Oklahoma's Women College Presidents Include Marlene Strathe at OSU

Oklahoma has another woman college president (albeit an "interim" one).

Marlene Strathe was appointed Interim President in February while Oklahoma State University (OSU) searches for its next president. This makes her the 6th woman to serve as president of a public institution in Oklahoma. Her appointment brings the number of current women college presidents in Oklahoma to four or 16%. Other women currently serving as college presidents are Cindy Ross (Cameron University), JoAnn Haysbert (Langston University), and Janet Cunningham (Northwestern OSU).

The American Council on Education reports 23% of university presidents were female in 2006 and half of the Ivy League schools have a woman at the helm. "Growth in the percentage of presidents who are women or members of ethnic or racial minority groups has been slow, especially over the past 10 years." (Click here to read ACE's findings.)

Oklahoma had the first woman president of a public university in the United States when Kate Galt Zaneis was appointed president of what is now Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant back in the 1930's. Oklahoma's second woman college president was Joe Anna Hibler who served as head of Southwestern OSU at Weatherford from 1990 to 2001.

Source. The Oklahoman, April 9, 2007