Young Administrator Brings World of Experience to OU
By Susan Simpson, The Daily Oklahoman
5 September 2006
Business News
Sep. 5--NORMAN --
Chris Howard was a young executive on the "fast-track" at General Electric when a chance encounter changed his life's direction. A former Rhodes Scholar, he was visiting professors at Oxford when he literally bumped into University of Oklahoma President David Boren, also a Rhodes Scholar.
"It was one of those wonderful Forest Gump moments," Howard said.
The two began chatting, and both had amazing stories to tell. Boren, whom Howard had recognized as a former U.S. senator, was leading a renaissance at OU. He'd attracted record donor support for buildings and scholarships, and brought new energy and ideas to campus. Howard was launching business and humanitarian efforts in Africa, had served as a top military intelligence officer searching for Osama bin Laden and had earned a degree from Harvard Business School.
Boren told Howard he was looking for inspirational leaders who could bring "pract-ademics" to OU, motivating students with their real life stories of courage, determination and hard work. But Howard said he was the one who left inspired that day. After more discussions with Boren, he quit his corporate job and entered the next phase of his life - university administrator.
Role model
Howard joined OU in 2005 as a professor, director of the Honors College Leadership Center and associate director of the International Programs Center. Within a year, he also was named vice president for Strategic and Leadership Initiatives, a new administrative job that Boren created to help campus groups collaborate and expand leadership programs. He earns $165,000 a year.
"He is an outstanding role model for students," Boren said of Howard. "He is able to share his remarkable combination of experiences with our students."
Certainly, Howard has accomplished much in his 37 years. After graduating from Plano High School in 1987, where he was one of only 18 blacks in his class of 1,300, he was appointed to West Point and the Air Force Academy, choosing the latter. At the academy, he was class president and group commander, and most memorably, he was starting running back on the football team that upset Ohio State University in the 1990 Liberty Bowl.
Howard later was inducted into the Verizon Academic All-American Hall of Fame. Upon graduation, he was named a Rhodes Scholar, earning his doctorate in politics at Oxford. Still active in the military, he also graduated first in his class from Intelligence Officer School, where he piloted a Huey helicopter. He was a military adviser to Secretary of Defense William Cohen in Cape Town, South Africa, and hunted for war criminals in Bosnia before joining the Air Force Reserve.
In 1999, Howard was hired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in international project management, overseeing a $100 million HIV/AIDS initiative in southern Africa. Howard and his wife, Barbara, whom he met in her native South Africa, founded a humanitarian organization called Impact Young Lives Foundation, which provides scholarships and travel opportunities to victims of apartheid. By 2003, Howard had earned his master's degree in business administration at Harvard and had joined General Electric's corporate team. But then he was called to serve in Afghanistan as chief of a human intelligence cell seeking bin Laden. Howard returned a year later with a Bronze Star and a renewed commitment to helping others -- and his chance encounter with Boren.
Sooner spirit
Today, Howard looks forward to the new challenges in life. His wife, who directs their charity, and two sons will move from Cambridge, Mass., to Norman next year. At OU, Howard wants to create more mentorships for students to learn from professionals in their field. He hopes to return the number of international students attending OU to what it was before Sept. 11, 2001. He wants more students to strive for, and receive, national scholarships and travel opportunities. And he wants to instill the value of giving back, as his parents taught him.
"They always told me, 'From one to whom much is given, much is expected.'"
Howard said his parents taught him the values of hard work and education. The family moved to Plano after his father retired from the Army and took a management job with United Parcel Service. Howard's mother, an accountant, earned her college degree while her sons were in high school.
They told him stories of their struggles during segregation, and later his wife told him of her life during apartheid. Through his charity, Howard aims to help South Africans who "still lack access to that nation's hopes and dreams."
"We've been given a lot and we wanted to make a difference," he said. "My great-great grandfather was a slave, and I'm a Rhodes Scholar so that's not lost on me. I take that to heart."
Global understanding
Howard is a "great scholar who understands the role of education in contemporary society," said Ed Perkins, senior vice provost for international programs at OU and a former U.S. Ambassador to Australia. Howard and Perkins are working to expand student exchanges and travel opportunities, along with programs dealing with foreign policy.
"Whatever they do here in the United States or abroad, more and more (students) will find their niche for the future outside of the United States, and they need to be able look at global activity in everyday terms," Perkins said.
Before honors student Josh Woodward graduated from OU last spring with bachelor's degrees in economics and marketing, he went to Howard for advice about whether to pursue employment or enroll in graduate school. Howard encouraged both, and offered Woodward a one- year fellowship in the Honors College Leadership Center, where he's helping develop the mentorship program. Woodward, who next plans to study overseas for his graduate degree, said he's been inspired by Howard.
"He's one of those people who have a buzz around them. Students are just drawn to him, and the energy and new perspective he brings," Woodward said.