FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          June 15, 2006 

CUNNINGHAM SELECTED AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

            Dr. Janet Cunningham, a long-time senior administrator and accounting professor, has been selected as the 19th president of Northwestern Oklahoma State University by the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges at its meeting on Thursday.

            Cunningham, who currently serves as executive vice president at Northwestern, becomes the second alumnus and first woman to become president of the institution.

            Ann Holloway, chairman of the Regents, said Cunningham’s leadership abilities, experience and vision for Northwestern inspired confidence among members of the board and the University community.

            “The Board of Regents has every confidence in Dr. Cunningham to lead Northwestern and to advance the mission of the institution,” Holloway said. “Dr. Cunningham has consistently demonstrated the qualities of leadership necessary to serve as president of Northwestern. She has the full confidence of the Regents.

            “In our conversations with members of the faculty and staff, and numerous stakeholders, it became clear that she enjoyed broad-based support to become the next leader of Northwestern.”

            Cunningham will begin her duties as president on July 1. Her appointment follows the resignation of Dr. Paul Beran, who will leave Northwestern to assume the position of chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

            “I am honored that the Board of Regents has expressed its confidence in me to lead Northwestern,” Cunningham said. “I have devoted more than half of my life to Northwestern and will continue to work tirelessly to see the University grow in its mission to serve northwest Oklahoma.

            “In the next few weeks, working with our administrative team, we will outline our plans for the next year and beyond. This is an exciting time for Northwestern. We will face challenges and opportunities, but there are far more opportunities than challenges.”

            Cunningham was named executive vice president in 2002 after serving 12 years as vice president for fiscal affairs. As executive vice president, Cunningham served as the second highest ranking officer at Northwestern, developing and administering the university’s fiscal operations, with additional direct control over student services, intercollegiate athletics, auxiliary services, physical plant, financial aid, information technology and economic development.

            She joined the faculty at Northwestern in 1979 and continued teaching until 1985, when she became an instructor at the University of Oklahoma while her husband attended law school there. She returned to teaching at Northwestern in 1988.

            Cunningham earned a doctorate in education from Oklahoma State University and has both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern. She also has completed professional education at the Institute of Educational Management at Harvard University and through the College Business Management Institute at the University of Kentucky. In 2001, she became a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma.

            Cunningham and her husband, Rick, a local attorney, have four children: sons Brett, Tanner and Drew, and a daughter Allison, who will be a sophomore at Northwestern next fall.

-NW-

Editor’s Note: Requests for interviews with President Cunningham should be made to Steve Valencia, Associate Vice President for University Relations, at (580) 430-1571 or to (580) 327-8478.

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