Charisma Magazine

Oral Roberts University (ORU) today formed a strategic partnership with the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) that both groups hope will make ORU the school of choice for Hispanic Pentecostal students.

During a press conference today, ORU President Mark Rutland and NHCLC President Samuel Rodriguez ceremonially signed copies of the agreement that both men described as "historic."

The president of Southeastern University in Florida was chosen today to succeed former Oral Roberts University leader Richard Roberts.

Jan. 28, 2009 -- The president of a once-struggling Assemblies of God college that tripled its enrollment and transitioned to become a university has been named the new president of Oral Roberts University (ORU).

Mark Rutland, Ph.D., who also helped a Florida megachurch reduce a $15 million debt, will succeed former President Richard Roberts, who resigned in November 2007. The announcement was made Wednesday at a press conference in Tulsa, Okla., after a vote by the ORU Board of Trustees. Rutland is currently president of Southeastern University, an AG college in Lakeland, Fla.