Dear Oregon State University Colleagues,
Last month, I shared that Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Scott Barnes will retire on Aug. 31. We are so very appreciative of Scott for his nine years of leadership at OSU. Today, I write to share that I have commissioned a search advisory committee chaired by Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer Carla L. Hoʻā to help recruit OSU’s next vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics.
The committee represents a host of perspectives from the OSU community, including alumni, current and former student-athletes, donors and coaches. The search is supported by executive search firm Elevate Talent.
At OSU, we take great pride in making sure students are the heart of everything we do. And in this case, that means finding a candidate who will build on our legacy of putting student-athletes first while leading OSU Athletics to win in an evolving environment that includes revenue sharing, the transfer portal and conference realignment.
I look forward to welcoming a new leader into a new world for OSU Athletics as we launch a revitalized Pac-12 Conference this summer. During a time of massive evolution across the college sports landscape, we have the unique opportunity of a blank slate to build a league that is designed for the modern-day student-athlete and today’s college sports reality.
To support this, the OSU community is stepping up to invest in athletics. Donor support, through the Oregon State University Foundation, has already reached more than $31 million for this fiscal year, outpacing fundraising in each of the last three years, which averaged $27.5 million. And we’ve launched a new membership program to create more resources, more opportunities and more wins for OSU student athletes.
I extend my whole-hearted appreciation to the search advisory committee for their service. You can find updates on the progress of the search, submit nominations for the position and share your feedback through the search website.
I look forward to naming a creative and forward-thinking leader, with an energetic vision for the future of Beaver Athletics.
Sincerely,
Jayathi Y. Murthy
President