A graduate of the University of Oklahoma has been named the new President of Cornell University. The Cornell University Board of Trustees has approved Elizabeth Garrett to be the thirteenth president of Cornell University. She is the first woman to be appointed President at Cornell.

Garrett is a 1985 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she received her B.A. in History. Garrett is the daughter of Jane and Robert Garrett and is a native of Oklahoma City. While at the University of Oklahoma, Garrett was awarded the Ewing Fellowship to serve as an intern for David Boren while he was a member of the U.S. Senate.

After her time at OU, Garrett went on to receive her juris doctorate from the University of Virginia Law School, where she graduated first in her class. After leaving the University of Virginia, Garrett served as budget and tax counsel and legislative director for Sen. Boren and clerked at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Boren said, “The University of Oklahoma family is proud that one of our graduates, Beth Garrett, has been named as President of one of the nation’s leading universities. She is a person with outstanding ability and complete integrity.”

Her public service also includes appointments to the bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, the California Fair Political Practices Commission, and co-chair of its Subcommittee on the Political Reform Act and Internet Political Activity.

Garrett has most recently been the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Southern California. She will assume the presidency on July 1, 2015.