FALL 2008 THE DEVON BOATHOUSE FUTURE HOME OF OCU ROWING FALL 2008 VOLUME 52, NO. 2 ACROss THE DEPARTMENTS GENERATIONS 2 President’s Message 4 University Update Brick upon brick, the Oklahoma City University we know 10 Focus on Alumni today has been built through the efforts of those who came before… each generation of students enjoying 17 Focus on Athletics greater opportunity through the support of alumni and friends from generations past. 47 In Memory page 10 Much of this critical support has come through bequests. A gift to OCU, made by will or trust, can reach across the generations to touch the lives of tomorrow’s students. FEATURES Your bequest can provide: 7 The Devon Boathouse • A scholarship endowment to help future generations of students share the OCU experience Future Home of OCU Rowing • An endowed chair to help maintain OCU’s tradition of outstanding faculty 10 Oh, the Places They’ll Go! • Enhanced equipment and facilities to keep pace Young Alumni Follow Their Dreams Near & Far with the demands of the future • An undesignated endowment to help meet emerging 20 A Golden Age for the needs and take advantage of singular opportunities. page 20 Kramer School of Nursing Your will is a final statement about the people and causes that were important in your life. After family, loved ones, and faith, the experiences you shared at OCU likely shaped the course of your life as much as any other FOCUS • 2501 N. Blackwelder • Oklahoma City, OK 73106-1493 influence. We hope you will consider including in your FOCUS Fall 2008 estate plans a reflection of the place the university holds Focus is produced semiannually by the Communications and Marketing and Alumni Departments for alumni, parents, and in your life. friends of Oklahoma City University. E-mail alumni news to Editor Christine Dillon Tom McDaniel [email protected] and any story ideas to [email protected]. For information on how you can reach across the gen- President, Oklahoma City University Writers Leslie Berger Check out Oklahoma City University at www.okcu.edu. erations through a bequest to OCU, visit our website Rod Jones Art Cotton at www.okcu.edu/plannedgiving, then click on “Estate Rich Tortorelli Vice President for University Oklahoma City University pledges to recruit, select and promote diversity by providing equality of opportunity in higher education Planning, or contact: Advancement Designers Issei Aoyama for all persons, including faculty and employees with respect to hiring, continuation, promotion and tenure, applicants for admission, enrolled Lechelle Calderwood Sandy Cotton DALE ROss students, and graduates, without discrimination or segregation on the Kevin Miller Senior Director of Development grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, handicap or PLANNED GIVING SPECIALIST disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status. UNIVERSITY AdvaNCEMENT OFFICE Photographers Issei Aoyama Dale Ross Kendra Barreda Planned Giving Specialist The Vice President for Student Affairs, located in Room 205 of the (405) 208-5925 Leslie Berger Clara E. Jones Administration Building, telephone (405) 208-5831, [email protected] Kimberley Mlinar Jacque Fiegel ‘76 coordinates the university's compliance with titles VI and VII of the President, OCU Alumni Board Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of Hugh Scott 1972, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Rich Tortorelli Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT America is reeling from the economic We welcomed one of our largest and most-credentialed planting flowers and painting curbs. crisis of recent days and the effect is freshman classes to date onto campus in August. We Also, the OCU community has come together to form being felt around the world. Oklahoma are excited to see the paths these talented young people a new group called the Galaxy Club. It is comprised of City University, like each of you, is try- choose for their lives and honored to play a role in shaping 25 special-interest social groups in an effort spear-headed ing to assess the impact both current their future. by my favorite lady, Brenda McDaniel. The first meeting and long term. We are poised to begin construction on a magnificent was attended by 146 trustees, faculty and staff and plans Our enrollment is up, our reten- boathouse made possible by the visionary leadership of were made for dancing, rowing, dinner parties, travel, tion rate is at an all-time high and Devon Energy, a true friend of this university and this city. cycling, gardening, film and other shared-interest groups. we received a national award for our The OCU Devon Boathouse will be located just east of the It promises to be exciting. retention program. Lincoln Street Bridge. The Oklahoma City University Head On December 3, OCU and our partner The United Way This spring OKC Business ranked of the Oklahoma Regatta was October 4-5 and once again will invite 5,000 of our neighbors and their families to join OCU as one of the top 15 places to thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of spectators us for Light the Campus, an event now in its eighth year. work in Oklahoma. We were the and fans converged at the Oklahoma River We open our doors for children and their families ONLY college or university included Now in its fifth year, the Regatta has once again taken to make holiday crafts, enjoy cookies and other refresh- in the rankings. rowing in Oklahoma to the next level. Oklahoma City has ments, have their pictures taken with Santa and attend More recently, in a national survey been designated as the site for a new USRowing National our beautiful holiday service, the Hanging of the Greens commissioned by The Chronicle of Higher High Performance Center. This will be the first center of in the chapel. Education, OCU is listed among the its kind in the nation and will ultimately be headquartered Seminary classes began this fall as St. Paul School of “2008 Great Colleges to Work for” in in Oklahoma City University’s new Devon Boathouse, Theology at Oklahoma City University and Dean Elaine America being listed in the top five peer scheduled to open in May 2010. Robinson welcomed 23 students in our inaugural class. universities in 16 workplace categories. All around the nation, OCU stars are making plans to Our renovations at Dulaney-Browne Library are on OCU’s total assets, net assets and come back to campus for Reunion Weekend November schedule and are beautiful. A new student work-out facil- endowment have doubled in the past 3-5. That weekend, we will honor our Distinguished ity at the Centennial Residence Center is now complete seven years. Our annual budget is bal- Alumni, an impressive group by any standard. Honorees and we are planning expansion of The Kramer School anced. United Methodist Church sup- include Ms. Marie Danvers Gallagher, Ann Lacy School of of Nursing. port is at an all-time high, business American Dance and Arts Management; Ms. Karla Branch We graduated a great group of students in May, and community support continues to grow Martin, Kramer School of Nursing; Celine Ferguson, our incoming class looks promising. Current students and development campaigns have been Meinders School of Business; Dr. Brent Beson, Petree are doing well. The new Miss Oklahoma is OCU Dance successful. College of Arts and Sciences; Ms. Suzanne Hayden, School student, Kelsey Cartwright, and four current business Of course, our endowment portfolio of Law; Ms. Marquista Lister, Wanda L. Bass School of students won second place in an international competi- has been adversely affected and our Music; and The Reverend Charlotte Teel, Wimberly School tion with a business plan developed with the Love’s outstanding bonds are subject to the of Religion. Chris Schroder will be inducted into the Entrepreneurship Center. Our alums make us proud from same pressures of other institutions. So Athletic Hall of Fame. Broadway to primetime television and from pulpits to we are acutely aware of economic issues We will also stage our fifth annual race with the Stars classrooms and courtrooms around America. So it is at our confronting us all. 5K run and 1-mile fun walk. Under the leadership of OCU University, sending forth servant leaders and welcoming I would just want all friends of alum and trustee Marianne Vannatta and fellow alum a new group anxious to learn. It is what we do. It is who Oklahoma City University to know that Andrea Carpenter, this community event has now raised we are. Thank you for your help and support. while we are not exempt from these more than $100,000 in scholarship funds for our nursing pressures being experienced, we are program. The scholarships are earmarked for nursing Sincerely, well-positioned to deal with the issues educators, one of our country’s greatest needs. that may be ahead. Certainly we are This fall, the OCU family came together for the first- paying close attention and planning ever One Give. The event sponsored by OCU’s Student accordingly. Government Association included students, faculty, staff In a traditional sense the 2008-2009 and trustees for a campus-wide day of service. Groups Tom McDaniel school year is off to a great start. took part in beautification efforts such as laying sod, President 2 fOCUS UNIVERSITY UPDATE OCU Student Crowned Leadership Award; Ann Felton, previously worked as a litiga- Dulaney-Browne Miss Oklahoma, Four Stars Lifetime Achievement Award; and tion consultant for two Big Five Library Renovated Finish in Pageant’s Top 10 Ray Ackerman, Special Lifetime accounting firms. Major renovations have been Four Oklahoma City University Achievement Award.