V. Burns Hargis has been a passionate and creative Oklahoma leader for nearly 40 years. He served as the 18th president of Oklahoma State University, only the second OSU graduate to serve as president. He holds degrees in accounting from OSU and in law from the University of Oklahoma. Hargis brought incredible enthusiasm and energy to OSU. Shortly after becoming president, Hargis led a record-setting fund-raising initiative. He created a bold vision of creating a modern land-grant university that combines disciplines to better prepare students for a new world. Prior to becoming president of OSU, Hargis had a distinguished banking and legal career and led many active civic and philanthropic initiatives. Hargis was a candidate for the Republication nomination for governor of Oklahoma in 1990 and is familiar to many Oklahomans through the political perspective and wit he provided on the award-winning television program “Flashpoint.” A firm believer in the power of imagination and collaboration, Hargis was the first chair of the Oklahoma Creativity Project, which seeks to catalyze a culture of creativity in culture, commerce, and education. Hargis and his wife, Ann, have two married children and three grandchildren.