Glover Joins OBU as Interim Vice President for University Culture

December 9, 2020

B.J. Glover has joined the Oklahoma Baptist University administration as interim vice president for university culture effective Dec. 1. She is a successful entrepreneur, human resources officer, professional speaker and former news anchor, with decades of experience in helping organizations work through processes and build systems to establish their desired culture within the organization. The position is a newly created post, responsible for working across the university with students, faculty and staff to establish formal structures for university culture, while building on the great work and progress already taking place on Bison Hill.

The role of vice president for university culture is to provide tools and support for identifying and addressing systemic barriers so the University can transform its culture into one that welcomes all people while remaining true to its Christian values and principles. In this role, Glover will help build the infrastructure necessary to support growth and development of the culture in all aspects of the campus, establishing operational processes and determining measurable outcomes.

In establishing this position and hiring Glover to serve as the interim vice president for university culture, OBU seeks to continue operating in the biblical principal of loving God and loving your neighbor. Over the course of the past year, OBU President Dr. Heath A. Thomas has often charged the campus community to follow the biblical guidance to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

“At OBU, we are guided by Scripture and strive to instill the biblical values of love, mercy and humility in our students, faculty and staff, because we desire to live out our Christian faith,” Thomas said. “As followers of Christ, we are called to love our God and to love our neighbor. The addition of the vice president for university culture is designed to help us do this better and with consistency across all areas of campus. We continue to develop a culture that engages our diverse world and sees people the way Jesus sees people.”

“We are delighted to welcome B.J. Glover to OBU as we work together to formulate this position and its role on Bison Hill. She is an accomplished professional, with decades of experiences in leading institutions in diversity initiatives. Her deep Christian faith, her knowledge, her love for our students and her passion for our mission all came together and made her the obvious choice for this role. She is committed to help us make positive change governed by Christian Scripture, committed to our mission, and driven by Christ’s love. We are thrilled to have her on our team.”

Glover is excited for the opportunity to work with students, faculty, staff and administration on Bison Hill, to collectively build a culture that will become a model for like institutions throughout the nation.

“OBU to me represents a whole genre of institutions that have reached a point where they are ready to address some of the many changes that have become apparent in our society today,” she said. “We want authentic change and not simply the appearance of being relevant. This will ultimately allow us to reach more students by creating an environment that is relevant for them.”

Glover believes there are five critical factors necessary for her efforts to take root and make an enduring impact. Those factors include an evaluation of the current campus culture, the strategy employed to address the culture, the structure needed for various groups to come together to work on a lasting solution, the skills and knowledge needed throughout campus for every member of the campus community to positively impact culture, and sustainability of the programs put into practice.

"It's a very comprehensive approach to looking at the university's culture and operations, trying to look at every sector to see what we need to address," she said.

Glover believes that God had this in mind for her all along, preparing her throughout her career to join the administration at OBU for such a time as this.

“This will be the most significant body of work in my whole career because I believe it will have a positive impact not only on the university, but also on the community and on the industry of Christian universities and just on society in general,” she said. “When you address things like this, the impact will go far beyond the campus. My expectation is that over time the work we do will transform culture and we expect to impact the culture in a positive way.”

Glover visited the campus earlier this fall as a guest speaker for the Dickinson College of Business at the Business Forum Sept. 4. She is the founder of B.J. Glover Learning and Consulting, helping organizations reach their desired goals through consulting, leadership development and professional coaching. She formed the business because she is passionate about organizations establishing and nurturing positive workplace culture. Her professional approach is from a biblical worldview, believing that we should love all people as Jesus loved them.

Glover grew up in segregated communities and schools in the deep south yet later also spent time living in Amsterdam. Formerly a television news anchor and talk show host, she subsequently enjoyed a successful career as a human resources leader for more than 25 years. She retired in 2015 from Johnson Controls, then a $55 billion Fortune 100 global enterprise. While there, she earned a Master of Science in human resource development at Villanova University as well as the SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications.

She is a Certified Professional Coach and a Certified Equal Employment Opportunity Investigator who investigates cases filed against federal agencies around the country. She currently serves as vice president of community outreach for the Association for Talent Development. She previously served two terms as vice president of diversity for the Oklahoma City Human Resources Society and for the Oklahoma State HR Council, where she traveled around the state training HR professionals on diversity topics. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Mid-America Christian University, where she has taught courses in human resources.