Dr. Mark Rutland Begins Presidency at ORU

Oral Roberts University is marking another milestone in the history of the institution on July 1. That is when the third president of ORU, Dr. Mark Rutland, will step into his new role.

"Much prayer, time, and thought was put into the presidential search process and I am excited that Dr. Rutland was chosen as ORU's third president." said Mart Green, board chair of the ORU Board of Trustees. "He brings great wisdom and experience to this role and will strengthen the university's mission to provide an excellent, whole person education to our students."

After a nine-month search, the presidential search committee, made up of representatives from the ORU Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, alumni and students, chose Rutland to lead the school. The official vote by the trustees took place in late January.

Rutland will begin his service to ORU with many tasks on his agenda. A new school year begins in August, and he will be busy developing short-term and long-range plans for the university.

Rutland comes to ORU from Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida where he served as president of the school for 10 years. Rutland is credited with engineering a turnaround at Southeastern after he became president in 1999. The campus has undergone more than $50 million in new construction, and enrollment has increased from less than 1,000 to more than 3,000 as of September 2008. He also founded Global Servants, which has a church-planting ministry in West Africa and a large girls' home in Thailand.

Originally from Texas, Rutland completed a bachelor of science at the University of Maryland in 1970. He went on to earn a master of divinity degree from Candler College of Theology at Emory University in Georgia and a Ph.D. in church growth from the California Graduate School of Theology. Rutland has authored 13 books and hosted a 30-minute daily radio program called The Herald of Joy. He and his wife, Alison, have partnered in marriage and ministry for 42 years. They have three married children and five grandchildren.