Current source roster
Vice President, OU-Tulsa
Vice president
January 8, 2024–present
Appointed executive role, not an elected municipal office.
People / Government & civic life
Susan Bynum
Vice President, OU-Tulsa · Civic and nonprofit board member
A university executive connecting Tulsa higher education with business, philanthropy and civic institutions.
Susan Bynum leads strategy and external relationships for OU-Tulsa and serves on the boards of the Tulsa Regional Chamber and Tulsa Area United Way. Her career spans government-relations consulting, private legal practice and university administration. Her authority comes from an appointed university office and distinct board roles.
From public relations and law to university leadership
Susan Carlson Bynum graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2000 with a journalism–public relations degree and from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2017, according to Oklahoma Policy Institute’s appointment biography. Her earlier work included federal government-relations consulting for aerospace, health-care and financial-services clients. OU describes ten years of consulting in Oklahoma and Washington, D.C., and an earlier executive-director role at the Sapulpa Chamber of Commerce; precise dates for those jobs remain unestablished. She later practiced corporate, nonprofit and employment law at Frederic Dorwart Lawyers PLLC. The Frontier placed her arrival at the firm in summer 2017. This was a transition into university administration from legal and external-relations work.
Career & public service
- 2000
OU degree
Graduated in journalism–public relations.
- Before legal practice
Consulting and chamber leadership
Government-relations consulting and earlier Sapulpa Chamber leadership; employment dates not established.
- February 2016
Literacy volunteering
Reading Partners dates the beginning of her tutoring to this month.
- 2017
Law degree and private practice
TU law graduation; the Frontier reports she joined Frederic Dorwart Lawyers that summer.
- June 2021
Policy institute board
Oklahoma Policy Institute announced her appointment.
- January 2024
OU-Tulsa vice president
Employment began January 8; Regents approval reported January 12.
- July 2024
Campus outreach
Presented university programs and expansion plans to the Chamber’s executive committee.
- November 2024
Women’s Commission
Recorded as the mayor’s appointee at the November 1 meeting.
- March–April 2026
Schools bond advocacy
Spoke in support March 12; district reports passage April 7.
People, institutions and the relationships between them
Following the connections
Each step below represents a documented relationship. Dates and roles belong to the individual links; a path can span different periods.
personSusan Bynum
officeVice President, OU-Tulsa
universityUniversity of Oklahoma–Tulsa
An appointed executive office within the university’s Tulsa campus.
business associationTulsa Regional Chamber
personSusan Bynum
nonprofitTulsa Area United Way
Two distinct board memberships; no shared control inferred.
personSusan Bynum
law firmFrederic Dorwart Lawyers PLLC
The second link describes the firm’s 2017 representation, not a verified personal client assignment.
Documented relationships
16 documented relationships · Historical and current roles remain distinct.
Current source roster
Vice President, OU-Tulsa
Campus executive role · University of Oklahoma–Tulsa
Current
Portfolio focuses on strategy and external relationships; separate academic/finance officers exist.
Current source roster
University of Oklahoma–Tulsa
Vice President, OU-Tulsa
January 8, 2024–present
Historical record
University of Oklahoma Board of Regents
Approved vice-presidential appointment
January 12, 2024
Approval event is separate from January 8 employment start.
Current source roster
University of Oklahoma–Tulsa
Tulsa campus · University of Oklahoma
Current source roster
Tulsa Regional Chamber
Director
Verified October 3, 2026
Appointment and term dates not established.
Current source roster
Tulsa Area United Way
Director
Verified October 3, 2026
No cabinet or officer position attributed to her.
Current source roster
Tulsa Higher Education Consortium
Advisory board participant
Verified October 3, 2026
Listed among institutional leaders; exact term dates not supplied.
Historical record
Oklahoma Policy Institute
Documented board service
Joined 2021; departure date unresolved
Current institute roster omits her; OU biography still calls membership current. No exact end date invented.
Historical record
Tulsa Women’s Commission
Mayor’s appointee
Documented November 1, 2024
Minutes identify presence and comments. No current term or voting power inferred.
Historical record
Frederic Dorwart Lawyers PLLC
Attorney
Summer 2017–before OU appointment in 2024
Summer start reported contemporaneously; exact departure date unverified. No ownership or personal client assignments inferred.
Historical record
Frederic Dorwart Lawyers PLLC
Represented authority in lease negotiations · River Parks Authority
Reported September 2017
Firm relationship; does not establish Susan’s personal assignment or current representation.
Current source roster
G.T. Bynum
Spouse
Documented in 2017 and 2026
Relevant because firm employment prompted reported mayoral recusal; no private household or minor information included.
Historical record
University of Oklahoma
BA, Journalism–Public Relations
2000
Degree year from institutional biography; not enrollment start.
Historical record
University of Tulsa
Juris Doctor
2017
Degree year from institutional biography; academic transcript not examined.
Historical record
University of Oklahoma–Tulsa
Budgeted position salary
FY2026: July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026
PDF p383; account511011, employee615796, FY2026 Budget column. Publication date unresolved; visually checked. Not actual earnings/current FY2027 rate.
$250,000 · FY2026 budgeted salary line; not payroll earnings
Dated public records
Compensation & campaign finance
Budgeted university salary
$250,000
FY2026 · July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026
USD position allocation, OU budget PDF p383. Not actual earnings, total compensation or current FY2027 pay.
A new office, followed by Regents approval
OU announced the new vice-presidential role on December 19, 2023, as interim campus president Jim Sluss prepared to return to the engineering faculty. Bynum began January 8, 2024. OU’s January 12 report then recorded Regents approval of her appointment. Those are distinct events: the initial announcement was conditional, while the later report confirmed the board action. The title in the current university roster is Vice President, OU-Tulsa.
Campus outreach and the Polytechnic reorganization
In July 2024, Bynum addressed the Chamber’s executive committee about the Polytechnic Institute and plans for expanding cancer care in Tulsa. The Chamber’s account records her public presentation of OU’s educational and health-care priorities. In January 2025, OU Daily reported that the Regents approved moving the Polytechnic Institute into the Gallogly College of Engineering. The newspaper attributed to OU’s president an account of Bynum’s work identifying the institute’s market. The governing-board agenda proposed the organizational transfer for July 1, 2025. These records distinguish her outreach responsibilities from the board’s authority to approve institutional changes. They do not establish measured improvements in enrollment, workforce supply or patient outcomes.
Chamber, United Way and higher-education connections
Current rosters list Bynum as a Tulsa Regional Chamber director, a Tulsa Area United Way director and a participant on the Tulsa Higher Education Consortium’s advisory board. Each identifies her with OU-Tulsa. These positions put university leadership in regular institutional contact with business, philanthropy and neighboring colleges. The responsibilities remain separate. United Way describes funding reviews conducted through volunteer panels, division chairs and a Community Investments Cabinet; her general board listing does not establish that she individually selects grants. The consortium lists her among college and university leaders, which documents participation without making her chair of that body.
Policy, commission and literacy work
Oklahoma Policy Institute announced Bynum’s addition to its board in June 2021. Its current board page no longer lists her, so this profile records historical service without assigning an unsupported departure date. Tulsa Women’s Commission minutes document her participation as the mayor’s appointee on November 1, 2024, including comments during a discussion of women’s technology opportunities. They establish that dated role, rather than a current commission term. Reading Partners separately reports that she began tutoring in February 2016 while attending law school. These are distinct policy, advisory and volunteer relationships, rather than evidence that the organizations shared management.
Support for the 2026 Tulsa schools bond
Bynum publicly supported Tulsa Public Schools’ bond proposal at a March 12, 2026 Chamber news conference. The Chamber’s account includes her own favorable remarks, rather than merely placing her in the audience. The school district subsequently reported that voters passed all four propositions on April 7. This documents her advocacy and the election outcome. It does not establish a campaign-management position, personal campaign contribution or authority over the district’s bond spending.
A documented family connection and a mayoral recusal
Bynum is married to former Tulsa mayor G.T. Bynum. That relationship has a specific civic relevance in the public record. In September 2017, The Frontier reported that the then-mayor had recused himself from River Parks Authority master-lease negotiations because her employer, Frederic Dorwart Lawyers, represented the authority. The report also described a city ethics advisory opinion addressing the mayor’s recusal procedures. The relationship established here is her employment at the firm; the report does not establish that she personally handled the negotiations. The mayor’s withdrawal from that matter should not be presented as a finding of misconduct by Susan Bynum.
What the salary record establishes
The January 12, 2024 Regents agenda proposed a starting annualized rate of $250,000 for a twelve-month appointment beginning January 8. A later source independently supplies a dated budget figure: OU’s FY2026 operating budget, PDF page 383, allocates $250,000 to the Susan Bynum position in the Tulsa Executive Office. That covers the July 2025–June 2026 budget year. Both amounts are U.S. dollars, but they describe a proposed rate and a budget line, not two payments to add together. Neither establishes actual take-home pay, all compensation or her current FY2027 salary. The newer FY2027 organizational summaries were checked; an individual current-pay figure was not established.
Interpretation
Where her institutional influence is most visible
The clearest pattern is a public university executive whose work depends on relationships beyond the campus. Her board service provides documented connections to business, charitable funding and higher-education coordination; her previous legal work adds a historically documented link to public-authority negotiations. Those connections help explain her institutional setting. They cannot, by themselves, demonstrate control over grants, coordinated political activity or influence over another official’s decisions. The most useful future reporting would test the results of her recruitment and partnership work against dated institutional measures.
Check the record
Sources & corrections
Research checked 2026-10-03. Roles and financial figures retain their source dates. Sections appear only when supported material is available; an omitted section is not a finding that no such relationship exists.
- OU-Tulsa — current leadership ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
Vice president biography; portfolio and separate academic/finance leadership. Page updated February 18, 2026. Board assertions checked separately.
- OU names Susan Bynum vice president ↗
primary · Source date 2023-12-19 · Checked 2026-10-03
December announcement was pending Regents approval; intended January 8 start; career and education.
- OU president — Tulsa leadership transition ↗
primary · Source date 2023-12-19 · Checked 2026-10-03
New vice-presidential role following Jim Sluss’s departure from interim presidency.
- OU Regents approve administrative appointments ↗
primary · Source date 2024-01-12 · Checked 2026-10-03
Reports Board approval of Susan Bynum as Vice President, OU-Tulsa.
- OU Regents — January 12, 2024 agenda ↗
public-record · Source date 2024-01-12 · Checked 2026-10-03
Item 19, printed page 87/PDF page 88, Norman new appointments: proposed $250,000 annualized 12-month rate effective January 8, 2024. USD; visually inspected. Agenda recommendation, not payroll earnings.
- OU — FY2026 operating budget detail ↗
public-record · Checked 2026-10-03
PDF page 383, PST01001 Tulsa Executive Office, account 511011, employee 615796 Bynum,Susan, FY2026 Budget column $250,000 USD. Visually inspected. July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026 appropriation/budget, not actual earnings. Publication date not printed on inspected page.
- OU — current annual budget index ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
FY2027 summaries checked; July 29, 2026 index update. Newer organizational detail does not establish Bynum’s individual current salary.
- Tulsa Regional Chamber — directors ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
Current Susan Bynum / OU-Tulsa board listing; identity matched against United Way listing.
- Tulsa Area United Way — board and cabinets ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
Full Board of Directors: Susan Bynum, OU-Tulsa. Officer and cabinet roles separately listed; no personal grant authority inferred.
- Tulsa Area United Way — community investments process ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
Steps 1–5: application/financial review, site visits, panels, division chairs, Community Investments Cabinet funding decisions.
- Tulsa Higher Education Consortium — advisory board ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
College/university leadership roster lists Susan Bynum, Vice President, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa.
- Oklahoma Policy Institute — new directors ↗
primary · Source date 2021-06-10 · Checked 2026-10-03
Susan Bynum section: June 2021 board announcement, 2000 OU degree, 2017 TU law degree and prior consulting fields. Updated October 25, 2021.
- Oklahoma Policy Institute — current board ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
Current roster omits Susan Bynum; no departure date supplied. Historical service retained without asserting continuous current membership.
- Tulsa Women’s Commission — November 1, 2024 minutes ↗
public-record · Source date 2024-11-01 · Checked 2026-10-03
Page 1: Mayor’s Appointee Present: Susan Bynum; comments on technology opportunities. Does not establish current term or individual voting authority.
- Chamber — OU-Tulsa leader explains campus strategy ↗
primary · Source date 2024-07-23 · Checked 2026-10-03
Rhett Morgan; Bynum’s July presentation on Polytechnic programs and proposed cancer-center expansion. Institutional event report; projections are not outcomes.
- OU Regents — proposed Polytechnic reorganization ↗
public-record · Source date 2025-01-30 · Checked 2026-10-03
Item 7: move into Gallogly College of Engineering proposed effective July 1, 2025; institutional decision distinct from Bynum’s outreach role.
- OU Daily — Regents approve Polytechnic move ↗
independent-reporting · Source date 2025-01-30 · Checked 2026-10-03
Anusha Fathepure and Ana Barboza, Polytechnic Institute section; approval and Harroz’s account of Bynum’s marketing work. Article calls her president; current official vice-president title controls. Updated February 3.
- Chamber — Tulsa schools bond advocacy ↗
primary · Source date 2026-03-12 · Checked 2026-10-03
Rhett Morgan; Susan’s stated support at March 12 event. Attendance alone is not the evidence: her attributed remarks support the bond.
- Tulsa Public Schools — all four bond propositions pass ↗
primary · Checked 2026-10-03
District reports April 7, 2026 voter approval. Authorization does not establish expenditure or personal control.
- The Frontier — mayor’s 2017 River Parks recusal ↗
independent-reporting · Source date 2017-09-01 · Checked 2026-10-03
September 1 report: spouses; Susan joined Dorwart in summer 2017; firm represented River Parks; mayor recused. Reports August 15 advisory opinion. Original DocumentCloud opinion not retrieved; legal wording not independently characterized.
- Reading Partners — Every Hour Empowers ↗
primary · Source date 2019-01-23 · Checked 2026-10-03
Institutional account: Susan began tutoring February 2016 as a TU law student. No child’s identity reproduced.