stephenson Cancer to bring it to Tulsa to save what would be literally thousands of lives.
Finally, around research and economic development, $20 million for a secured national defense and security building, which currently does not exist, but that makes possible $20 million for phase two of the National Weather Center. 5 million for cancer research.
As a product of our journeys you let me go on with you, we saw have any companies that want to come here, needed to have that workforce, needed not just theoretical engineers, but applied engineers, and so you helped put $10 million toward a new Polytech in Tulsa, which is key for workforce. When you look at that, that is just the last two years.
GOVERNOR STITT: It is really exciting. You just kinda pinch yourself. I am a fourth generation Oklahoman. I grew up here in Norman, and to be part of what is happening in our state and at the University of Oklahoma, it is really special because those numbers, you forget all of the things that we have done over the years and you get so busy, but it is so important, and we are excited to be a small part of it. You guys are doing a really, really good job.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: It is a partnership. That to me is the reality. One of the things I figured out very quickly in this role is that OU is a research university, OSU as well. We're necessary for growth, but we are not sufficient. It has to be private sector, universities, government, all not for profits all working together to make this happen, and your leadership there has been felt in big and important ways.
GOVERNOR STITT: Thank you. I have to tell one great story, which I'm so proud of you on, you know the hospitals kept coming to me a couple of years ago saying we need more nurses, we need more nurses, we need more nurses. I started doing research and called you. How many nurses are we training at the Health Science Center? We found out that we were approving about 250 a year into the nursing program with about 500 applicants. And so we kept saying what are we doing with the other 250? Obviously, we have clinicals, we have different student to faculty ratios and things like that, but I really encouraged you to keep digging in and if we have somebody that is capable of doing the work and they are Oklahomans and they want to stay here and serve Oklahomans, let's figure out a way to do it.
And you remember, but it has been about four or five months ago now, we had a press conference at OU Health Science Center, and it was me and you and the director there, and you had 500 applicants this year. I think it was 450 to 500 applicants and you accepted all 500.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: Every single qualified applicant.
GOVERNOR STITT: Every qualified applicant and that had never happened before, and that is just you being a businessperson, thinking outside of the box saying hey, these are Oklahomans, they want to be nurses. Let's figure out a way to educate them here, and you tell me what resources we can help you with and that is where we get the legislature excited, we can get private industry, our hospitals get excited about it. We can all partner together to fill a need that we see that we have as citizens of Oklahoma.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: To me, that is like a joint success story. That wouldn't have happened if you had not been pushing on there are too many that are in the queue so why can't we educate and train them. We sat down ‑‑ people were literally dying because of the nursing shortage. There aren't enough people to help. Initially, the answer was you can only increase it a little and we kept pushing, and then Gary Raskob, our new provost there, the Dean of the College of Nursing we said why not take every qualified applicant. And people worked around‑the‑clock to build that space out. They said it could not be done, and these people worked so hard that they made it happen. Over half of those are fast‑track on 15-month programs.
So they will be in about seven or eight months in the hospitals helping patients.
GOVERNOR STITT: I love it. To brag on Oklahoma Christian University, I just went and did a ribbon‑cutting for them and they are partnering with the hospital to train nursing techs that are already working in the hospital and trying to get a pathway and online type program. And so as governor, I get to see all the different aspects of the state and how it fits together.
I know that we're talking about the University of Oklahoma specifically, but it is so important we all work together to fill those needs of what the private sector is looking for and what those hospitals are looking for in this case, but really what Boeing and Tinker. Boeing, I was at the Pentagon and met with the Secretary of Air Force and he said, Governor, I want you to know, we will continue to move jobs to Oklahoma City if you can train the engineers, aerospace engineers, the computer scientists, and so that is where I was like okay. I get back on the phone with you and say here is what they are telling me from a workforce perspective, let's figure out how we do it at the University of Oklahoma.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: To me, that is the macro point, which is the only way we will solve for these big problems is together. And that means we cannot be silod, we cannot be selfish about this belongs to this university. We have two research universities, and the state needs every single bit of it. We have other universities that fill other areas that we need. And for us to really move forward and really change lives in a fundamental way, it's got to be all of us saying where can we throw the shoulder into it together.
GOVERNOR STITT: 100%. Let's compete on the basketball court and let's compete on the football court. When it comes to commerce, business and growing our state and educating our young people, we have to work together, and we cannot duplicate every single thing. From the governor's perspective, it is easy for me to see that, and really keep encouraging everybody to continue to work together and kick those engineers out from Boeing, Tinker, and for our agricultural community around the state, etc.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: The engineering program is producing a beyond record numbers of engineers because of that leadership and because of those dollars that are flowing to it. One my favorite stories, when I came in, there was a conversation about SOB. You might tell the story about SOB and what we have done since then.
GOVERNOR STITT: Well, I don't know exactly which part of the story you are talking about.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: Whenever Indiana ‑‑ we were in competition to recruit SOB and Indiana picked it up in large part because Purdue was there available to step in.
GOVERNER STITT: Yes, that is right. It was really Senator Inhofe, myself, and I was brand‑new elected governor. I remember us flying up there, getting on the phone, getting everyone around the table, meeting with SOB, and basically, we ultimately lost that deal because of the partnership that Purdue University had, and right then I said hey, we have to do something different in Oklahoma. So I quickly started working with commerce to have a better relationship with our flagship universities so we can show this coordinated effort, and that is when we went and recruited Tomas from Purdue to come down to the University of Oklahoma, and he has been amazing. Bringing in some more folks down that understand how the relationships work between those research dollars, but also commerce and making sure that we have a unified front.
Again, you do it very well, you do a great job on the stump with me recruiting those businesses. They love the University of Oklahoma, and so it is working really well.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: If was fun though, because we realized Purdue was doing it and they had a good formula. This was about three and a half years ago, we decided it might be easier to just go see what we could harvest there, and you helped us land Tomas, who was at the time, Chief Strategy Officer. We don't want this getting back to Purdue. Since then, we have picked up their head of data science and their Chief Fundraising Officer. We found ways.
GOVERNOR STITT: Mitch Daniels was the governor of Indiana and became the president of Purdue and he is just an amazing leader. He is retired now from Purdue, but I remember Tomas coming to the governor's mansion when we were pitching him and telling him about Oklahoma, and he would love it. We were very fortunate to get him.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: You are a huge part of that. So you have done four years and that has flown by and we have four ahead of us. You know that is going to fly by as well. As you think about what you hope over the next four years, campaign is behind you, four more years to be governor, what do you see as what we can accomplish together and how we can be part of that role?
GOVERNOR STITT: Just to take us back for a second, four years ago and growing up in Oklahoma, I felt like Oklahoma was not reaching our potential. Other states were passing us by, and we kept asking the question, why are we not hitting our stride? And I really felt like Oklahoma could do so much better on all of these different categories.
I really came with the vision to make Oklahoma the top 10 state and put some confidence that literally we take second place to no other state. This is the right place to go to college, to raise a family, to start a business. We have such a great community here, a great state. I have been to all 50 states minus Alaska, I haven't been to Alaska yet. And so I know that and I want to bring that in. Number one, it starts with being the most business friendly state and we have cut taxes, we have cut regulation. We are ranked by CNBC as one of the best places to start a business and that is something we focus on. How do you do that? You have to make sure we have the best education for our kids. We have to have higher standards. We have to have more options. Really excited about the Aviation High School in Norman. I went to Norman High School, and we set up a new aviation school here in Norman that if you want to be an A&P mechanic or a pilot, you can start going to this high school now, and that is the kind of school choice I'm talking about thinking outside of the box.
Business climate has to be number one, education has to be number one, infrastructure, we have to stay ahead of the curve. We have such a competitive advantage and quality of life and our commute times right now in Oklahoma versus Dallas, Fort Worth and some of these other major cities. We have to keep that going. Healthcare, that is why I'm so excited about the University of Oklahoma focusing on cancer research because access to healthcare, best quality of healthcare, we all want that regardless of where you at on the political spectrum, I tell people that we want these four things.
As long as I keep focusing on education, the business climate, healthcare and infrastructure, we are going to move the needle in our state. And I tell people, let Washington DC play the politics we are all Oklahomans, let's just make our state the top 10.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: The secret sauce of the people and us working together. To me, that is where so much of the excitement is, is the idea and we have worked really hard on our strategic plan, but it is meaningless unless it intersects with a broader strategic plan that can leverage that piece we can play and be part of driving everybody forward. To me, it is endlessly exciting.
What does it feel like? You just finished three days of the inaugural ball. You had a race that got frenzied toward the end, and campaigning from those of us who had not had the courage to jump in there, it looks frenetic and difficult. You came through it, you one, it is a second term, you finished three big city tour on the inaugural ball. What is that like today? When you wake up today, ‑‑
GOVERNOR STITT: I wrote in my journal. I encourage everyone who is watching, keep a journal. You will love that going back three years, four years, five years. I try to keep a journal of my thoughts and what is happening and four years ago, the excitement of becoming governor and winning the inauguration and just all of the newness. This time it was a little bit more introspective. I was really thankful and trying to take it all in, but I think the biggest change is the newness.
What is really cool is God gives us the newness of the day and the newness of the year, and now it is a newness of a new administration. And I told my team today in our senior staff meeting, I said anything that has happened in the past, let that be gone. Any failures, don't bring those battles into this term. This is all brand‑new. This is the first day of the rest of our life and I encourage us whether you are in school right now or newly married or married 25 years, this is the first day of the rest of your life so let's make today going forward the best it can be and it is a new administration.
I encourage us all, let's not bring old battles in, let's turn the page and let's move forward together as Oklahomans. A thing I did, I called in all 39 tribal members and invited them to the inauguration and I wanted them to know let's move forward together and let's make sure we have a successful four years and we all put ourselves on the best path forward to work together and make Oklahoma a top 10 state.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: I absolutely love it. I was thinking of this conversation yesterday as I was listening attentively to all of your speeches yesterday, and I was thinking about what does the next four years hold? I had the benefit of cataloging the last couple of years and what the investment looks like. How many successes and also close calls we have had. And I just know over the next four years, it will have a compounding effect.
I look at what we're doing in healthcare, and the opportunity to improve the healthcare of Oklahoma remarkable. And then picking these research areas, garnering federal research dollars, amplifying it into new businesses and spinning those out to create new economic opportunities, new industries in Oklahoma, focusing on aerospace and defense. I had the new three‑star in from Tinker just last week talking about how do we work together to leverage these assets?
Whether lifting the cap not just in nursing, but other majors where they have been historically capped. There have been historic caps in medicine, we need more doctors. We have had caps in dentistry. We need more dentists. We have to really amplify those growing areas of education and workforce so there are huge opportunities. I just look at it with huge optimism. I'm grateful for all that you are doing, for OU and for the state, and just can't wait to partner over the next four years.
GOVERNOR STITT: Me too. It is going to be great. Being fiscally disciplined over the four years has allowed us, because we had almost zero money in savings when I got there, and we have 4 billion today. We have been holding these budgets flat, and that allows us instead of raising baselevel expenses everywhere, it allows us to strategically invest in certain areas and focus on the taxpayers, but also focus on the strategic investments. I think you are seeing the benefit of Oklahoma electing a business guy to kind of think through government and invest in some of these strategic ways. I could not do it without the legislature as they do a good job of partnering with us. And thank you for helping us to kind of narrow down where we want to investment in.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: That is it, right? It is a clear strategy, it is teamwork, execution, discipline, and I think the future is unlimited.
GOVERNOR STITT: I do too.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: Thank you for taking time to be on the show. It means a lot. I know you have had a long run, 19 hours yesterday and any regular human would have canceled today's podcast but thank you for being here.
GOVERNOR STITT: When Joe Harroz asked me to be here, I am here.
PRESIDENT HARROZ: Thank you again. Thank you for being here.
I want to thank Governor Stitt for taking the time to be here as our guest today. As I said, he has had a whirlwind the last few days and took time to be here with us. As tireless as our students, faculty and staff work to make the University of Oklahoma remarkable, it's great to know we have leaders like Governor Stitt that care about the University of Oklahoma and know its place in making our state truly the best it can be.
Thank you to our guest, thank you to each of you for listening to today's episode, and I look forward to you joining us next time for our next conversation with the president. Thanks.
