Gary Russi

Last Updated: 6/13/2013 (updates reflect his resignation as of August 1, 2013 and the firing, or retirement depending on who you ask, of his wife Beckie Francis from her position as head women's basketball coach)

Position: president (to be replaced by Betty Youngblood as interim president August 1)

Salary: $357,875

Responsibilities: He handles all major day-to-day University business

Direct reports: flowchart

Years in position/at OU: 20 years. 18 as President

Related experience: He came to OU in 1993 as VP of academic affairs. He served as interim President from 1995-1996. VP for Research and Strategic Planning, Drake University  Executive assistant to the president, Drake Vice Provost of planning and budgeting, Drake Director of University Planning, Drake Chair, Clinical externship program, Drake   Special assistant to the Executive VP and provost university of Nebraska  Professor, health sciences

Education: Bachelor of Science in pharmacology, Southwestern Oklahoma State, Doctorate of pharmacology and toxicology, university of Kansas

Controversies: He announced his retirement the same day his wife Beckie Francis was "relieved of her duties " as OU's head women's basketball coach. She is being replaced on an interim basis by men's associate head coach Jeff Tungate. She has characterized this as a retirement on her Twitter feed . There was much drama in 2009 in a bargaining struggle that lead up to a week long faculty strike that delayed the start of the fall semester. Beginning in April 2009, the administration was named in a suit alleging that OU did not follow its own Constitution when Ron Sudol broke up the Department of Rhetoric, Communication and Journalism into the departments of Writing and Rhetoric, and Communication and Journalism without allowing for adequate faculty input. The grievance and suit were eventually denied. hereand here strike coverage: here and here Micah Fialika-Feldman was a cognitively impaired participant in Oakland University's Post Secondary Transitions Program (OPTIONS) who sued for and won the right to live on Oakland University's campus. Russi and other administration members were named in the suit. Here

Miscellaneous: Russi is married to (now former) women's basketball coach Beckie Francis.here

Contact: You will probably be transferred to Ted Montgomery or David Groves in communications so I will include their information here as well. Email: russi@oakland.edu Phone: 248-370-3500 Ted Montgomery Email: tmontgom@oakland.edu Phone: 248-370-4346 David Groves Email: groves@oakland.edu Phone: 248-370-2759

President