Dean Arthur Gentile
Arthur Gentile was brought to the University of Oklahoma in 1972 to serve as Dean of the Graduate College and Vice Provost for Research Administration. Having served as the associate dean of the Graduate College at the University of Massachusetts, Gentile was seen as a suitable long-term candidate to replace the interim dean, Ed Crim.One of Gentile’s first tasks was to define “research” for the Board of Regents. Gentile’s definition is a cogent, well-crafted outline of academic research throughout the disciplines and makes the case that research should remain one of the primary focuses of the university system.
Among Gentile’s accomplishments at the University of Oklahoma was the improvement in the graduate program in the College of Business Administration. Gentile recognized that the university was not large enough in 1972 to be a major power in every field of graduate research, so he stressed targeted improvement in a limited number of programs on an annual basis as the key to growth. Partly as in recognition for Gentile’s work at Oklahoma, he was named Chairman of the Council of Graduate Schools’ Task Force on Internal Program Evaluation in 1973.
Gentile also pushed for increased funding for faculty travel as a means to further develop the university’s image on the national level. While funding was still scarce for graduate students, Gentile sought to ensure the increasing efforts to retain the best scholars of the university community.
After just two years at OU, Arthur Gentile left to become Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.