NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents announced today the appointment of Mackenzie Wilfong, J.D. as executive secretary.
With more than two decades of experience in higher education, Wilfong will join OU on June 4 from Tulsa Community College, where she has served as vice president of legal affairs, general counsel and chief legal officer for the past seven years. In this role, she advises TCC and its Board of Regents on all legal, policy and government affairs impacting the college’s four campuses.
“Mackenzie Wilfong’s extensive legal background spanning over two decades in higher education brings invaluable expertise to our Board,” said OU Board of Regents Chair Eric Stevenson. “Her insight will play a crucial role in guiding our governance processes and driving strategic initiatives forward.”
As executive secretary of the Board of Regents, Wilfong will be responsible for Board relations; the operational management of the Board of Regents’ Office, including personnel management and budget administration; and serving as the principal aid to the Board as it makes informed decision and fulfills its fiduciary and oversight responsibilities for the university. She will also be the primary liaison between the Board of Regents and university administration.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mackenzie Wilfong to the University of Oklahoma,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “Her wealth of experience in higher education, coupled with her demonstrated ability to provide strategic advice and foster collaborations to achieve institutional goals, make her an outstanding choice for this key leadership role.”
Prior to joining TCC, Wilfong served various roles during her eight years with the Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents and Oklahoma State University, including associate general counsel and director of equal opportunity, Title IX coordinator and ADA coordinator. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs from OU and a Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU was named the state’s highest-ranking university in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent Best Colleges list. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
Ana J. Chucair-Elliott, Ph.D., an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and research member of Dean McGee Eye Institute, has been funded by the BrightFocus Foundation to investigate how aging, diet and inflammation contribute to retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) degeneration, a deterioration of the layer of cells in the back of the eye.
On Tuesday, May 13, the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis hosted the final Academy meeting of the Socially Sustainable Solutions for Water, Carbon, and Infrastructure Resilience in Oklahoma, or S3OK, project. Funded by the National Science Foundation through the EPSCoR program, the event brought together academic researchers and statewide practitioners for a forward-looking capstone event in Oklahoma City.
The Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships recognized faculty recipients of the awards for excellence in campus-wide research and creative activities, as well as eight recipients of active early career awards, 25 project teams that earned $1 million or more in extramural funding and nine recipients of patents at a ceremony on May 16.
