A new university president usually has a plan to improve upon the campus they’re taking over and make a mark on their new campus, but Dr. Janet Cunningham’s role isn’t like other presidents. After the sudden and unexplained sabbatical of SWOSU President Diana Lovell, Dr. Cunningham was announced as Acting President, serving in her capacity until Dr. Lovell can return at the beginning of the spring semester. Acting President: an important distinction from Interim is unique to this specific situation. Interim, like our current provost and academic vice president, implies that the previous person will not be returning to the position, but Dr. Cunningham wants to highlight that Dr. Lovell will be returning.
“Interim; it gives the impression that the person has left, and it’s not coming back,” Cunningham said. “Acting is I’m just acting as the president with all full duties, everything until the president, Dr. Lovell, returns.”
Forty-five days since the announcement of Dr. Lovell’s leave, no further information has been released about her absence. An explanation was not even given to Dr. Cunningham before being appointed president.
“What the board has told me, and what was relevant to me, is that President Lovell requests to leave, and she will be returning January 2nd,” Cunningham said.
While she couldn’t speak to the reasoning for Dr. Lovell’s absence, she could speak to the frequency of presidents taking a leave of absence.
“You know, it’s somewhat unusual. You know, I’ll be honest with you, I was trying to think if I had seen that in my career. And it may have happened, I just can’t bring incidents to mind, so it’s a little unusual.”
While the details remain unclear, Cunningham brings deep experience to the role. Dr. Cunningham doesn’t come into this position lacking experience by any means; she has spent over 50 years in higher education, serving 16 years as Vice President of Northwestern Oklahoma State University and 16 years as President of Northwestern Oklahoma State until her retirement in June 2022. While a lifelong NWOSU Ranger, she has a connection to SWOSU unlike any other RUSO school.
“Southwestern is probably the only school that I would consider coming out of retirement for,” Dr. Cunningham said. “Northwestern and Southwestern are rivals athletically, but they’re a lot alike: Western Oklahoma, same types of students, even a lot of the same degree programs.”
Her appointment comes with the same level of enthusiasm from RUSO, the Regional University System of Oklahoma.
“Dr. Cunningham is one of the best higher education leaders in the state, and we are fortunate to have her assistance during this short period,” RUSO Chair Jane McDermott said in the statement sent to SWOSU students. RUSO did not respond to request for further comment.
While Cunningham does not plan on making waves at SWOSU, she does plan to keep SWOSU headed in the right direction. Not heading any project directly but supporting many vice presidents’ projects and the finishing of the Hodge Building.
“If you’re not moving forward on initiatives, you’re stagnant,” Cunningham said. “We’re moving forward with the search for a new provost. Vice President Johnson talked about the new Timely Care app that’s out there that he’s interested in supporting concurrent students. Completing the Hodge building. Making the budget for the ‘27 fiscal year. We’re doing Web and Digital Accessibility and looking at possibly a website redesign. A lot of stuff, which you hope all of those will improve the university in some way.”
Even with her focus on supporting ongoing projects, Cunningham hasn’t forgotten where she came from. Her loyalty, for now, lies firmly with Duke.
“Northwestern is my alma mater,” Cunningham said. “I gave a lot of my life to Northwestern, so it’s always going to have a special place. But I’m here to do a job, and Duke is my dog.”
