[JOE HARROZ] Hi, I'm 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're subscribed to Conversations with the President, and you'll be the first to know when new episodes are released.
Welcome to Conversations with the President. Here we are with a special summer edition. I hope everyone is having a great summer, we are just a few weeks away from students returning and the place looks remarkably different. Coming over here, I was driving into the studio. This is our fancy place, this studio, and now Adams Tower is fully down. So, the landscape looks different, and we are excited about the coming weeks.
A lot has happened since our last podcast. There have been a number of alumni events and the only guaranteed applause line that I have at an alumni event is that I mention that Patty Gasso and I have now won three back-to-back-to-back national championships. Congratulations to the two of us and the team. I’m kidding, it’s 100 percent Patty and the women. They’re absolutely stunning and an incredible national story. We couldn’t be more proud of them.
Also want to thank Randall Stephenson who played double-duty. For those of you who are devoted podcast listeners, Randall Stephenson was a past guest on this show. If you haven’t listened to it yet, he is incredible insightful, he had a lot to say on the role of higher education that’s affordable and accessible. And what we see on the horizon for the work place and the importance of the kind of degree and kind of opportunities you seek while you’re at the university.
He was also our commencement speaker and did a remarkable job. You can check that out if you have time, as well.
Finally, if you haven’t already subscribed, which is hard to imagine, as a percentage of the population that already has subscribed. If you’ve not subscribed, please do so. Would love to have you tuning in regularly with Conversations with the President.
The conversation today to me is incredibly exciting. It is one that was born really out of necessity. Our guest, who you will hear in just a second, is an expert in this field. I was not. We're going to talk about the Polytechnic. This new school that we’re standing up, this new enterprise that we’re standing up.
It came to my attention; I had heard about polytechnic for years. Did not fully understand what it did, but as I was traveling with the governor and with the leaders in the legislature trying to attract businesses to Oklahoma, it seemed like at every moment, it seems that it came down to not only is Oklahoma the right place, but are the enough places that are qualified to handle not just the engineering positions, but the applied technologies positions. And that really sparked this idea.
It brings us to our guest today, who’s actually an OU alumnus and someone who has been here in several capacities and would like to welcome Dr. Teri Reed to the show.
Ordinarily, I love talking about individual's background but since you’re an alumnus I’d love for you to talk about your background and where you’ve been and the roles you’ve had.
(TERI REED) So, I started here at the University of Oklahoma where I achieved my bachelor’s degree. Then I spent a few years in the oil fields down in Texas and then got my MBA at night which sparked a fire to go after my Ph.D. and then recruited back to Oklahoma in industrial systems engineering. It was my first tenured home as well. Then I went on to Purdue University where the first department of engineering and education was formed. I loved to be a part of that. Then, I went to Texas A&M and served as assistant vice chancellor for engineering education. That was a lot of fun. Then I went to the University of Cincinatti, it sounds like I move around a lot. Then, here, back home where my parents live and where I have such great, fond memories and Sooner born, Sooner bred.
(HARROZ) Yeah. You and I have that in common. You’re repping the crimson and doing it only as an alumnus would. Understanding the distinction in the reds.
I know that you feel the same way, it’s an honor to be here or in your case, back here. When did you start and tell us a little about the role that you are in.
(REED) So, I had the privilege of starting on March 1. There had been a lot of work done prior to my arrival. But we hit the ground running. Our first program was literally before the Oklahoma regents, first. Then the University Regents. That was my first big meeting. And, on from there, in our programs. Our very first bachelors in cyber security came through on May the 29th. We are so pleased to continue down the path of hiring and developing new programs, additional programs, building labs.
(HARROZ) So, let’s take a step back.
A lot of people are like me. I didn’t really know what a Polytechnic was. Tell us in your words what a Polytechnic is.
(REED) So, the Polytech as you alluded to is an old term. 1792, the École de Polytechnique in France. Excuse my accent, that’s probably not correct. It’s been around a long time. But the 21st century polytechnic is about high-demand technologies and preparing workforce ready students in the applications of those.
(HARROZ) Okay, that’s a mouthful. So, tell me what kind of degrees we will offer. The Polytechnic School will be running about this time next year. Located in Tulsa.
(REED) We open admissions on August the 1st for the bachelor's of science in cyber security. A program in software development and integration and then ethical A.I. will continue along these advanced computing areas. But we’re also going to shift slightly into digital manufacturing and unmanned vehicles.
(HARROZ) So, tell me about the type of student, the type of person you’ll be thinking about for a polytechnic degree.
(REED) Persons who love to see how things are applied. Hands on. They don’t mind getting dirty, not in the ‘dirt’ sense of the word, but in the way things are working, why and how. And how to improve them. They have to be creative and agile, willing to listen mainly to the industry people, because we work mostly with industry and government on that applied side. How can we take these fundamental research and technologies and apply them for the betterment of society?
(HARROZ) What kind of jobs would I get if I pursued a degree in polytechnic?
(REED) There are over 600 cyber jobs available in various areas of cyber security. There’s also in the manufacturing area, we’re moving into industry 5.0, how do we put the humans into the manufacturing side. So, managing energy technology is obviously moving forward in various ways. This is your opportunity to learn those types of broader, tomorrow’s technology is really what we will focus on. For example, healthcare and informatics are such a key thing to keeping people healthy and for overall wellness. That’s where you’ll see opportunities for our polytechnic students.
(HARROZ) One of the questions we get from students and their parents and obviously our older students are what kind of a job can I get after I get this degree? Can you talk about the demand that's out there, the salary and what the future looks like?
(REED) So, we know that STEM degrees, your career earnings are twice as those without STEM degrees. This is true with a polytechnic student as well. So, you're looking at jobs that are networking based, that are computer based, security based, but also in the manufacturing area. How to be more effective and efficient? Those are the kinds of areas that we can see absolutely for people to be going. Starting salaries? 70-80 thousand dollars today. We’ll see what they are in a couple years. These are the high-demand jobs identified by Chancellor (Allison) Garret for the state of Oklahoma and over two-thirds of those require some kind of a degree like polytechnic and a lot of them are computing, data and analytically focused.
(HARROZ) Yeah, it’s fascinating. We often talk about the value of a degree and often the conversation is around cost, but really what people are talking about at the end of that degree, what is my skillset and what is my marketability. With job markets starting out in the 70,000 to 80,000, what is the demand outlook right now for these jobs?
(REED) High. There’s over 4.4 million in the world just in computing and information technology alone. In the state of Oklahoma, we expect a 16 percent growth. Just within the state, if you go within the region, the growth is even higher. We are in a high-demand area that will increase the social mobility of our state’s citizens.
(HARROZ) It’s amazing. When you think about from the, let’s put aside the incredible life-long earning potential. We know that a college graduate will make 1.4 million more than someone that doesn’t have a four-year degree. These are STEM-based jobs that carry a multiplier two times that. As remarkable as that is, you look at the University of Oklahoma and what it charges and what the students come out of with, 55 percent of our students graduate with no debt. Of those 45% that do, the average debt is around 30,000 total. We’re talking about jobs that are starting out. It’s a remarkable sort of business proposition, isn’t it?
(REED) Absolutely. The lower debt as well as the higher earning potential, but also the interest the industry has, the ability to get a job is just without question. We have people, I remember walking out of our OU Regent’s meeting and being asked, can we not start today? Why can’t we have these people now? It was the state’s question when they supported the polytechnic as well. How fast can we get there? Fortunately, we’re going to get there fast with a two-year completion degree and building on what other people have started. Hopefully, that will help people get into the workforce and help fill needs and gap-jobs as fast as we can.
(HARROZ) Yeah, so, it’s interesting, when you talk about this, people often conflate polytechnic with the School of Engineering. The reality is that they are different. And, I think it’s so fascinating, and you did an okay job in your bio about describing yourself, but you’re truly a leader at the forefront of engineering education and applied technology education. These are not education jobs, for example, you are a petroleum engineer by training, and you’ve taught in the area of chemical engineering, but this isn’t quite that, is it?
(REED) This is not. I like to say that these jobs are the interpreters. For the theoretical and for what we do here in the polytechnic is apply it into everyday language. So, it becomes the interpreter of what technology is and what it can do for the customers. That’s why industry is so interested in what we are doing because they are the customers. They need this technology to work for them. We always want to be ahead of our research that we are doing but we also need to understand how to apply them.
(HARROZ) Yeah. And this is how I learned about them. When I was traveling with the governor, the Pro Temp and the Speaker to go recruit these companies from out of state and globally, to come to Oklahoma. Northeast Oklahoma is a hot spot with the Mid-America Industrial Park. All it has to have to offer. We’ve been really close on a few of these really big companies. I’ve been fascinated by the conversations, when you really get down to it, we know they need more engineers. The state is invested heavily in that. But I found it fascinating that these applied technology jobs are the make or break of whether or not they come to a state or a region because if they can’t fill those, they cannot carry on their business. Is that a fair assessment?
(REED) That’s a fair assessment. Not only do these students understand the technical side, but also the social side and how these things work together to actually make them successful in companies and government alike. For example, Google, who’s one of our great supporters, they’ve announced that they are going to increase their data center in northeastern Oklahoma. It will be the largest data center that they have in the nation.
(HARROZ) Isn’t that amazing? People don’t realize that it will be the largest data center for Google in the nation. We knew that we needed to have more of these jobs, but even without these enterprises, we don’t have a sufficient number of these applied technology graduates to meet the needs of businesses in Oklahoma today.
(REED) That’s right. That’s why there’s six hundred cyber security jobs right here in the state already. That’s without these new businesses. We have a gap to fill and that’s our goal.
(HARROZ) Yes. And the George Kaiser Family Foundation is helping us out. You've carried the Chair in that name. Tell us about applications that open here in a few weeks and the first class will start a year from next month. Tell us about the first degrees and the kind of faculty that will be a part of this?
(REED) So, we are in the midst's of recruiting faculty as well as students. Those first degrees, we will be a student ready college. Much like OU strives to be a student ready institution, we’re looking for faculty that are of that mindset for those that are willing to participate in a startup. We are a new entity and college that needs that type of outreach mindset that is willing to figure out where students are, but also to listen to industry. We need listners and people are willing to be cutting edge. That has to be incorporated into our curriculum and real world applications. Those have to be achieved with our relationships in industry. Faculty that are open to supplied learning, how to help students learning in supplied environments as well as continue their learning. Half-life of technology these days is two years. You have to keep up.
(HARROZ) If you go through these, you get a degree. The jobs are in high-demand. When the jobs changes, and they will, how does this degree help you?
(REED) So, the idea of the lifelong learning and the ability to learn how to learn is key. Because, we know that with this kind of halflife, you’re always learning new technologies. How do we keep up? How do we keep up with lifelong learning? How do we keep them all so engaged with us, where they want to come back and learn more. This is the way of the world. This is we stay relevant is by making those close partnerships with industry, keeping our faculty up to date.
(HARROZ) It’s incredibly exciting. Our provost Andre Denis-Wright has been a big advocate for you. You mentioned that your professional history involves Purdue. A past guest of ours, our VP for Research and Partnerships has walked through and alluded to, we talked brieghy about. Let’s talk about Purdue. They have a polytech. How have they grown and how can it be an example of what we can become?
(REED) It’s absolutley the largest in the United States. They are on the cutting-edge of curriculum. They’ve learned this agility and they’re a great group to aspire to. They’ve been very supportive of us and we’re hoping to follow their lead and to continue to learn from things from smart manufacturing and see how they’re going.
(HARROZ) How many students do they have right now?
(REED) Over six thousand.
(HARROZ) Alright, as a parent who has a kid in college. Very attractive the 70-80,000 starting salary. Tell us about what studens can apply right now and what kind of degrees you’ll be offering.
(REED) We are what they call in academica a completion program. What that means is we offer junior and senior classes. Students who have completed the first two years and are willing to come to Tulsa because we are an inperson program, we are interested in their interest in cyber security, data analystics, future technology, that’s who we’re looking for. So, we’ve already had students knock on our door, come meet with us. The Tulsa area has a higher percentage of peoiple with associates degrees. We will be reaching out, recruiting as well as beyond that part of the state.
(HARROZ) Yeah, so whether it’s within an associates program or your first two years of college, you’re elligbile to apply to this college. Then you do years three and four and then we’re going to have graduates programs as well.
(REED) Exactly. We’re going to have graduates programs as we build this on the fly. It’s going to be an exciting time. Students need to be making a decision right now about their future. So, it is timely and it’s an exciting group of people who are interested in us.
(HARROZ) Yeah, I was just talking to Provost Wright today over lunch and the hot topic was what do you do with generative A.I. How does generative artificial intelligence affect the work place? I keep coming back ot the idea that this polytechnic is this haven for taking these industries that are emerging somewhere out there and being in that position to have the skills to not just understand them but know how to apply them.
(REED) Right. That’s why we’re looking at things like ethical A.I. and how to make these things safer. Understanding the intended and the unintended consequences. Work with other people in industry to understand what this means. In the classroom, I attended a great session on Chat GBT and tutoring. These things are here to stay.
(HARROZ) They are. A moment of disruptive change. Whatever area you are in the arts to engineering, it’s going to impact us right now and will forever. You talked about how this is an in-person program. It’s in-person because the way you learn at a polytechnic is hands-on. It takes the theoretical and engineering components in a workplace setting in a way that has immediate value to the employer. To what you’re making.
(REED) There will be things that are virtual. The laboratory, the learning will be hands-on in-person as well as this hybrid kind of area. How do we prepare for tomorrow when we know that all the changes have already happened today?
(HARROZ) Yes. We may not be sure what the implications of those changes are. As a former law school dean, I mean it makes your mind wonder very quickly to get your head around what does machine learning mean for these professions? The folks at the forefront of this are at the Polytech.
(REED) Yes. The ones who are at the agile and creative are going to be on the cutting edge of this, robot-proof. They’re the ones who will because the critical thinking piece for years has been the mantra of higher education and we have to stick to that and have nice conversations with the CIO of QuickTrip about this. How do we instill this and keep this going with our employees as well as with our students. This is where we are going, and we will have opportunities in the future. We’re not going away. We’re not going to be replaced but we are going to have to think at higher levels and be able to integrate and have this system’s mindset.
(HARROZ) Yeah, it's fascinating, when I first looked at the polytechnic and the concept of it, people were dumbing it down for me which I take as flattering. They were saying that the intersection of engineering and business is way too simple of an explanation, but I do think that it helps to think about what kind of person might be interested in this. Because if you take as a given that technology and advances in artificial intelligence are going to be an absolute, the idea of doing business and not doing that technical background or an understanding of it creates a challenge. So if this is that space that lives between traditional business and traditional engineering, it creates a fascinating opportunity and it really opens up the profile of students that might be interested in doing this.
(REED) Because it is creative, and it has that interpretive requirement really, that means that students and our graduates will be looking more at systems wide and seeing what integral pieces we possess and think to how to improve them. It’s a higher-level thinking that is irreplaceable quite frankly. So, you’ve got to have that agility to keep up and make these pivots because life happens. Life is going to bring you pivots.
(HARROZ) At a rate of change we’ve never seen before.
(REED) We tell them, it’s been about 10-12 years ago, the half-life back then was about four to six years by the time they graduated four years later. Now we’re talking two years. So, it’s just more important that you learn how to learn and that you’ve got that inquisitiveness and the ability to be agile and make those changes.
(HARROZ) That’s really the point. Not that the degree is obsolete, but the specific application is obsolete. So those critical thinking skills that you learn in this case, also those skills also the technology, to have the ability to discern and work your way through the next evolutionary state.
(REED) The ability to take what you’ve learned really kind of in a setting where it’s applied and it’s hands-on. Can you take that fluency that you’ve learned right into the workspace? That’s what our goal is, those work ready students. Then there are the fundamentals. Can you make a decision between 20 possible solutions? How are you going to get down to the two best? What does best mean? Those are the things that we want to teach our students. These are the things that will make them successful.
(HARROZ) Yeah, this is the kind of conversation that we hear from the people at the State Capitol, this idea of if I do this program, will this person be workforce ready? These people graduated and are ready. That’s correct?
(REED) That’s correct. Because they’ve done their projects in their labs and their senior designs, they came from the workforce. These are real problems. And that’s what they will be. That’s how their experimental learning will go.
(HARROZ) Yeah, when we went to the State Capitol, we were joined by the CEO of the Bank of Oklahoma, and he said, “Look, I know you’re interested in attracting these businesses to our state but we have these needs in our state and we cannot hire enough people, like in areas like cyber security.” To me, it’s exciting. What do you think the size of this will be? What will it’s impact be?
(REED) Our goal is that within six years we will be up to six hundred students. That’s both junior and senior undergrads as well as graduate students. We will be graduating 200 graduates a year.
(HARROZ) So, here you are, you’ve done all these amazing things. You’re back at OU. We let you go other places but now you’re back home. What are you most excited about being the leader of this new school?
(REED) I love to create. I like to listen and create things that fulfil a need and so to do something for my alma mater but also my home state is really exciting. I have friends that are even around the area in Arkansas and Kansas in our area, they’re excited as well. It’s a way to have a positive influence on the future. I've heard a quote that you’re only as good as the next thing that you do. I got to keep doing it. Creating and this is exciting because you can see the need. I can’t tell you every time I sit down in a meeting with a company or someone from our state government, the need is just palpable. They are adament and excited and the partnerships for example with Tulsa Community College and the Tulsa Higher Education Consortium, they’re so excited about us doing this. These partnerships that are supportive and send you these great connections and opportunities, it makes it where it’s fun to get up in the morning and go to work.
(HARROZ) It really is. We talk about our purpose here at OU is we change lives; it clearly impacts when we change the lives of students that go through this program and go through the Polytech school. It’s going to impact the state in a fundamental way. I think that under your leadership, I know what’s being done here is really special. I’ll make a prediction that six years from now, you’re way ahead of those projections. It’s the right opportunity for our students at the right time. It’s going to transform northeast Oklahoma and the state. Students are becoming more understanding of the business proposition around education. So, as we wrap this up, anything we didn’t talk about?
(REED) I’m just looking to hear what other people think we should be doing. What the needs are. I look forward to talking to more people around the state and being a part of what’s coming up for us. I think, as an institution, as a state, I’m proud to be a Sooner.
(HARROZ) I love it. We’re beyond blessed to be born and raised Sooners. Both of us are educated here. It creates a special light inside of you. We’re thrilled that you’re here. Can’t wait to see what you’re going to accomplish with the school. It is important and it will make an profound impact.
Thank you, Dr. Teri Reed, for being an example for all of us that are a part of this Sooner Nation and thank you for your leadership.
We want to thank everyone for listening today. If you haven’t already, please subscribe. Make sure that all future episodes, you’re here as well. We look forward to welcoming you to our next Conversations with the President. Thank you.
