University of Central Oklahoma taps former lawmaker Jason Nelson for associate VP post
Jason Nelson, who served as a Republican State representative from 2008 to 2016, will begin his role at the university April 28, UCO President Todd Lamb said.
'Jason Nelson is a longtime community and state leader. His tenacity, vision and collaborative leadership will be an asset for our university. He will be instrumental as UCO interfaces with community and governmental leaders,' Lamb said in a news release announcing the change.
Lamb said Nelson "brings a varied and distinguished 30-year career in public policy, campaigns, government relations and public service to the role."
More: Oklahoma lawmakers grill mental health agency leader over budget gap
During his tenure in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Nelson served as majority floor leader. He did not run for reelection in 2016. Nelson also worked as a legislative liaison for then-Gov. Frank Keating and later as chief of staff for Oklahoma County Clerk Maressa Treat, the wife of former Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat.
Because of his legislative experience, Nelson is expected to work with both state and federal lawmakers and other elected officials.
For his part, Nelson praised UCO, calling it a "special place."
'I know from attending UCO as a student and having a child who is a current UCO student that this university is a special place, playing a vital role in preparing Oklahoma students for the workforce," Nelson said.
Nelson's move puts two former state lawmakers in the school's administration. Lamb served as lieutenant governor and, before that, a member of the Oklahoma Senate.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Former lawmaker Jason Nelson to join University of Central Oklahoma
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Chicago Tribune
24-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
University of Chicago considers restructuring arts and humanities division to cut costs
The University of Chicago is considering a substantial restructuring of the school's Division of the Arts and Humanities to cut costs, citing historic financial strain under the Trump administration. 'University leadership is looking across the entire institution for ways to significantly reduce costs and increase revenue, while continuing to fulfill our mission,' Nelson wrote in the email. The faculty-led committees were instructed to propose changes by the end of August. The Chicago Maroon, the university's student newspaper, first reported on the reorganization efforts Monday. A U. of C. spokesperson told The Tribune in a statement that similar 'focused planning' is taking place across the university. 'This spring and summer, academic leaders across every school and division have been working with faculty and other colleagues to make timely strategic plans for this academic year and years to come,' the spokesperson said. The move comes as the Trump administration exercises increased scrutiny against colleges and universities across the country, including taking steps to pull funding at elite institutions. Nelson pointed to cuts to federal research funding, shifting policies surrounding international students and graduate student loans, and general volatility in the American economy as sources of U. of C.'s underlying fiscal pressures. The proposed changes could be enacted for the 2026-27 academic year, she told faculty. 'The status quo is not an option,' Nelson wrote. 'To simply copy and paste means the inkpad will run dry, and the Division of the Arts & Humanities will very soon be a pale, indecipherable version of what we once aspired to be.' Nelson has been communicating with faculty since January about efforts to plan for the division's future, the university spokesperson said. More than 40 faculty members are participating in the committees. The committees target five different areas for restructuring and cuts: college teaching, divisional organization, languages, master's programs and PhD programs. Each group received a list of 'questions for exploration,' according to documents reviewed by The Tribune. Among those questions: 'Could we envision an organization with 8 departments?' and 'Are there languages we no longer need to teach?' Faculty members described an environment of confusion and frustration in the division, as speculation swirls about the impact of possible cuts. Tyler Williams, an associate professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and a member of the languages committee, said much of the group feels unequipped to suggest changes in a limited time frame. Many are hesitant to propose any spending reductions. 'The process is too fast and too uninformed,' Williams said. 'We're being asked to think of suggestions that could affect dozens of jobs, which could affect the way all languages are taught at the University of Chicago.' Other committees have prioritized identifying changes that would minimize the impact on students. Daisy Delogu, a professor of French literature, was assigned to the PhD programs committee. Her focus has been on finding ways to streamline the PhD process to reduce administrative spending. 'We've been asking ourselves, 'Are these requirements evaluating or advancing students towards certain goals? Do we have milestones in place that are meaningful to students' learning? Or do they feel kind of like giant hoops?'' Delogu said. Some faculty members fear the reorganizing efforts could jeopardize the work of small, specialized departments and their professors. Andrew Ollett, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, specializes in philology and Sanskrit. Because the discipline is so specialized, class sizes are often small — but the department is nationally ranked, Ollett said. 'We have a historic department that has had many luminaries associated with it in the past,' Ollett said. 'I'm really shocked to think that we could just cease to exist over the next year, without substantive discussion, without real faculty consultation, without a review of our program.' In recent years, U. of C. officials have outlined plans to reduce the university's climbing deficit, which topped $288 million last year. But a slew of federal changes under President Donald Trump have thrown the higher education landscape into uncertainty. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have frozen or terminated millions of grants, with little communication to researchers and universities. U. of C. relied on $543 million in federal grant funding in 2024, which accounted for 18% of its revenue, according to bond issuance documents. The school has also faced inquiries from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security on admissions practices and international students. In her email, Dean Nelson highlighted the threat of an increased tax on the university's $10 billion endowment under Trump's 'big beautiful bill.' Federal legislators initially proposed a draft that would have cost the school more than $50 million in additional taxes — but the final version of the bill has no impact on U. of C. based on its student-adjusted endowment. 'The looming federal crisis seems to me to have been very substantially diminished or postponed,' said Clifford Ando, the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Classics. 'So why not put the brakes on and run this process deliberately and carefully?' It's not the first structural change in recent months – U. of C. announced the merger of the Division of the Humanities and UChicago Arts in April. That move was a strategic decision to 'better reflect and support the incredibly vibrant intellectual and creative community' at U. of C., the spokesperson said. Nelson framed the committees as a way to ensure thoughtful faculty input wth restructuring. The Division of the Arts and Humanities remains in a 'relatively good budget position' heading into the upcoming fiscal year, she said. 'If we do nothing, or if we become divided, we will essentially hand over control of shaping the future of the arts and humanities at UChicago to others outside our division,' Nelson wrote.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Yahoo
EDITORIAL: ICE needs to actually focus on national security
Editor's note: This editorial originally ran in fellow CNHI paper Enid, Oklahoma, News & Eagle. If the goal for Immigration and Customs Enforcement is to remove the 'worst of the worst' undocumented immigrants, we fail to see how the detainment of Oklahoman Octavio Mota meets that goal. Mota is most certainly an Oklahoman. Having immigrated with his family when he was 2, mostly growing up in Enid before a recent move to Stillwater so his fiancee could study at Oklahoma State University, Mota has been a green card-holding legal permanent resident for much of his life. While ICE used some misdemeanors to make its arrest — the kind of offenses that by all accounts probably could have been expunged by now — Mota is not the 'worst of the worst.' According to reporting from The Frontier, he's someone who works, pays taxes and was raising a family. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' President Donald Trump posted to his social media in June. 'In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!' Yes, a lot of American industry leans heavily on immigrant labor and it's little shock that it's often jobs that many natural born Americans seem unwilling to do. Words and deeds, apparently, are very different in these cases because White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has pushed a huge quota onto ICE in an effort to make a campaign promise of 'mass deportations' a reality. The reality is that ICE is now operating like the IRS. There's a reason the IRS is more likely to audit someone making $50,000 a year than millionaire tax cheats — the people making 50K a year don't have lawyers on retainer, they can't drag audits out for years and tie up the system. ICE, in an effort to meet its quota, is going for low-hanging fruit regardless of the human cost because it's easier than infiltrating criminal organizations. Few people would argue that our borders should not be secured or that criminal gang members should not be deported. If your argument is that people should behave themselves once they come to this country, we'd argue it should be pretty easy for anyone to weigh the justice of penalizing a youthful indiscretion like public intoxication against violent crimes or trafficking. How could it not be better for society if a father remained here to raise his child, do work that others won't and contribute to the tax base? If your argument is that people should be allowed to immigrate but must do it 'the right way,' you're ignoring how increasingly and intentionally difficult that has become. When people like Mota are deported or threatened with deportation, it means Miller's agenda isn't so much about national security than it is about an effort to reduce the number of brown people in the country. We don't think that was part of the campaign promise. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
22-07-2025
- The Hill
US citizen killed in Syria, State Department says
The State Department on Tuesday confirmed an American citizen was shot and killed by Syrian government forces in viral graphic footage on social media. Hosam Saraya, a Syrian American citizen of Druze descent, was murdered alongside dozens of other men being held captive by local forces in Tishreen Square, located in the center of Sweida, Syria. 'We offer condolences to the family on their loss and are providing consular assistance to them,' the State Department said in a statement to ABC News. 'We are greatly concerned when any U.S. citizen is harmed overseas, wherever they are,' the department wrote. 'The United States calls for accountability in all cases where U.S. citizens are harmed abroad.' Officials told the outlet they were 'looking into accounts of the death of an individual reported to have been a U.S. citizen in Syria,' while family and friends of Saraya confirmed his identity to ABC. The State Department did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. Government leaders started feuding with the Druze people — the largest ethnic group in Sweida, but are considered a minority in the country — and Sunni factions within the country last week. Saraya recently returned home to care for his father after completing courses in Oklahoma, according to CNN Arabic. Oklahoma lawmakers also acknowledged his death through posts online. 'Cindy and I are heartbroken by the death of Hosam Saraya. Hosam was an Oklahoman and member of the Druze community who was tragically executed alongside other members of his family in Syria,' Sen. James Lankford (R) wrote in a Monday post on social platform X. 'We are praying for his family, friends, and the entire community as they grieve this senseless loss. May God bring peace and comfort in this time of sorrow,' he added. 'We've learned that an American citizen from Oklahoma was brutally executed alongside his family members in Syria,' Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R) wrote on X. 'I'm working with partners in the region to learn more, and we're in touch with @GovStitt on this devastating situation,' Mullin said. 'Our prayers are with the family at this time.'
