NEWS
NORMAN, Okla. – Rebecca Cruise, Ph.D., associate provost for global engagement at the University of Oklahoma, has been named a 2025-26 Alumni Fellow of the Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program (SEC ALDP). The initiative aims to support SEC faculty and early career administrators in becoming part of the next generation of academic leaders.
Cruise was previously named a 2024-25 SEC ALDP Fellow and is now OU’s first recipient of the program’s alumni fellowship, which connects faculty to other SEC universities to strengthen their knowledge and skills. Through this opportunity, she plans to learn from other leaders and staff at global engagement and international affairs offices about their domestic study away programs.
“We are thrilled that Associate Provost Cruise has been selected for this fellowship,” said OU Senior Vice President and Provost André-Denis Wright. “She has been critical in supporting a wide scope of student learning opportunities, and this program will advance those efforts.”
In addition to serving as OU’s senior international officer, Cruise is an associate professor of security studies and comparative politics in the College of International Studies (CIS) and the director of FYE Global Perspectives within CIS.
“Leadership development programs like ALDP maintain our university’s strong institutional momentum,” said Vice Provost for Faculty Sarah Ellis. “Through our SEC membership, these opportunities will continue to support our success.”
Earlier this year, four OU faculty members were named 2025-26 Fellows for the SEC ALDP program.
For more information about the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program, visit secsports.com.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Greg McFarquhar, director of the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research (CIWRO) and Operations and a researcher at the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to compile and analyze cloud property measurements from around the world.
The University of Oklahoma professor Christina Giacona is making her fourth trip to the Grammy Awards next month, as four albums she worked on have received nominations from the Recording Academy.
In a rare achievement for an undergraduate student, Colby Higdon, a geology major on the paleontology track with the University of Oklahoma has published original paleontological research conducted at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History that reveals new insights into whether competition between ancient animals was responsible for their extinction.
