Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences Magazine 2012

The official magazine of the College of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma State University 2012

Steering a new course Bret Danilowicz takes the wheel of A&S

Gary Lawson / University Marketing

p l a y b i l l 24

cov er Bret Danilowicz is taking over the College of Arts and Sciences as its 12th dean.

Story, Page 2.

Cover photography

by Phil Shockley.

2012 v14

26

30

37

Singing it

Giving it

Gaming it

Posting it

Adley Stump (above)

C l a u d i a B a r t l e t t ’s

Tw o a l u m s h a v e m a d e

Work has begun on the

hadn’t planned to

first gift to OSU was

a career out of working

n e w h o m e f o r O S U ’s

e n d u p a s a s i n g e r,

only $50, but like a

with sponsors for the

art collection in the P o s t a l P l a z a G a l l e r y.

but fate (in the

grand tree from a

Olympic Games — and

form of a sorority

tiny seed, her and her

the London 2012 Games

s i s t e r a n d Va r s i t y

h u s b a n d ’s d o n a t i o n s

were no exception.

Revue) stepped in.

h a v e g r o w n m i g h t i l y.

cas . okstate . e d u

Arts and Sciences Magazine is a publication of the Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences.

All communications should be mailed to OSU College of Arts and Sciences ATTN: Arts and Sciences Magazine 205 Life Sciences East Stillwater, OK 74078-3015.

2 0 1 2 © O k l a h o m a S tat e U n i v e r s i t y Oklahoma State University, in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services. Title IX of the Education Amendments and Oklahoma State University policy prohibit discrimination in the provision of services or benefits offered by the University based on gender. Any person (student, faculty or staff) who believes that discriminatory practices have been engaged in based upon gender may discuss their concerns and file informal or formal complaints of possible violations of Title IX with the OSU Title IX Coordinator, Mackenzie Wilfong, J.D., Director of Affirmative Action, 408 Whitehurst, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, (405) 744-5371 or (405) 744-5576 (fax). This publication, issued by Oklahoma State University as authorized by the College of Arts & Sciences, was printed by University Printing Services at a cost of $9,000/9M. #4356 10/12

s t a f f

Editor

Dorothy L. Pugh ’83

Art Director

Paul V. Fleming ’90/’00

Photographers

Phil Shockley Gary Lawson ’83

Associate Editor Michael Baker

Writers

Brianna Autry Matt Elliott Stacy Pettit ’09 Lorene A. Roberson ’84 Brittany Snapp

Designers

Mark Pennie Ross Maute

College of Arts and Sciences Dean

Bret Danilowicz

Senior Director for Development

Jason J. Caniglia

Communications Coordinator

Lorene A. Roberson ’84

Year indicates OSU College of Arts and Sciences graduates.

From the Dean’s Office

T

his is the first time I have lived in Oklahoma, so I am quickly learning about its history, the Stillwater community and how to really pronounce “Miami.” It is also a perfect opportunity to take stock of the college from a fresh perspective.

Our major goals should include:

»»Educating our A&S students to

levels above their peers from other universities. Our students deserve no less.

»»Garnering a higher national

reputation. That recognition helps us attract a diverse faculty who are passionate about teaching and research, which in turns attracts students with a passion for learning and engagement with faculty.

Looking around the college, I see national recognition for our students and our faculty. Our students’ honors include such examples as Fulbright scholars Joshua Damron and Alejandra Gonzalez Herrera, Goldwater scholar Rosa Yorks and the OSU Symphony Orchestra’s role as a finalist for the American Prize. Our A&S faculty are no less honored: Our physics faculty participated in the discovery of the Higgs boson, our faculty are attracting more federal research grants, and individuals working in our Center for the Study of Disasters and Extreme Events are receiving national awards for their research and teaching in emergency management.

Like these examples, many of our student successes are linked to our alumni support; alumni provided the scholarships that attracted these energetic students here, kept them here and gave them the materials and travel funds to advance their creative activities and research. Alumni support is so important at this time due to the intense competition our students are facing: More students are entering universities, and more are graduating to enter a struggling national economy that’s offering fewer jobs and less opportunity.

The public has begun questioning the value of a college degree, and books are criticizing the attention that college students receive from faculty during the first two years of study.

I was delighted to see our A&S faculty care deeply about getting students off on the right path as freshmen. Our college has created both the Mathematics Learning Success Center and a writing center that focus on ensuring that students learn from Day 1. Student learning is, and will remain, an OSU advantage.

Those who have graduated from OSU can attest to that advantage.

OSU’s alumni are among the most dedicated in the nation. You can see it during “America’s Greatest Homecoming Celebration,” when more than 70,000 alumni and family members return to Stillwater (this year, it is Oct. 20).

You can also see it in the dedication of the graduates who are helping enhance the Boone Pickens School of Geology, giving it a rising national profile. These alumni connect the faculty and students into a diverse network of opportunities.

Going even beyond the generosity of Mr. Pickens, they have secured four additional endowed research chairs and are pursuing another in geoscience education. Recently, alumni have also endowed several graduate student positions, attracting top-caliber students to the program. While this department is an excellent example of a fabulous alumni/faculty partnership, alumni in many other A&S departments are also coalescing to support their former programs.

As you can see from these examples and from the pages of this magazine, our alumni are intertwined with our success as a college.

So reach out and connect to your department’s faculty and students; working together, we can accomplish anything.

Although I have been here just a short while, I have learned one very important tradition at OSU: always close with … … Go Pokes!

Bret Danilowicz Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Phil Shockley / University Marketing

Phil Shockley / University Marketing

2

An Education to Remember story by

Lorene A. Roberson

New A&S dean brings a world of passion for teaching and research to OSU

Bret Danilowicz can count a number of great educators who influenced him while an undergraduate student. continues

“Right now in my life I have a lot of energy and passion, and I bring that with me to OSU. I am really looking forward to attacking this job with vigor.”

3

We are settling into Stillwater and finding great opportunities for the family.

At this point, we are enjoying infusing our wardrobes with OSU orange.”

Bret Danilowicz shows off his catch during a fishing trip.

4 Jason Caniglia / OSU Foundation

A botanist who brought in a variety of plants from every corner of the world gave Danilowicz the experience of hands-on learning.

A physiology professor showed him how to dissect animal corpses, teaching the young Danilowicz to compare a cat with a lion cub as well as trace the evolution of skull bones from reptiles into birds. “She challenged us to a point where I still remember some of the comparisons in muscles and skeletons to this day,” he says.

Danilowicz completed his undergraduate research project with a zoologist who loved marabunta — army ants. And that’s the teacher he remembers the most. “What I learned from him was intense compared to what I had learned in any other classroom setting at the time.

“I carry a passion for undergraduate research with me to this day.”

At 44, Danilowicz brings that passion to Oklahoma State University as its 12th dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since 1905.

While Danilowicz may be one of the college’s youngest deans in history, he downplays that notation, saying, “My hair is gray early, so maybe I will fit in. Right now in my life I have a lot of energy and passion and I bring that with me to OSU. I am really looking forward to attacking this job with vigor.”

Early encouragement

Danilowicz grew up in Utica, N.Y., in a home that encouraged learning. His grandfather was a machinist who made parts for the first Apollo flights. His dad worked as a NASA theoretical nuclear physicist, designing engines for the future.

After 12 years at NASA, Danilowicz’s dad wanted to teach in a populated university setting versus conducting research in an isolated laboratory. “Dad wanted to share what he was excited about so he got into a new field called computer science.” That was 1976.

“It’s not so new now,” he acknowledges today.

With all that exposure to higher education, Danilowicz understood early on that he would need a plan. At 10, he announced that marine biology was his calling. At 16, he prepared for graduate school. At 17, he skipped his senior year of high school to enroll at Utica College.

In 1989, Danilowicz graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in computer science from Utica College. In 1994, he earned a doctorate in zoology from Duke University.

While completing his doctoral work in Hawaii, he met his future wife Katherine Shannon, a seventh-grade science teacher.

“Bret was smart enough to study a little fish found only in Hawaii,” says Kay, as she’s better known.

Bret Danilowicz (right) visits with Boone Pickens during a June trip to Pickens’ Mesa Vista Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Pickens invited the incoming dean to visit with him and other key constituents to get

The Duke University student gave her class a tour of the University of Hawaii Marine Lab where he did his research. “It was love at first sight,” she recalls. They married in 1993 and headed to Canada after Danilowicz completed his doctorate.

At the University of Windsor in Ontario, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow for the biological sciences department and the Great Lakes Institute.

Meanwhile, Kay earned a master’s degree in speech and language therapy. “Kay saw how much fun I had while earning my Ph.D., so she went back to school, too,” Danilowicz says.

In 1996, their son Torin was born after they raced across the Canadian border so he would be delivered in Detroit.

Although their son’s Celtic name was purely coincidental, it was a foreshadowing of events to come.

In 1997, the family moved to Ireland for Danilowicz’s job as a lecturer — equivalent to an assistant professor in the U.S. — in zoology at University College Dublin.

He rose through the ranks to associate dean in science at University College, which had more than 21,000 students and one of the largest research budgets in Ireland.

His noted successes there include improving student retention, emphasizing mentoring programs for first-year students and focusing on students who were at extreme risk of failing.

feedback on the college before Danilowicz started his new position.

Jason Caniglia / OSU Foundation

5 All the previous deans

While Danilowicz worked tirelessly at the university, it wasn’t his sole focus. He and his family spent an equal amount of time in their community of Enfield, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin known for its traditional Celtic culture.

When they met neighbors whose child had Down syndrome, the couple put together an ice cream social in their neighborhood to benefit Down Syndrome Ireland.

“In Ireland, the support for Down syndrome was not as expansive as it is in the U.S.,” he says. “We wanted to make a difference.” continues

The 11 men who have previously led the College of Arts and Sciences at OSU include:

Dean

Years at the top

Robert H. Tucker

1905–1907

William W. Johnson

1910–1912

Lowery L. Lewis

1912–1922

Clarence H. McElroy

1922–1935

Schiller J. Scroggs

1935–1958

Robert B. Kamm

1958–1965

James R. Scales

1965–1967

George A. Greis

1968–1980

Smith L. Holt

1980–1998

John M. Dobson

1999–2003

Peter M.A. Sherwood 2004–2012

6

“I want to make sure we focus on the undergraduate teaching mission. I also want to make sure we are recognizing faculty in teaching as well as research. Great educators are so very important to the success of our students.” — Bret Danilowicz

Bret Danilowicz speaks to the Geology Advisory Board at the Mesa Vista Ranch.

Back in the States

In 2010, Forbes magazine ranked Georgia Southern In 2004, the family of six University as the 10th best (by then including Torin’s three college in the nation for minoryounger siblings: Brynn, Teagan and Cullen) returned to the U.S., ity students in science, technology, engineering and mathematwhere Danilowicz would be an ics. Diverse Issues in Higher associate biology professor and Education also recently said the associate dean for science and college is fourth in the nation in technology at Georgia Southern graduating black students in the University. physical sciences.

Danilowicz has long demonDanilowicz also created the strated an aptitude for learnCenter for Sustainability in 2007. ing. In 2004, he enhanced his education with a master’s degree “Largely due to the actions of this center, Georgia Southern has been in education focusing on leadnationally ranked in Princeton ership from Open University in Review’s Guide to Green Colleges the United Kingdom. While at for the past two years,” he says.

Georgia Southern, he earned a master of business administration.

Both would serve him well in his new position.

And he continued to indulge his passion for undergraduate research. More than 50 percent of the graduates from Danilowicz’s college had participated in research projects during their years at school.

Meanwhile, the Danilowicz household remained involved in the community. The parents picked up running shoes and have not stopped since.

“We became avid runners in Georgia, and we were part of a large running club,” he says. That included organizing a marathon with about 30 runners out of their home each year.

“It was a lot of fun but we have left our running community behind. We look forward to building that level of friends here in Oklahoma.”

Jason Caniglia / OSU Foundation

Role’s hint

In 2007, Danilowicz played the role of Ike Skidmore in Oklahoma at the Emma Kelly Community Theatre in Statesboro, Ga. “We have had the opportunity to be in theater a lot,” he says.

After he accepted the job at OSU, his friends teased him about the performance. “Maybe it was a foreshadowing of our move out here,” he says now.

Oklahoma State’s rising enrollment and Arts and Sciences’ increasing interest in research opportunities were a couple of the factors that appealed to Danilowicz. He hopes to expand relationships and connections to allow these opportunities to be financially supported.

Students are equally important to both Danilowicz and his wife, who is a lecturer in the OSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

“When I look at higher education nationally, there often is a disconnect about how a university works with its undergraduate students,” Danilowicz says.

“As a reputation for a university increases in research, very often teaching is left behind. At OSU, we have a lot of fabulous faculty who care about our undergraduates.

It was love at first sight.”

— Kay Danilowicz

“I want to make sure we focus on the undergraduate teaching mission.

I also want to make sure we are recognizing all faculty equally and that these professors are fully supported because their expertise in teaching and helping students is so very important,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Danilowicz continues to brag about his family’s new community. “When I started wearing my Oklahoma State T-shirt, I met people in Georgia and New York who attended OSU, and they told me about these wonderful experiences they had here. The alums speak really well of OSU. That was a good sign.”

Editor’s note: SMSC senior Jonathan L. Lacaba, an intern in the office of media and alumni relations for the College of Arts and Sciences, contributed to this story.

7

The Danilowicz family (from left): Brynn, Torin, Cullen, Kay, Teagan and Bret, with their dogs Siersha (black) and Sandy. courtesy / Bret Danilowicz

8

Newly named Regents professors in the College of Arts and Sciences

Blum (from left), Robert Sternberg, Perry Gethner and Estella Atekwana.

4 named Regents professors in A&S

include Frank

The College of Arts and Sciences is welcoming four Oklahoma State University professors to the ranks of Regents professors for 2011.

The title is the university’s highest promotion for a faculty member. On the following pages, we offer a glimpse of their knowledge and expertise — and a bit of their personalities as well. stories by

Matt Elliott portraits by Gary Lawson and Phil Schockley continues

9

Little things, enormous impact Study of microorganisms gives Atekwana a big view of tiny matter The widely accepted perception is that no organism affects its environment more than man. After all, it’s easy to point out how we affect our surroundings: dams, pollution, mining and industrial agriculture.

OSU professor Estella Atekwana’s research shows that view may be a little selfserving. On planet Earth, it’s the little things that truly matter, says Atekwana, one of the College of Arts and Sciences’ four new Regents professors for 2011.

Microorganisms are believed to have been the first life forms on the planet. The byproducts of their biological processes, scientists believe, helped create the atmosphere. And today, the little guys are working away in ways we can’t see.

“Sometimes they can transform their environments in a matter of hours, or minutes, days or decades,” says Atekwana, a pioneer of the field concerning such research, biogeophysics. “They work in cooperation, too. We could learn a lot from them if we weren’t spending so much time fighting about our differences rather than learning how our differences complement each other and make us stronger.”

Atekwana, originally from Cameroon, studies how microorganisms affect their environment, from the earth’s crust up into the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She’s also a noted expert in plate tectonics, the study of how Earth’s plates shape the planet, creating continents, mountains, ocean basins, volcanic and earthquake belts.

10

Estella Atekwana believes mankind could learn much by studying some of the planet’s smallest life forms.

Atekwana says she was honored to receive a Regents professorship, and she lauds OSU for supporting the department where she and her husband, Eliot Atekwana, have been since 2006.

While OSU is often concerned with energy issues, Estella Atekwana focuses on biogeophysics. Her first discoveries, that microbes can affect geophysical properties, took place when she was an assistant professor at Western Michigan University.

In 1996, she was part of a team that visited a contaminated U.S. Air Force base, Wurtsmith, in Oscoda, Mich., after the site made the federal government’s Superfund list for cleanup. Team members were studying groundwater contaminated with oil and found the water was better at conducting electricity than it should be. They were able to link those changes in its properties to organisms that were breaking down the oil and producing organic acids and carbon dioxide as byproducts.

“These acids enhance the weathering and dissolution of rocks, releasing ions that go into solution and make the contaminated environment more conductive,” she says. “We used this information to explain our geophysics results suggesting that microorganisms can significantly impact the physical properties of their environment, and biogeophysics was born.”

Estella Atekwana

Today, her work takes her all over the world, most recently from the shores of a little island in Louisiana to an isolated valley in Botswana where two continental plates are in the early stages of pulling apart.

She always takes her students on such trips and believes firmly in the role she plays in their development as much as she believes in the importance of her research. Most recently, she has been the lead principal investigator on a $4.6 million multi-institution grant from the National Science Foundation to study the Okavango Rift system in Botswana, which has trapped the Okavango River, forming the largest wetland complex in the world. Normally, massive volcanoes such as Kilamanjaro are a byproduct of developing rifts and dot the East African Rift Valley next door. But that’s not taking place in the Okavango Rift Valley, Atekwana notes, so she’s trying to figure out why.

She and her students travel to the region on the edge of the Kalahari Desert where they take core samples and examine magnetic and gravity field data to find magma circulation beneath the ground. They live in tents, often working in areas frequented by lions, zebras, giraffes, hippos and other large wild animals.

She spent last summer taking gravity measurements across the rift system to determine how the earth’s gravity fields are changed by the rifting, indicating changes in the thickness of the crust and other geologic features that will give them clues on how the rift works and how it began and developed.

In Louisiana, Atekwana is measuring naturally occurring Gulf of Mexico bacteria’s ability to break down oil in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. The spill was the world’s largest and sparked a cleanup that continued for months as well as ongoing research into its effectiveness.

That’s where Atekwana’s work comes in. She and her team placed electrical sensors next to an island near the spill site in the fall after the spill. Most of her readings showed much of the hydrocarbons left by the spill were gone, and shifts in the bacteria community had occurred. Those tilted the tables toward a dominant organism, which she suspects is breaking down the chemicals.

More work remains to be done, however.

“The truth is there are lots of spills in the gulf,” she says. “The island where our instruments are has been hit by multiple spills over the years.”

Atekwana attended Howard University for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She has a doctoral degree from Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University. She has taught at Western Michigan and the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

She frequently pairs in her research with her husband, Eliot Atekwana, a geochemist at OSU and expert in areas including how environments dispose of contaminants and environmental change in ancient times.

11

12

Frank Blum credits the drive to understand for his work in chemistry: “I want to know how things work — how the physical things work.”

Erasing limits

Frank Blum

Blum looks at the big picture when studying the smallest of materials Some professors prefer to guide students’ work

creative,” Blum says. “With that approach, I’m no longer limited by my own personal limitations. carefully and hover over everyWe’re only limited by the limitathing they do. Not so with newly tions we have collectively.” minted Regents Professor Frank Blum is one of four new Regents Blum: He prefers to give his professors in the College of Arts students more of a free rein. and Sciences for 2011. As the “The benefit is they will often take approaches you wouldn’t have Harrison I. Bartlett chair of chemistry and department head, he taken, that you wouldn’t have delves into the laws of physics advised, but that can be really

and how they apply to molecular systems, especially in polymers, which have components from natural and synthetic compounds.

He advises seven doctoral students at OSU, including Bal Khatiwada, a Nepalese chemist who’s working with Blum on her project looking at how Plexiglas interacts with nanometer-sized particles of silica, the common component of glass.

“I always search for things I don’t know, and even if I do that, I can’t figure out things sometimes,” Khatiwada says. “I can always ask him, and he’s always there. He’s extremely helpful. The other students view him as more of a parent than a professor.”

Remolding a department

Blum came to OSU in 2010 to take over a chemistry department rebuilding after several retirements.

By 2013, the department will have hired six new professors.

He says he is humbled by the chance to help remold the chemistry department that has so many caring alumni. That and Stillwater’s friendliness adds to the campus he has come to love.

“Stillwater is a little bit of a small town,” he says. “The university has a family atmosphere complete with loyalty, support and even the occasional bickering. But by and large, faculty members, students and staff at this university really care deeply about it.”

Blum taught at Drexel University and the University of MissouriRolla before coming to OSU in 2010. He has a doctorate from the University of Minnesota and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical chemistry from Eastern Illinois University.

Always fascinated by how things work, Blum first took to chemistry during his organic chemistry classes as an undergrad at Eastern Illinois University. He considers that drive to understand as the true mark of a scientist.

“That’s what sustains me,” he says. “It’s been my approach to science. I want to know how things work — how the physical things work. How do atoms and molecules behave in order to make macroscopic things? There’s

a big divide between how an atom behaves and how a macroscopic system behaves. It’s a big jump from something that’s on the Ångstrom or nanometer scale to how does a boat hull bend, or how strong is a composite golfclub shaft.”

Once he finished his doctorate in 1981, he was offered several great corporate opportunities, but the freedom of academic life called him.

His interest in polymers focused on how absorbed polymers behave and how polymer nanocomposites can conduct electricity. He also looks at how those materials work when they’re absorbed into another material called a solid substrate, such as glass.

For example, in fiberglass, small fibers of glass are mixed in with epoxy, which is a plastic. The glass fiber is hard and brittle, but the plastic layer is softer and more ductile. The melded material is harder to stretch and bend, providing a gradual change from the properties of both the glass fibers and the polymer and creating something light, strong and useful such as a motorcycle helmet.

Characterizing how those materials work with each other is extremely difficult, and Blum is an expert at understanding that at the molecular level using techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance, something similar to an MRI for a molecule.

Once researchers understand that, they can make better composites. For example, they could devise a coating for the glass fibers to make an entirely different material or combine several materials for another fashion.

That knowledge is useful in today’s age of booming consumer electronics. As products shrink, the functionality of the materials used in them usually increases.

“The thinner polymer layers gets, the more their properties change,” he says. “In some cases, we’re talking about layers that are millions of times thinner than a human hair. Those properties tend to be different than bulk properties.”

Khatiwada’s project is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Blum also has a project with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory trying to find better materials for chemical sensors using ultraviolet light and liquid drops. proud mentor

About his seven doctoral students, Blum notes how proud he is “they’re becoming functional and prolific in their own right.

They’re now starting to be independent, being able to draft papers based on the research they’ve done.

They’ve been able to try to foresee problems and opportunities in a way that a mature scientist would with, in many cases, just a little guidance from me. And that’s really the exciting part of my job.”

In addition to his posts at Drexel and Missouri-Rolla, he has also taught at Sweden’s Lund University and IBM in San Jose, Calif., during his 31-year career. Blum has received numerous awards, including three awards from the Alcoa and Exxon Education foundations, and a distinguished alumni award from Eastern Illinois University.

Blum is a fellow of the American Chemical Society and its division of polymer chemistry. He is a past secretary and chair of the society’s polymer chemistry division and a former chair of the ACS committees on nominations, elections and divisional activities.

13

Une affaire française Gethner has turned his enchantment into expertise that’s in global demand One of the College of Arts and Sciences’ new Regents professors, recruited a decade ago by the University of Oxford’s Voltaire Foundation to participate in its reissuing of all the French master’s works in new critical editions, recently published his edition of Voltaire’s last completed tragedy.

“Obviously, that’s an exciting element to my career,” says noted French scholar Perry Gethner, whose edition of Irene was published in 2010. Gethner, a French language and literature instructor, received his Regents professorship, OSU’s highest promotion for a faculty member, in November 2011. “I’ve been increasingly recruited by people all over the world doing the complete works of so-and-so, and they need me to be part of the team.”

Gethner, an OSU professor since 1984, is an expert in French drama and opera from the so-called early modern period, generally considered to be the 16th through 18th centuries. In addition to Voltaire, he has published critical editions and translations of other French authors, some more obscure than others, such as Jean Rotrou, Pierre du Ryer and Jean Mairet.

Gethner, OSU’s foreign language department head, remembers being enchanted by languages ever since he was a kid growing up on the northwest side of Chicago, where his father ran a local drugstore.

“I always enjoyed languages, and my teachers encouraged me,” says Gethner, who would go on to attend Yale University, where he obtained his doctorate in French literature in 1977. He nurtured a love of the art form as well as an appreciation for placing the works in their proper historic contexts, such as the French Wars of Religion during the 16th century.

This contributed to the choice of biblical plays for the

14

“I always enjoyed languages, and my teachers encouraged me.”

Perry Gethner

subject of his dissertation (he also had an interest in the Bible, being a former pre-seminary student).

“The whole development of my career since then has been essentially finding things that I was good at, or that I was interested in,” Gethner says. “And this included a number of other areas in dramatic history. I’ve done a lot of work on hybrid plays, musical comedies and opera libretto since.” a French Baroque?

He also wrote works questioning whether there was a Baroque period of French literature, giving a lecture on the topic on campus at Oklahoma State. The debate was a controversial one that shook up ideas among French scholars about what was happening between 1580 and 1640. Works they had dismissed as worthless now are being rehabilitated as part of the Baroque period similar to other European countries at the time, he says.

Not much attention has been paid to French playwrights of that period. Gethner has set out in part to correct that by translating some of their works, an effort that began with his translation of dramatist Antoine de Montchrestien, an author known for his religiously neutral work in a time when many plays were religious diatribes against either Protestantism or Catholicism.

That time period is intriguing, he says, because the English were producing William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, Gethner says, while the French had no similar writers. The greatest of their playwrights — Moliere, Jean Racine, etc. — came later, especially during the second half of the 17th century.

Meanwhile, English writers at the time were reading French plays, Gethner says, but none of the French writers were reading the English. Widespread French love of English writers didn’t begin, he says, until Voltaire in the second half of the 18th century. French writers were reading Spanish and Italian at the time, but almost none of them could read English, he says.

“I find these sorts of things intriguing,” he says. “Who’s influencing whom, and what forms does that influence take? Because the French writers in Shakespeare’s day were nowhere near as great as Shakespeare, they’re usually dismissed, but I certainly thought some of them should be made available through translations.”

Translating is tough enough when working with modern forms of a language. But when it’s in an older version of the language, the text could have archaic words unknown to but a few academics, or words whose meaning may have changed considerably over the years.

There’s a lot of onus on the translator to get them correct, especially when scholars and students could be utilizing those editions for decades to come.

“You also have to deal with trying to figure out what the correct text is,” Gethner says.

“Some editions could be so mutilated and so bad you can’t read them. Sometimes there’s more than one edition, too, and in some cases there are only the author’s manuscripts. For one project, I had to look at Voltaire’s own handwriting and make some valiant attempts at trying to read it. I was dealing with very beautifully written manuscripts done by his secretary. Voltaire would put stuff in the margins and often scratch it out. That was the part that was hard to decipher.”

Although he teaches regular undergraduate classes, he doesn’t get to direct the research of graduate students at Oklahoma State because his department doesn’t have a graduate program. Nor does he get much chance to present his own research in class. “You don’t get to teach it,” he says. “Research and teaching are almost completely unrelated in language programs.”

Most students who take French do so because they want to learn the language. OSU’s classes in French literature and drama just scratch the surface.

Gethner enjoys teaching, however, and is known among his students for being approachable, knowledgeable and easy to work with. Conferences and the academic community help keep him enthused about his work, he says.

Phi Beta Kappa success

Also, he chaired the committee that applied for permission to establish a chapter of the national academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, at OSU. Part of an effort stretching back several decades, he and other faculty members traveled to Florida in August to be voted on by the national assembly, and they were successful.

“Getting that approval to start a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at OSU is really exciting,” Gethner says.

Outside of work, Gethner performs classical piano recitals in the Stillwater area and accompanies singers. He is also a singer who was once in the chorus of an opera company.

He taught for six years at the University of Chicago before coming to OSU. He has also edited collections of works by early female French playwrights, and he has written articles on musical comedies as well as drama and literary theory.

15

Robert Sternberg

Sternberg aims to make OSU memorable for

“I find students don’t much remember what they learned in classes,” Sternberg says.

“They remember a few professors, students or staff members who changed their lives.”

The chance to provide that mentorship to students is what drives him today. It’s why he believes in Oklahoma State and its land-grant university mission. It’s part of why he earned the university’s highest promotion for faculty members, a Regents professorship in 2011.

Busy man

Sternberg received the Regents post three years after he was hired as provost.

He took that job over from Marlene Strathe, who had been the provost for seven years. The provost is the senior member of the OSU president’s cabinet and administers all of the university’s academic programs. His job Sternberg explains psychology includes planning policies, as ‘the interaction of who you are budgets, student and faculty with the environment.’ development — the “whole enchilada.”

In addition to his adminNo one realizes the irony more istrative work, Sternberg than Robert Sternberg does. teaches an undergraduate OSU’s chief academic officer and one of course in leadership, which four new Regents professors in the College of he notes received an overall Arts and Sciences for 2011 doesn’t remember student rating of 3.92 out of much of what he learned in class at Yale. And 4.00 last spring, and is teachyet, thanks to hard work and caring profesing a graduate course this sors, Sternberg made himself into one of the fall in one of his specialties, world’s leading experts in how people think, human intelligence. Before he love and hate. came to OSU, he was the dean of arts and sciences at Tufts

16

students.

A drive for mentoring

University. For more than 30 years, he taught at his alma mater, Yale University, where he was the IBM professor of psychology and education and a professor of management.

He is also the author or editor of more than 150 books and a prolific writer for the academic and lay presses.

OSU rolled out a new admissions process last July that he designed in collaboration with Kyle Wray, OSU’s vice president for enrollment management and marketing, and other personnel from the university’s admissions office.

Called Panorama, it incorporates prospective students’ leadership qualities into their evaluations, expanding them beyond the typical essays sent in with applications.

He also published a book on intellectual giftedness in 2011, the same year he and his wife had triplets, Samuel, Brittany and Melody (the latter two are identical twins).

It’s hard to imagine when he sleeps.

“I don’t have a lot of spare time these days,” he admits.

“I think it’s important for administrators to teach. It’s especially important if you’re in academic affairs to stay in touch with what’s going on with the students. And I think it’s important to publish because it’s awkward to evaluate the research of others if you’re not doing any yourself.”

Early days

Sternberg was born in Newark, N.J., and grew up in the suburb of Maplewood.

His father had dropped out of high school during the Depression and owned a button store to support his family. His mother had immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1938.

Sternberg performed poorly on IQ tests when he was young, and his teachers didn’t expect much out of him as a result. That changed when his fourth-grade teacher saw his potential and challenged him.

His grades improved, but his frustrations with how the education system measures intelligence continued. With an amused expression on his face today, he describes the field as sometimes dominated by people who always performed very well on those tests.

“So, those tests were kind of a self-congratulatory sort of thing,” Sternberg adds with a wry smile.

Over time, he blossomed into someone who couldn’t help but question the status quo. As a seventh-grader, he came up with his own intelligence test after finding a popular intelligence test in his school library, the StanfordBinet scales, an early such exam credited with establishing the field of intelligence testing.

The exam he came up with would later become the Sternberg Test of Mental Abilities. But it was the Stanford-Binet that he gave to some of his fellow students

as part of a science project he devised — all before his 15th birthday. In one case, he hoped to get a girlfriend by giving her the test — and learned that doing so wasn’t a way to appeal to females. He is quick to note he has never given his beloved wife, Karin, an intelligence test.

Among his contributions to psychology are several influential theories in thinking, ethical reasoning, love, hate, leadership, thinking styles and creativity, as well as his theory of successful intelligence, which states that intelligent behavior comes from analytical, creative, practical and wisdom-based abilities.

Mentors’ help He was listed by the American At Yale, Sternberg met the Psychological Association’s man who became his mentor, Monitor as one of the 100 Endel Tulving. Tulving is one most influential psychologists of science’s leading thinkof the 20th century. ers in the field of memory At OSU, he has emphasized and a noted contrarian who that being smart in school nurtured Sternberg’s drive to does not necessarily mean question authority. It was just that someone will be smart in the help Sternberg needed to life, and vice versa. Academic enter psychology after receivand practical intelligence are ing a C in the introductory only weakly correlated. What psychology course. is most important in life is “It’s the interaction of who wisdom and ethical behavyou are with the environment. ior — making the world a Someone else might have studbetter place by making a posiied under him, and it wouldn’t tive, meaningful and enduring have taken. But for me, it difference to it. really took.”

Personal style He graduated summa cum laude and went to gradThe new Regents profesuate school at Stanford sor brings his enthusiasm into University, where he studhis classroom, with a teachied under another mentor, ing style he calls very personal.

Gordon Bower. Ever since, He brings material from his Sternberg, a former president job as provost to his leaderof the American Psychological ship class, letting students Association and current pres- in on the bigger decisions he ident of the Federation of made that week and asking Associations in Behavioral what they would have done. and Brain Sciences as well as He also brings in speakers treasurer of the Association who discuss their experiences of American Colleges and as leaders and how they develUniversities, has been on the oped from Oklahoma State “academic fringes,” studying undergraduates into imporunpopular things or the things tant leaders in society. he finds the most challenging One message Sternberg is to understand. quick to drive home is the importance of failure. Often

times, someone who has a great deal of success in life has had equally momentous failures.

At the OSU graduate commencement last May, he was the keynote speaker and he spoke frankly about many of his failures. It’s a message he drives home to his students in any way he can. A major key to success is resilience in the face of multiple failures.

“You have to learn how to take failures and rise above them,” he says. “When you’re young, you don’t see it that way.

When you’re young, you sort of plot out a course that you think will help you always succeed; you’re going to be the guy with the lucky charm. I think that’s just really the important thing in life. I feel like I’ve had some bad breaks. And I have had some great breaks. I have wonderful, beautiful children.

A fantastic wife. A terrific job.

I live in a great house on beautiful land. I live in a wonderful community. But it hasn’t always been that way. You just keep working until you get to where you want to go.”

Sternberg lives just outside of Stillwater with his wife, Karin, who has an MBA as well as a doctorate in psychology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. In addition to their triplets, he has two grown children from a previous marriage — one the CEO of a dot-com business who recently sold it to Google and went to work there, and the other, a doctoral student in sociology at Harvard University. Sternberg enjoys hiking with his family, exercising, reading and collecting coins and watches.

17

18

Election-year lessons story by Lorene A. photography by Gary

Roberson Lawson

New chief of OSU’s political science department offers her take on the 2012 vote.

Professor Jeanette Morehouse Mendez remembers watching the 1984 presidential election returns come in when she was all of 8 years old. This summer, she became the youngest person and first female to head the political science department, having been at OSU since 2005.

She teaches courses in American political behavior, with an expertise in elections, campaigns and the media. Her work has been published in such journals as Journal of Politics, Social Science Quarterly, Political Psychology, Politics and Gender, Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, PS: Political Science and Politics, Journal of Media Psychology, and Journal of Political Science. We’re chatting with her about the 2012 presidential election and OSU’s impact on its students, the state and the nation.

This fall, you will teach a class on the current presidential election.

Describe the class and the makeup of the class.

When I was thinking of courses I would like to teach, I thought that a class focus-

In the course, what questions do students ask during election years?

The No. 1 question is which candidate I will vote for! Of course, I never have revealed this in any course and tell them they can keep guessing. I feel my role

ing on the current election would draw

is to present the information and create

interest from a variety of students — and

an environment for discussion and inter-

it did. I last taught this in 2008 and had a

action, and not use this as a platform to

full course of 35 students. The best part

advance my own beliefs. But students

was that the students were interested in

really want to know about my prefer-

elections and government and that is why

ences, so they also continually ask me to

they took this course, as opposed to a

express my opinions on all of the content.

required course. And most interestingly,

The students are smart and engaged and

the class was well split in terms of parti-

ask great questions about the effects of

sanship and ideology. And that meant …

the election. And because many of the

some lively discussions!

students will be first-time voters, they ask a lot about the past election and about current politics to place this election in a broader context. continues

19

There is a difference between going to vote and going to vote and being informed about the issues and candidates.”

How does OSU prepare the next generation of leaders in our state and nation to be creative, as well as ethical, critical thinkers? How does OSU prepare its students to be critical thinkers in the democratic process?

OSU does a wonderful job in preparing our future leaders — just look at our alums across the state and the nation in leadership positions. We are doing something right. I think the courses we offer in political science allow students to be creative, based on the content, the assignments and how our faculty members approach the courses. Further, we all, in political science, want our students to be ethical critical thinkers, and we do all we can to foster this in the classroom. In particular, many of our courses include content on democracy and the democratic process, and students show a great capacity to think about why the United States is a democracy and what benefits there are to this. Further, our comparative politics and international relations courses, to name a couple, explore democracy in a global perspective. I think our students are given

20

all of the tools to succeed and become

effective members of society, members who will be engaged in the process and knowledgeable. There is a difference

Oklahoma that there is no reason to vote

to young voters. But the fact that the

because we are a red state and that will

youth vote is so much lower in Oklahoma

not change. So if you are a Republican,

comparatively is discouraging. It gives the

there is no need to vote because others

impression that the candidates and the

will vote Republican for you. And if you

parties are purposefully ignoring this group,

are a Democrat, your vote will not count. I

and that can have longer range implications.

try to counter this in my classes, because

Voting is habitual and the earlier one begins

this isn’t quite true. At face value, yes,

to vote in their life cycle, the more likely

Oklahoma is a red state. But so many elec-

they are to continue to vote.

tions occur in a four-year span, and many

In the fall, thousands of students on college campuses throughout the nation will attempt to register to vote and be turned away. The reasons are many: You have an out-of-state driver’s license.

Your college ID is not valid here. You pay out-of-state tuition, so even though you do have a state driver’s license, you still cannot vote. Some state lawmakers are doing everything they can to prevent students from voting in the 2012 presidential election. What are your thoughts on this? What’s the situation in Oklahoma?

local elections are decided by a few votes.

Still, I think students buy into this logic, and this rhetoric gives them a disincentive to be involved. I also think students don’t feel connected to the process, the politicians and the candidates. The issues that students list as most important (for example, student loans, access to education and unemployment) are not the big-ticket items that get discussed by the media and the candidates. So unless students can relate to the candidates and politicians, they will not take the time to be involved because they do not see a connection personally.

Students are an important part of the voting bloc. However, research dating back to the 1940s has consistently shown that young citizens vote at lower rates than older citizens. Describe the young voter situation in Oklahoma.

The youth vote has not been large in

between going to vote and going to vote

modern-day elections, though much atten-

and being informed about the issues

tion was focused on this in 2008 and

and candidates. In political science, we

Obama was successful and generating

strive to make sure our students become

a large youth vote. In Oklahoma in 2008,

informed citizens.

close to 51 percent of people age 18-24

OSU typically has a low level of involvement overall (at least since the 1960s) of the student body in politics in comparison to other campuses. Can you comment on why that might be? Agree?

Or disagree?

registered to vote and close to 39 percent

I do agree with this overall; however, the students I encounter the most are political science majors, and these students are involved in politics. I keep hearing within

of those age 18 to 24 did actually vote. This is low compared with other age groups in Oklahoma. For example, 68 percent of those age 65-74 voted in the election. Further, the number of youth voting in Oklahoma is much less than other states, where other states see 50 percent or more of those age 18-24 voting. Again, part of this comes back to the candidates and the parties making themselves accessible

This is a hot topic right now as many states are implementing identification requirement that have the potential to exclude valid voters. This type of debate is not new, but it is very political. There are reasons to believe that the Republican Party would be advantaged by these types of laws, and for those reasons, this is not democratic. Voter fraud is not a large issue in the United States so the risk of alienating potential voters is not high enough in my opinion. Oklahoma passed the Voter Identity Law in the 2010 election, and this requires everyone to show proof of identity before they are able to vote. What this means is that a person needs an Oklahoma-issued identification card (driver’s license or identification card), a federally issued identification card or a tribal nation identification card. For college students, OSU identification cards are not valid because they do not have expiration dates on them. But students can

— female candidates are more strategic

register to vote and use their voter regis-

Politics has traditionally been viewed

tration card instead of a state-issued ID.

as a man’s world, and it is no wonder that

than male candidates usually and choose

So, while it seems the burden is higher

gender differences are present. At the

opportune times to run, such as when there is not an incumbent. Because of this,

for some people to show proof of iden-

most basic level, a gender gap exists in

tity, all valid voters can meet these require-

voting, with women more likely to vote

female candidates tend to be successful

ments with a few minutes of time. Further,

Democratic and men more likely to vote

when they run.

college students at OSU can choose to

Republican. However, the gap has ebbed

vote absentee in their hometown, by filling

and flowed in past elections, and specific

out paperwork more than 30 days before

candidates can influence the magnitude of

the election, but they can also register here

the gap. Women have become more active

in Stillwater since they reside here. Given

in politics, and we do not find differences

The presidential election is just around the corner. What do you dub this election (for example, President Barack Obama has been dubbed “the first Facebook president”)? What’s your take on this election? Care to make any predictions?

these types of laws, the burden really is on

in voter registration and turnout rates. We

the political parties and candidates to get

also have seen an increase in the number

out the vote. Once parties and candidates

of female candidates since the historic

register voters, the state will send voters

1992 “Year of the Woman” electoral climate.

the card that will allow them to vote.

Subtle differences, though, still exist. My

What role will social media play in this election?

co-author Tracy Osborn and I have stud-

The role of social media is increasing in

ied the effects of gender in social networks, and we find that women are perceived to

the election. Each election we see a larger

be less politically knowledgeable. Further,

impact. In 2008, the number of campaign

women form their political social networks

ads produced for online only, not televised,

with family and friends, while men are more

changed the landscape. And the number of

likely to discuss politics with co-workers,

candidates using Facebook pages contin-

and not family members. Further, women

ues to increase. Candidates are adapt-

are more likely to name their husband as

ing to the changing social media climate,

someone they discuss politics with, but

and for college students, this is a great

men are not likely to name their wives as

way to involve them in the process. But I

people they discuss politics with.

think social media plays a larger role not

All of these subtle effects undermine the

through candidate pages, but by people

role and legitimacy of women in the polit-

commenting about politics and interact-

ical system. But this does not mean that

ing with politics among social groups and

things are bleak for women. Some studies

networks. The level of political discus-

show that the presence of women in office

sion occurring among people within their

serves as a role model for young females.

networks is increasing via social media and

And in Oklahoma, it is particularly encourag-

I think these types of discussions and inter-

ing that we finally have a female governor.

actions are influential. People learn about

Further, the (Oklahoma) 2010 gubernato-

politics and receive cues about the elec-

rial election had two (major party) female

tion from their social networks, and social

candidates, which has only occurred in

media is the new way to connect social

the United States a handful of times since

networks together rather than face-to-face

1992. Female leaders and candidates have

discussion.

an additional hurdle because they need to

How does political behavior vary along gender lines? If so, how? If not, why? Are female leaders treated differently than male leaders? Would you discuss gender, as it pertains to the political arena, in Oklahoma?

overcome gender stereotypes of being too

This sounds like something my students would ask me! And I would tell them that electoral forecasting is a risky business. The odds are 50-50, but many political scientists get it wrong. What I think this election will focus on is a referendum on Obama. Obama cannot campaign on change again, and instead needs to show how he has achieved change in the last few years. Romney, on the other hand, has so far built a campaign on attacking Obama, but offering little substance on what he would do in office. I think this got him through the primary season pretty much, but I expect Obama to get tough and press him more on specifics. In the end, most elections with an incumbent come down to simple retrospective voting — the idea that you look back over the last four years and evaluate if you and the nation are in a better or worse place.

compassionate and emotional, while also being masculine enough. But being too masculine triggers additional stereotypes and intense media scrutiny. Because they are under more scrutiny and media coverage often is superficial — appearance, etc.

continues

21

gary lawson / University Marketing

22

Jeanette Morehouse Mendez lectures her class on the 2012 presidential election.

You grew up in Santa Rosa, Calif., in a one-parent home. What was the voting situation like when you were growing up? Did your talk politics at home?

Where does your love for politics come from?

My earliest political memory was watch-

Given that you didn’t have as much of an interest in politics until high school, how important do you think it is to discuss politics at an early age?

Politics is definitely something that needs to be discussed early — and the same is true about voting. Most kids develop

ing the Reagan and Mondale election

a sense of partisanship in elementary

returns at my grandmother’s house. And I

school; the attachment strengthens as kids

remember going to the polls with my mom

mature and learn more about the political

but sitting in the car. I would always ask her

process. And since voting is habitual, it is

who she voted for and she wouldn’t tell me.

important to teach kids the importance of

But really, my interest in politics started in

voting even before they are 18. This year

student government in high school, where

in my Elections 2012 class, we are work-

I was student body treasurer my senior

ing with Sangre Ridge Elementary School

year. More importantly, my interest in polit-

to develop a mock election for students

ical science was the result of a wonder-

and parents on the day before the elec-

ful professor, Jane Leftwich Curry, at Santa

tion. The message we want to convey is

Clara University. I was a combined science

that voting is a civic duty, and it is important

major, with a natural science emphasis,

to exercise your right to vote. If the projects

and I took her introduction to compara-

works and generates interest, I hope we

tive politics course and loved it — and she

can do something similar districtwide in the

encouraged me to pursue it. My love of

next election cycle. This gives my college

American politics grew out of an initial inter-

students a chance to become involved in

est in Russian politics but after a trip alone

the community as well, which is a great

to Russia in 1998, I decided I didn’t want to

service we can provide and hopefully one

travel alone for fieldwork and would rather

with many positive benefits for the elemen-

focus on American politics.

tary school, my class and OSU.

JOHN STRAH Senior Director of Development College of Arts & Sciences 405.385.5661 | JStrah@OSUgiving.com

They are here to help you connect your

JASON CANIGLIA Senior Director of Development College of Arts & Sciences 405.385.5155 | JCaniglia@OSUgiving.com

orange passion with the College of Arts & Sciences.

To meet John & Jason and learn more, scan this QR code or visit: www.OSUgiving.com/Meet-John-Jason

Brianna Autry story Gary Lawson / University Marketing Photography

Singing a Different Tune Adley Stump is following a musical path these days.

OSU alumna Adley Stump never envisioned a life of microphones, spotlights and record deals. But that appears to be the future for the journalism/broadcasting major after her run on NBC’s The Voice whetted her appetite for a career in country music.

It started when she won best female performer for her version of Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You” at the 2010 Varsity Revue, a contest among OSU’s Greek houses. Stump’s Pi Beta Phi sorority sister, Becky Wheeler, didn’t know what she was kicking off when she dared Stump to try out for Varsity Revue.

“When Adley sang at Varsity Revue, her voice left us in awe,” Wheeler says.

To hone her craft, Stump hit the stage at Willie’s Saloon in Stillwater — one of the places where 1984 journalism and broadcasting alumnus Garth Brooks got his start. Stump’s parents, being staunch supporters, posted a video of her performance on Youtube that caught the eye of a Nashville investor, who offered Stump an artist development deal. She moved to the Music City after her 2011 graduation and tried out for The Voice.

24

I always remind myself that this career was not given to me to be selfish with it.” — Adley Stump

The Tulsa native made it on the NBC show and prepared for it by releasing her first EP, Like A Lady. The EP — more music than a single but less than a full album — includes such self-penned songs as “Crazy Dreams,”“One Way Ticket” and “Chocolate and Tequila.”

“I wanted to have my own music ready if people liked what they saw on The Voice,” she says.

On the show, Blake Shelton picked her for his team, but she was eliminated in March.

Since then, she told the Tulsa World: “I’ve been all over the place. It’s been the coolest experience, and I’ve learned more about myself in the last year than I’ve learned in all my life.”

Adley Stump, a 2011 A&S graduate, performed at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa over the summer.

While she was working on The Voice, Stump also created Get Stumped, an online series that includes her performing such random acts of kindness in Nashville as surprise visits with grocery store employees, animal shelter volunteers and street vendors.

Stump is currently working on a new CD and planning a tour. Her summer included a gig at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa.

“It was the first time I had been home since The Voice,” she says.

Adley Stump met musicians Trisha Yearwood (left) and her husband, Garth Brooks (‘84, journalism) when they visited OSU in April 2011.

Cain’s was filled for her show, with fans of all ages cheering her on. She explains how much she enjoys her audiences: “I always remind myself that this career was not given to me to be selfish with it,” she says. “It didn’t come out of nowhere for no reason. If I’m not working for the fans of my music and working to provide something beautiful to them, I’m not doing my job. This was a gift. This was nothing I earned.”

Even so, she continues to work for her success: “With things happening so fast, I learned you just have to believe in yourself. I have a lot of people believing in me and carrying me. I never thought I would be on this road.”

25

Brianna Autry is a student in the OSU School of Media and Strategic Communications who plans to graduate in December 2013.

gary lawson / University Marketing

26

Growth of giving story by

Stacy Pettit Smith

Donor’s $50 check was just the beginning of decades of giving back to OSU.

It was the early ’80s when recent OSU graduate Claudia Holdridge handed over her first donation to her beloved alma mater. The $50 contribution brought a smile to her face: Not only did she feel gratified in giving back to the university she loved — she also secured a parking spot in the Morrill Hall lot for her and her girlfriends during the upcoming football season.

Over the next three decades, Claudia and her husband Bart Bartlett watched the campus change and grow. The zeros on the end of that original $50 gift grew, too: Two $500,000 gifts for endowed chairs plus nearly $800,000 in scholarships have been donated to the university through the Edward E. Bartlett and Helen Turner Bartlett Foundation,

Claudia and Bart Bartlett take in OSU’s first home football game of the 2012 season with their daughter, Sarah, and son, “Trey.”

which was created by her husband’s grandfather.

“As the years go by … we all have this common goal that we want to see OSU become even

“It’s one way of giving back,” Claudia Bartlett says. “You establish relationships when you go to school there. As the years go by … we all have this common goal that we want to see OSU become even better.”

Claudia, who graduated in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations, and Bart, who began his college studies at OSU before transferring to the University of Illinois to finish his degree in ceramic engineering, both love to contribute to the university because they “bleed orange,” Bart says.

And orange has run through Bartlett veins for generations.

Edward Bartlett was an Oklahoma A&M chemistry graduate in 1912, Bart says. Their financially successful lives allowed Edward and his wife to create the Edward E. Bartlett and Helen Turner Bartlett Foundation. Their estates became the permanent basis for the foundation, which donates to various nonprofit agencies, educational programs and community development projects throughout Oklahoma.

In 1965, the foundation began awarding two scholarships to Sapulpa High School seniors headed to OSU. “It’s the longest-running program from the foundation,” Bart says.

Although OSU has chosen the two seniors for more than four decades, Bart says the university has rules to follow when making the final decision.

The candidates cannot qualify for financial aid or be receiving a hefty amount in scholarships, leaving a group of students who often have few options in covering college costs.

“We’ve always felt that these are the kids who fall through the cracks of the system,” Bart says. “They’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do to prepare for college, and statistically, they will do well and succeed.”

The Bartletts’ goal to aid OSU students did not stop with the scholarships. The couple donated $500,000 for an endowed chair in chemical engineering. Then, in 2007, the foundation donated another $500,000 to create an endowed chair in chemistry — the first endowed position for chemistry at OSU. This donation met two of the Bartletts’ goals: to help bring in the best educators for future chemistry students and to honor Bart’s father Harrison, who studied chemistry at Oklahoma A&M in the 1940s.

Although Bart’s family history runs deep at OSU, Claudia is making sure that she, too, has an impact on future generations at OSU.

Currently, she sits on the OSU Foundation Board of Governors and the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Advisory Board.

“There’s a lot to be said about the OSU family,” she says. “A lot of people are so proud of being a part of OSU.” Although the Bartletts spend much time ensuring students get the opportunity to experience OSU for themselves, they also find time to improve the lives of those outside the college age group. Seeing others of all ages and generations succeed is a driving force behind many decisions made by their foundation. Thousands of dollars have been donated to various Oklahoma communities to benefit a variety of programs ranging from art education programs to renovations at the Bartletts’ hometown library in Sapulpa to nonprofit agencies that serve senior citizens.

Claudia volunteers with Sapulpa Public Schools and is on the executive committee for the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, which supports academic excellence in the state’s public schools. Her husband, a plant manager at McElroy Manufacturing Inc. in Tulsa, also serves on the board of the Boy Scouts’ Indian Nations Council.

better.” — Claudia Bartlett

“We try to touch a crosssection of ages within the community,” Bart says.

That passion for others is what led them to each other in 1992. They began dating while they were both serving on the board for an alternative school for at-risk children. In September 2012, Claudia and Bart celebrated their 18th anniversary the way many couples do — focusing on their family.

“We (had) an exciting evening at a Boy Scout troop meeting with our son,” Bart says, laughing.

While shuttling their son, Harrison “Trey” III, a sophomore in high school, and their 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, to band practices and football games, keeps them busy, the entire family still finds time to put on their favorite color and head to a football or basketball game at OSU — their second home.

“I’ve always felt comfortable on campus,” Bart says. “I guess that’s part of it — you always feel welcome.”

27

Brittany Snapp story Frank G. Bossong IV / courtesy photography / courtesy redskin

Couple’s generosity lives on at OSU A 1950 Oklahoma State graduate continues to have an impact on his alma mater, even years after his death.

Frank G. Bossong III, who built a successful career in health care administration, established a charitable remainder unitrust through the OSU Foundation in 1992 with a gift of more than $263,000.

It provided Bossong with a steady income through quarterly annuity payments and added more than $417,000 to scholarship endowments.

It has provided more than $62,000 in annual scholarships and graduate fellowships for OSU students pursuing degrees in health care or health care administration. The impact will continue to increase as the endowments grow.

In 1996, Bossong established another unitrust with a gift of $100,000. That fund gave Bossong an additional income until his death in 2005 and supported his widow, Kay Bossong, until she died in 2010. Remaining funds were placed in an endowment for general university support.

“He loved the university,” says his son, Frank G. Bossong IV. “When we were growing up, he always talked about the university. It was something special to him.”

After serving as an air traffic controller with the Army Air Forces in Guam during World War II, the elder Bossong attended Oklahoma A&M College through the G.I. Bill, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in history in 1950 and excelling in his studies.

The May 19, 1950, edition of the Daily O’Collegian announced that Bossong had been chosen as one of 160 students for membership in the national honor society Phi Kappa Phi.

28

Born in New York City, Bossong spent much of his life in New England.

He received master’s degrees in education from New York University and in hospital administration from Columbia University.

Bossong retired as administrator of the District of Columbia General Hospital in 1983.

During his retirement, Bossong coached youth athletic teams and was a basketball referee and softball umpire.

He was scheduled to referee a game the day he died in February 2005.

Bossong shared his love of black and orange with his wife, although she hadn’t attended OSU. An Ohio native, Mrs. Bossong traveled the world through her nursing career and spent time as chief nurse at the Beni Messous Hospital in Algeria. She worked for the Washington, D.C., Department of Human Services for nearly 40 years before her retirement in 1986.

The Maryland couple often traveled to Stillwater to attend football games and homecoming activities.

Their son remembers his dad would look forward to such trips and always took his camera along.

“He would bring back pictures of how the campus was growing and changing,” the younger Bossong says. “It definitely had a special place in his heart.”

After her husband passed away, Mrs. Bossong continued to display OSU memorabilia in her home, including watercolors of campus and the couple’s Heritage Society plate. Upon her death, she left an estate gift to the university.

Although Frank and Kay Bossong are no longer here, their commitment to education continues to assist students at OSU through the charitable remainder unitrust established more than 20 years ago.

David Mays, senior associate vice president of gift planning at the OSU Foundation, says a charitable remainder unitrust is a great way to make a significant gift to OSU while creating an annual income as well. Income can be paid over the course of a lifetime, or for a set number of years not to exceed 20 years. Once the trust terminates, the OSU Foundation uses the remaining funds in the trust for the purposes indicated, whether it be student, faculty, program or other campus support.

“As you can see, it can be an effective tool to achieve both your financial and charitable goals,” says Mays.

The legacy of Frank and Kay Bossong will continue to live on at OSU through the recipients of the scholarships.

Brittany Snapp is a master’s student in the School of Media and Strategic Communications.

RI G HT Frank G. Bossong III and his wife Kay were strong supporters of Oklahoma State University.

29 “He loved the university. When we were growing up, he always talked about the university. It was something special to him.” — Frank G. Bossong IV

Striking gold (and silver and bronze) story by

Lorene A. Roberson

photography by

Timothy Ryan

Cowboys shine behind the scenes at 2012 London Olympics.

30 OSU alumni Lynn Garrison and Tim Ryan show off the medals for the London Olympics. Both were working for Rio Tinto, a Games sponsor that provided the metal for all the gold, silver and bronze medals.

For many, attending the Olympic Games may be a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity. For two OSU College of Arts and Sciences alumni, it is all in a day’s work. This summer in London, Lynn Garrison (’84 history) and Timothy Ryan (’84 journalism/ public relations) worked with Rio Tinto PLC, official provider of Olympic medals.

The childhood buddies first met in junior high in Oklahoma City.

The Olympic Games reunited them 22 years later.

“We didn’t know that each of us had pursued a travel career until we ran into each other at the Athens Olympics in 2004,” Ryan says. Both had been hired by the same sports marketing agency.

Since then, that agency has hired them for every Olympics to manage on-site logistics for sponsors such as Rio Tinto. “Our job is to help companies leverage sponsorship assets,” Ryan says. Garrison is a transportation expert; Ryan, a ticketing expert.

Other workers for the Londonbased mining company hailed from New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. “One of the best parts of working the Olympics is the teamwork required,” Ryan says. “There is an amazing international flavor. It’s more than just athletes coming together.”

As for Ryan — who has been part of the Olympic world since the Sydney Games in 2000 — what was the best thing about the London games? “Whenever you are on-site, you learn quickly who the promising local athletes are. It was great to see the British excel at their own games.

“And I always enjoy media coverage from the BBC. It provides a global view.”

Sanya Richards-Ross celebrates her gold medal in the women’s 400-meter race.

Cellphone shooters were everywhere at the London Olympics, including on the teams of athletes.

31

32 Competitors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase include Donald Cabral (center, leading) of the U.S., Ethiopia’s Nahom Mesfin (right) and Italy’s Yuri Floriani. None of those three medaled; Cabral placed eighth, with Mesfin 12th and Floriani 13th.

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder was a member of the U.S. basketball team at the London games. The team defeated Spain to win the gold medal.

33

Dmytro Dem’yanyuk competes in the men’s high jump event, representing Ukraine. The athlete, almost 30 years old and standing 6-foot-7, was among three competitors who tied for 16th place.

Sanya Richards-Ross (center) of the U.S. takes gold in the women’s 400-meter race with a winning time of 49.55 seconds. Amantle Montsho (left) of Botswana placed fourth in the race while Russia’s Antonina Krivoshapka was sixth. None of the runners took more than 51 seconds to cover the distance.

Matt Elliott story

A glimpse of the Games OSU senior nets a London internship — and a way to follow her grandfather’s footsteps.

“He’s one of the biggest A senior advertising major inspirations of my life because had the opportunity to be he sees what he wants out of in London during the 2012 his life and he does it,” Cooper Summer Olympics. says. “He knew he wanted to Kellee Cooper, a native of be a doctor ever since he was Bristow, landed an internship with the British company 4, and that’s what he worked for his whole life.”

Bodymetrics during the In contrast to her grandfabiggest event in town since, ther’s time with the Olympics, err, well, the city hosted the Cooper spent her time workGames in 1948. ing for Bodymetrics, which sells scanning technology to “He’s one of the biggest inspirations of my clothing makers to design life because he sees what he wants out of better-fitting clothing. his life and he does it.” — Kellee Cooper In addition to “typical intern stuff,” Cooper says she assisted with photo shoots Cooper isn’t the only OSU and helped with styling, helpperson in her family who ing others pick out what they has been to the Olympics. want to wear. She also helped Her grandfather, Dr. Donald the company market itself Cooper, was a physician assigned to the Americans for using social media. Her background as an American was the Mexico City Olympics in very helpful, too, due to the 1968. He helped the United fact that the company was States to 107 medals at that year’s Games, the highest total expanding in the U.S. “It was really cool to see the of any nation that competed. ins and outs of what all goes Cooper was also OSU’s on,” she says. “I had never team physician for more worked for a business before, than 40 years and one of the so that was very enlightening.” nation’s leading experts in sports medicine at the time.

34

The only OSU student to participate in her intern program, she lived in a neighborhood near London’s historic Hyde Park with other students from the United States who were interning at other area companies.

“Now, I have friends all over the country,” she says.

“That was probably my favorite thing, meeting the other people who were in my program.”

It wasn’t a work-only summer for Cooper; she also attended some events of the Games, including the women’s triathlon.

Cooper, who graduates in May 2013, says she hopes to get a job in styling or copy writing for advertising.

London also showed her she loved the fast-paced life of a big city (and public transportation, too).

Whatever she chooses to do, her internship showed her the possibilities were endless if she put her mind to something, just like her grandfather saw when the Americans took home 107 medals at the 1968 Olympics.

phil shockley / University Marketing

35

Kellee Cooper and her grandfather Dr. Donald Cooper can compare notes on the Olympic Games. He was a team physician for the U.S. at the ’68 Games in Mexico City; she attended the London Games in the summer of 2012.

Does yo ur WILL work?

DO YOU HAVE A CURRENT, VALID WILL THAT ACCOMPLISHES EVERYTHING YOU WANT IT TO DO? We at the Oklahoma State University Foundation want you to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing you have a valid estate plan.

We want you to have a will that works well for you. And, frankly, one that works for us by including a bequest to the OSU Foundation.

People often say, “I never thought about making a charitable gift through my will. It just never occurred to me.”

When you name the Oklahoma State University Foundation in your will or living trust, you make a crowning gift to an organization you have supported during your life. Your Last Will and Testament declares that you believe in OSU’s mission and you want a portion of your assets invested in this worthy cause.

If you plan to share your legacy with the OSU Foundation through a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan or other estate provision, we invite you to join the Heritage Society. When we know about your generosity, we can meet your wishes for its use. We want to express our appreciation and we will honor requests for anonymity.

As always, we urge you to consult with an estate-planning attorney or other qualified advisor regarding a will, living trust or whatever best suits your needs. Sound professional help will contribute to peace of mind for you and your family.

For more information about opportunities to benefit the College of Arts and Sciences, contact Jason Caniglia or John Strah at 405.385.5617 or visit OSUgiving.giftlegacy.com.

phil shockley / University Marketing

Bringing art out of the dark story by  Stacy

Pettit Smith

Postal Plaza Gallery will breathe new life into OSU’s collection. continues

37

Louise Siddons and Bruce Crauder visit the Postal Plaza Gallery as construction continues to transform the old post office into a new art center.

years of art collected at

the university’s art, much

OSU will evolve into the

of Siddons’ time was dedi-

gallery within the former

cated to the search and

post office building, which

rescue of various pieces

will be equipped with two

throughout campus.

separate display galleries

“We spent the first six

and a climate-controlled

months just finding every-

storage space, says

thing,” Siddons says. “It’s

Bruce Crauder, associ-

not that no one knew

ate dean of the College

where they were, but you

of Arts and Sciences. The

had to find the right people

construction project will

who knew.”

So much of art depends on human interaction for its story to thrive. It is,

epicenter for Stillwater’s

after all, a person who brushes colors across a white

communications as the

the Bartlett Center for

canvas, who molds a lump of clay into a sculpture. And

heart for OSU’s art.

Visual Arts, while other

revive what was once the

A portion of the collection was displayed within

for years, the stories of much of OSU’s art collection fell

For the opening exhibi-

silent as pieces were left in the dark — stored in closets

tion, the gallery will shine a

hallways or entryways

and basements, void of human interaction. Next fall, the

well-deserved spotlight on

throughout campus.

art once hidden across campus will regain its voice as it is

the 2,000-plus pieces of

taken out of storage and moved to its new home in down-

the university’s permanent

ing you go to on the main

town Stillwater. OSU’s Postal Plaza Gallery will breathe

art collection, Siddons

campus has artwork

new life into the art that has been sleeping in the dark

says. Once its doors open,

stored in it on the walls,”

rooms across campus for decades.

the gallery will offer visi-

Siddons says. “One of the

tors an array of pieces

things you do when you

from the 17th century to

don’t have proper storage

38

“We have this amazing

pieces were hung in

“Almost every build-

today. The diverse collec-

is hang it out on the wall

collection, and it doesn’t

tion includes pieces from

somewhere. People are

just deserve to be shown,

around the globe rang-

careful about the art on

but it needs to be taken

ing from African sculptures

the walls, so it’s cared for.”

care of and properly

and Indian textiles to two

exhibited,” says Louise

works by Salvador Dali.

Siddons, an art history assistant professor and

Siddons discovered that

While some may have seen it as bittersweet to see blank walls where

locating the various pieces

art was once “stored” on

OSU’s curator of collec-

proved to be her first

campus, others were a

tions. “There is a story of

challenge. After the 2010

little more thrilled to see

rejuvenation here.”

announcement that the

the artwork find a new

With the opening of the Postal Plaza Gallery

former post office would

home in the gallery down-

soon store and showcase

town, Siddons says.

next fall, OSU’s permanent art collection will finally have a place to call home. What began as a

“It’s so exciting because when we open the doors, people will say this is museum quality and that

search for proper stor-

OSU really knows what it’s doing with artwork.

age for the more than 70

And they’ll be correct.” — Louise Siddons

It’s a marvelously solid structure.

The building itself is a work of art “About a decade ago, the library loaned us storage for

ful blending of the build-

six months,” she says. “That

ing’s history and its present,

turned into 10 years. That

Siddons adds.

was lucky for us and proba-

and something that was really

The gallery will be a care-

thought through.” — Bruce Crauder

Much of the building’s

bly unlucky for the library.”

original ironwork and marble

though the building will be

right here, and we get to

But before the collec-

has been tied into the design

separated for exhibits and

study them.” Now, she says she hopes the Postal

tion can be transported to

of the art gallery. Additional

storage, the entire building

the new facility, the 1930s-

lighting has been added to

can serve as a classroom

Plaza Gallery will ener-

era building must undergo

highlight special historical

and teaching area, Siddons

gize both OSU students

a facelift. Originally built

features such as an origi-

says.

and the Stillwater commu-

as the city’s post office

nal cornice, Siddons says. A

by the Works Progress

mural depicting the history

Administration, the building has gone through

“Just having a space

nity. “I think it is a way that

where students can work is

you can capture that excite-

of Payne County that was

huge,” she says. “It’s going

ment about discovery and

painted on a wall in the

to change the way we teach

research,” Siddons says.

many different purposes,

1960s has also been incor-

humanities.”

And with art donations to the

most recently serving as

porated within the building.

And she personally

university doubling during

office space. Even through

Aside from the historical

understands the value of a

the year after the announce-

decades of wear and tear,

relevance and beauty of the

student’s experience in the

ment of the museum,

Crauder says the building

building, Crauder says the

museum.

has endured with a strong

space is a perfect fit for the

In fact, Siddons once

Siddons says she expects there to be a variety of

core. “It’s a marvelously

university’s collection with

despised history as a

pieces to encourage discov-

solid structure,” he says.

15,000 square feet of space.

student and initially went

ery. To keep the creative

Although OSU eventually

to college to major in phys-

spark alive, the gallery will

ing — it’s a classic building

plans to have a museum on

ics. But while taking an art

also feature new exhibitions regularly.

“And it’s not a generic buildin itself.” The building needs

campus, Crauder says the

history class as a general

few changes aside from

gallery is a critical step in

education course, something

knocking down walls that

preserving and cataloguing

sparked Siddons’ curiosity in

she is excited to share

the arts.

some of OSU’s best-kept

For now, Siddons says

were added in the 1960s

pieces while also encourag-

and updating the plumbing

ing learning. “It’s so exciting

and other essentials. In fact,

because when we open the

they made us do was go to

Siddons says, the architects

doors, people will say this

a museum, and it changed

PowerPoint, or you can talk

are focusing on the unique-

is museum quality and that

my life,” she says. “It was

about art while it is right in

“One of the first things

secrets.“You can talk about art by looking at a

OSU really knows what it’s

incredible (to know) these

front of you, and how excit-

“The building itself is a

doing with artwork,” he says.

things are real, they’re

ing is that?”

work of art and something

“And they’ll be correct.” Even

ness of the structure.

that was really thought through,” she says.

top lef t Architectural rendering of the Postal Plaza Gallery left During a private event where plans for the gallery were unveiled, attendees could view renderings of what was to come for the former post office building. right The building on Husband Street, a few blocks south of Sixth Street, was built 80 years ago as part of the WPA.

39

40

Upping the care factor Early admission program aims to improve doctor numbers in rural Oklahoma. story by

Lorene A. Roberson

photography by

Gary Lawson

They tag along on physicians’ daily rounds in small towns. They watch as uninsured patients’ needs are determined. They scrawl notes on index cards and stuff them in the pockets of their white jackets.

Their job: Observe patient care in communities where doctors are hard to come by. continues

41

This spring, four aspiring doctors were admitted to the Oklahoma State University College of Medicine through the Rural and underserved Primary Care Early Admissions Program. They will finish their undergraduate degrees at OSU in May of 2013, and begin medical school that fall.

The students are part of a new plan designed to provide a solution to a chronic problem in Oklahoma — the shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas.

“The Early Admissions Program has a specific mission, and that is to serve rural and underserved Oklahoma. Our four students want to help those communities in need. We are excited to see them tackle a critical issue in Oklahoma,” says Amy Martindale, director of student academic services in the OSU College of Arts and Sciences.

Juniors Jessica Branstetter of Perkins, Chá Reeder of Stillwater, David McVay of Tulsa and senior Maria Vachapittack of Stillwater are the program’s inaugural class.

Martindale says the four are passionate about the new endeavor. “Osteopathic medicine’s appeal to many of our students is its philosophy of taking care of patients holistically, not just focusing on the specific symptom presented today,” she says. “These students are also dedicated to primary care, to meet the general medical needs in rural and underserved communities.”

Early recognition

42 Jessica Branstetter

“Most of my family lives in Oklahoma.

This is where I want to be.”

The OSU College of Arts and Sciences in Stillwater and the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa are collaborating on the plan.

The OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources also is taking part in the unique venture.

Under the program, students take pre-medical courses on the Stillwater campus for three years before starting medical training during their fourth — or senior — year. They earn a bachelor’s degree in four years and an osteopathic medical degree in three more.

“We want to identify students who show early signs of interest in rural medicine. We want to keep their talents in our state and make sure they are successful,” says Dr. William Pettit, associate dean at the OSU Center for Rural Health. “It’s a phenomenal thing to start this program, and we are thrilled to be working with the College of Arts and Sciences.”

The curriculum took more than a year for the three units to develop, and at first glance, the requirements are standard pre-med.

In the summer between their sophomore and junior years, however, the requirements are stepped up, with the students required to complete a three-week externship with a practicing osteopathic physician. In their junior year, students participate in primary care shadowing experiences.

Students also join the OSU Student Osteopathic Rural Medicine Club — known as StORM, a name created by the group’s first set of officers in 2008. “The first officers wanted to be more than just a club; they wanted to storm Oklahoma by meeting with legislators, dignitaries, townspeople and new students to address rural health,” says Pettit, the club’s adviser.

StORM’s main goal is to serve as representatives on both the state and national level.

“In the long run, we want our students to become spokespeople,” Pettit says.

43

A love for medicine

A microbiology major, Jessica Branstetter externed in July with Dr. Jennifer Ferrell of Stillwater. The externship, which is shorter than an internship, was a natural transition for the 19-year-old. For the last five years, she has volunteered at Stillwater Medical Center, where she now works as a clerical assistant in the ER. Branstetter says she always knew she wanted to be a doctor.

“I have always wanted to be in the medical field. I … wanted to get through high school quickly so I could do what I really wanted to do, which was medicine,” she says.

With that in mind, she graduated a year early from Perkins-Tryon High School as valedictorian of her class. OSU’s rigorous program does not faze Branstetter in the least.

“I am really excited about this medical program,” she says. “Most of my family lives in Oklahoma. This is where I want to be.”

David McVay

‘Give them hope’

“Everyone has family

With Dr. Dustin Cupp, David McVay walked the halls of Cushing Regional Hospital, a 95-bed hospital that serves the Oklahoma communities of Cushing, Drumright, Ripley, Agra, Perkins, Yale, Oilton and Stroud.

The physiology major went to morning and afternoon clinics and on patient rounds with Cupp. On one Tuesday evening, they worked at the county’s free medical clinic. And while he could not treat the patients, McVay listened. continues

problems, so it’s good when you can feel for your patients.”

44

While in the various clinics, he heard stories from multigenerational households about caring for wounds, farming accidents and job losses. He met families who had no jobs, no insurance and little hope.

“We would talk about their physical, emotional and spiritual health, along with the importance of being a family,” McVay, 21, says. “Everyone has family problems, so it’s good when you can feel for your patients, and it’s OK to think about them the day, the week, the month after.

“It’s good to give them hope and encouragement.”

Cushing was McVay’s first rural experience after working with urban communities for more than four years.

During his senior year of high school, he dedicated each Tuesday to volunteering for Good Samaritan Health Services in poor areas of Tulsa. “The area was very rough; however, being there helped give me more compassion and a clearer vision,” he says.

“My experience with Good Samaritan was when I first decided to commit to a long-term vision of helping people through health care.”

‘Fascinating’

Chá Reeder

“I fell in love with the program and its family appeal.”

The 20-year-old Chá Reeder, a microbiology major, tagged along with Ferrell in August. The doctor-in-training calls the experience fascinating. “I want to go into general practice, so it was great to observe patients with all different needs.”

Reeder, a Stillwater native and a selfproclaimed Cowboys fan since birth, says she has always wanted to stay within the OSU family. During high school, she toured the medical school once and later toured it as a college student — several times.

“I fell in love with the program and its family appeal. I also appreciate how none of the medical students are fighting to be in a No. 1 spot, but rather everyone is working together.”

OSU’s osteopathic medicine approach appealed to Reeder, too: “Viewpoints are changing, and there’s more of a focus on preventative medicine,” she says. “Instead of being stuffed full of medicines, people are looking for better ways of living. And osteopathic medicine’s way of treating diseases and the entire body works with that.”

‘Even more enthused’

Maria Vachapittack’s path differs from her younger colleagues. Her academic career started at the University of Nebraska, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theater. At 25, while she was pregnant with her first child, she became enchanted with medicine.

“My doctor asked me what I wanted to do with my theater degrees. With deadpan humor, I said ‘go into medicine,’ ” she says. “I was very serious, though, and decided to give up a regular paycheck and follow my gut and heart and go into science.

“It is a gamble that has paid off.”

At OSU, she is working on a degree in university studies. This summer in Muskogee, Okla., Vachapittack externed with Dr. Michael Stratton of the Children’s Clinic, doing morning rounds and attending Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control Commission meetings, where Stratton is a member.

“I was impressed by the depth of knowledge Dr. Stratton possesses, his kindness and warmth toward patients and his good nature,” Vachapittack says. “He’s a great physician.”

Vachappittack admits she loves getting a jumpstart on medical school. “Who wouldn’t jump on this opportunity? I have a lot of higher education, and I wanted to get into the classes that I would really use as a doctor,” the 27-year-old says.

“OSU’s early admission program helped that decision, but both my husband and I have really fallen for Oklahoma’s charm. I’m drawn to the beauty of the land here.”

45 Maria Vachapittack

She’s also drawn to medicine — rural, to be specific. “There’s an extreme need for doctors in this area of medicine and in Oklahoma.

I was overjoyed when the OSU Center for Health Sciences came to Stillwater with the news of this early admissions program.

“I would never take back this decision, and I bet if you talk with me in a year, I’ll be even more gung ho and even more enthused. I love people, and being a doctor seems the perfect choice for me.”

“I would never take back this decision, and I bet if you talk with me in a year, I’ll be even more gung ho and even more enthused.”

Gary Lawson / University Marketing

’79 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Vincent G. Logan Distinguished Alumnus 2012

46

Investment management consultant Vincent G. Logan was named 2012 Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University on April 11.

Logan, a 1979 political science graduate, was presented with the distinction at the college’s honors and awards banquet, where more than 200 students were recognized.

“I’m very happy to call OSU my home and my university,” Logan said. At OSU, Logan was a member of the Native American Association and Pre-Law Club.

“You may not chair or head your student organization; however, being involved in any capacity will serve you well. At OSU, I learned how to be a team player.”

Logan is president of the Nations Group, an investment counseling firm in New York founded to help tribal nations design effective strategies for reaching financial objectives.

He was educated at OSU, the University of Oklahoma College of Law and the summer law institute at Oxford University.

The College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Board is accepting nominations for the college’s 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award.

To receive a nomination form, contact Shane O’Mealey at shane.omealey@okstate.edu or 405-744-5647.

Nominations are due by Jan. 6, 2013.

February 2012

OSU Hall of Fame

October 2011

Distinguished Alumni Jerry Gill (above) was one of two A&S recipients of the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award presented by the OSU Alumni Association. Gill, a Stillwater resident, earned a bachelor’s degree in 1967, a master’s degree in 1973 and a doctorate in 1976, all in history. One of his jobs during his 36-year tenure at OSU, Gill was as associate director for the Office of High School and College Relations. photo by Genesee Photo Systems Vaughn O. Vennerberg II (below left), recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award, receives an honorary doctorate from OSU/A&M Regent Chair Jay Helm at the spring commencement ceremony. The Dallas resident earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1976. He was president and director of XTO Energy Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, until its merger with ExxonMobil in June 2010. He worked for 23 years with XTO when it was the nation’s largest domestic natural gas producer with more than 3,200 employees. photo by Genesee Photo Systems

Benjamin Harjo Jr. (’74) was inducted into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame on Feb. 17. Harjo earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at OSU. The Oklahoma City resident is one of the nation’s leading American Indian artists. photo by Genesee Photo Systems

47

October 2011

A&S Homecoming Reception More than 100 alumni and friends turned out for the A&S homecoming reception in Murray Hall. Alumni from 1961 and 1986 received 25- and 50-year pins from A&S alumni board President Dr. Tim Geib (’98) and Peter M.A. Sherwood, emeritus regents professor of chemistry and emeritus dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. photos by Cam Holmes and Mallory Schrader/School of Media and Strategic Communications students

The 50-year pins are presented to (from left) Earl Folk, Priscilla Decker, Joyce Jamison, Melva Wedge, Barbara Peters, Dr. Tom McDougal and Mike McDowell.

From left: Marti Troy (’86), Rosemary Addy (’85), and Kristi Roberts (’85) and her husband, Greg

A&S alumni board member Christopher Gafney (’90) and his wife, Chere (’90)

48

December 2011

Art at the Postal Plaza

Art alumnus Carson Scott, a member of the Class of 1959, (center) presents a print of Frank Eaton’s workshop to OSU President Burns Hargis and

his wife, Ann Hargis. The sculptor donated the piece to OSU at an event for the OSU Postal Plaza Gallery.

April 2012

A&S Honors and Awards Banquet Investment management consultant Vincent G. Logan (’79) was named 2012 Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Arts and Sciences on April 11. Logan was presented with the distinction at the college’s honors and awards banquet. More than 200 students were recognized at the event as well.

From left: Vincent Logan with Jamie Vickery (’12) and student Forrest Rogers, and Regents Professor Peter M.A. Sherwood, then the A&S dean.

From left: Logan’s sister Jeanine Logan (’77) with student Sara McKiddy.

49 From left: Tom Wikle, A&S associate dean for academic programs; Lorene A. Roberson, A&S communications; Lindsey Brownlow, A&S student academic services; Rosalina Yorks (’12); Logan; Lauren Foley; Jamie Nix (’12); Jamie Vickery (’12); Joshua Damron (’12); Amy Martindale, A&S director of student academic services; Grant Tinsley (’12); and Sherwood.

April 2012

A&S Spring Alumni Event Alumni and friends enjoyed an evening of jazz at the Beacon Club in downtown Oklahoma City.

OSU students and faculty who are members of the OSU Jazz Ensemble performed during the reception. Peter M.A. Sherwood, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, was recognized for his service to the college and university. He retired in July 2012. photos by Ann Sherman Photography

From left: Ana Scott (’11) and Bianca Cole (’10)

Shirley and Herb Davis (’53).

From left: OSU students Jonathan Lacaba, Laura Lopez, alumnae Lorene A. Roberson (’84) and Bonnie Cain-Wood (’99) and student Wes Haddox.

50

April 2012

Celebrating 40 OSU’s Department of Theatre hosted an alumni event in honor of its 40th year. More than 50 alumni from throughout the United States attended the event at Murray Hall.

From left: Brooks Powers (’07), Dawn Behrens (’06) and OSU theater professor Heidi Hoffer.

From left: Jody Biggers with Kathy and Leo Noltensmeyer.

COL LE GE OF

Arts & Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences Alumni: Stronger Every Day This is an exciting time for the

Alumni Board of Directors

Office of the Dean

College of Arts and Sciences at

President

201 Life Sciences East Stillwater, OK 74078 (405) 744-5663

OSU. Our College continues to grow, and we have more than 42,000 alumni today. The Office of Alumni Relations for the College of Arts and Sciences works with the OSU Alumni Association to strengthen ties among its alumni and friends.

Dr. Timothy Geib (’98) National Board Representative

Dana Glencross (’82/’86) Members

Carol Ringrose Alexander (’86) Dr. D. Erik Aspenson (’89) Claudia Holdridge Bartlett (’80) Dr. Carla Britt (’83) Matt Caves (’97) Stacy Dean (’86) Christopher Gafney (’90) Brian Huseman (’94)

For more information or to join

Theresa McClure (’78)

www.cas.okstate.edu Dean

Bret S. Danilowicz, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Instruction and Personnel

Bruce C. Crauder, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Academic Programs

Thomas A. Wikle, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Research

Ron Van Den Bussche, Ph.D.

Pam Mowry (’04)

Director of Student Academic Services

David Parrack (’80)

Amy Martindale, Ed.D.

visit www.orangeconnection.

Timothy Ryan (’84)

Director of Fiscal Affairs

org, or contact Shane O’Mealey,

Annawyn Shamas (’56)

the OSU Alumni Association,

alumni relations for the College

Renee G. Tefertiller Director of Outreach

of Arts and Sciences, at 405-

H. Walter Shaw

744-5647 or shane.omealey@

Senior Director of Development

okstate.edu.

The college’s spring alumni event in Oklahoma City recognized the contributions of Peter M.A. Sherwood (third from left), who retired in July 2012.

With Sherwood are Matt Caves (from left), Dana Glencross, Carol Ringrose Alexander, Pam Mowry and Dr. Timothy Geib.

Jason Caniglia

51

In Memoriam After college, he owned Lawson Printing in Stillwater before going to work for the U.S. Postal Service until retirement.

Dr. Alan R. Bandy, ’64, chemistry, died on Dec. 24, 2011, at age 71.

Dr. Bandy, an OSU alumnus and a faculty member in the chemistry department at Philadelphia’s Drexel University, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oklahoma State University in 1964 and a doctorate from the University of Florida in 1968. After serving as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Maryland, he joined the faculty of Old Dominion University.

He later joined Drexel, serving as the R.S. Hansen Professor of atmospheric and analytical chemistry.

Dr. Bandy often served as principal investigator in studies funded by the National Science Foundation and the NASA Global Troposphere Program.

Dr. Bandy pioneered isotopic dilution techniques, which were needed to probe the fluctuations in atmospheric dynamics. His research was equally rooted in analytical and physical chemistry. He was the author or co-author of more than 100 publications, adviser to 20 graduate students and mentor to 10 postdoctoral scholars.

52

Dr. Bandy is survived by his wife, Ellyn Gershon Bandy; four children; two stepchildren; 11 grandchildren; a brother, William; and a sister, Colleen Fischer.



Don Childs, visiting theater Monica Antionette professor, died Dec. 18, 2011, at Dudley, ’06/’08, political sciage 68.

Mr. Childs began his career at the San Francisco Actors Workshop in the 1960s, working as a technician, lighting designer and technical director. Following that, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and a master’s in fine arts from Indiana University.

Mr. Childs taught theater courses in many cities, including San Diego, Montreal and Stillwater. At the time of his death, Mr. Childs was teaching and designing at OSU. He created more than 200 plays, musicals, dance concerts and exhibitions. He shared a Gold Medal for his lighting design with scenographer Ladislav Vychodil at the Prague Quadrennial, an international exhibition. He also showcased his work at the World Stage Design, an exhibition of international performance design in Toronto. In 2007, the Texas Educational Theater Association named him Artist of the Year.

Mr. Childs was chair of the Southwest Chapter of the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology. He founded the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas to provide hands-on training for the live entertainment industry. He was a member of several organizations, including the U.S. Institute of Theater Technology, the United Scenic Artists and the International Association of Auditorium Managers.

He is survived by his wife, Jane, and daughter, Tera Lynn.



ence, died in a car crash Feb. 1, 2012, at age 27.

Ms. Dudley was working toward a doctorate in educational leadership at OSU. Ms. Dudley earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Oklahoma State University in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

She was named a visiting professor in political science at OSU after her 2008 graduation. She also had served as coordinator of the OSU Retention Initiative for Student Excellence and the Inclusion Leadership Program since July 2009. Ms. Dudley was a staunch advocate for ensuring students recognize their full potential in college.

Ms. Dudley is survived by her mother, Vickie Dudley; father, John Caldwell Sr.; sisters Chari Price, Janea Carter and Taira West; and brothers Dominique Dudley, Jawan Dudley, Kyndal Dudley, John Caldwell Jr., Tyrese Davis and Clarence Barnes Jr.



Monty Lawson remembers his dad as a multitalented man: “Dad had a lifelong interest in music. He was not shy about trying his hand at playing the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and even singing,” he says.

Mr. Lawson’s survivors include two sons, Dr. Michael Lawson (’85), his wife, Kristi, and their son, Chris, of Kearny, Neb.; and Monty Lawson, his wife, Valerie, and their son, Colin, of Tulsa.



Paul A. Montemurro, former OSU marching band director, died July 5, 2012, at age 79.

Mr. Montemurro served as the band’s director from 1972 to 1981, when he became director of bands until he resigned from OSU in 1985.

In 1979, he and several former students formed an alumni band. His students often referred to him as “Prof.”

He was born April 20, 1933, in Chicago and married Margaret Dickover on March 9, 1985, in Oklahoma.

Richard Lee Lawson, fine arts, ’53, died April 27, 2012, at age 83.

Mr. Lawson was born April 27, 1929, in Queen City, Mo. In 1953, he earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Oklahoma A&M College. He married Gloria Vinita Rutter on July 3, 1954, in Stillwater.

She died in 2008.

Mr. Montemurro was an accomplished trumpet, flugelhorn and piccolo trumpet soloist with 42 years of experience in band direction, music education and church music work. He also was director of bands at Central Methodist College in Fayette, Mo., and directed instrumental groups at schools in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.

In 1971, Mr. Montemurro was named an Outstanding Educator of America. Three years later, he received a Citation of Excellence from the National Bandmasters of America. He was named the National Association of Jazz Educators’ Outstanding Jazz Educator in the Oklahoma unit in 1987.

His professional affiliations included Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, National Patrons of Phi Beta Mu, College Band Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference and American Bandmasters Association. He was a member of two honorary band societies, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. He was also a member and served as president of the Oklahoma unit of the National Association of Jazz Educators.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by five children: Pamela Reding and her husband, Chris, of Stillwater, Paula Lindon and her husband, Darin, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Frank Montemurro and his wife, Ashley, Millicent Montemurro and Megan Montemurro, all of St. Joseph, Mo., and a sister, Antoinette Castelvecchi and her husband, Leroy, of Dundee, Ill.



Billy Joe ‘B.J.’ Smith, fine arts,’55, and emeritus art professor, died Jan. 26, 2012, at age 80.

Mr. Smith served as the director of the Gardiner Art Gallery, which he started in 1965, for 29 years before retiring in June 1994. A 1950 graduate of Guymon (Okla.) High School, he received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Oklahoma A&M College in 1955.

After serving in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers with a commission from OAMC’s ROTC between 1955 and 1957, he earned a master’s degree in fine arts in 1959 from the University of Oklahoma.

Mr. Smith lived in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1959 and 1961 and attended the University of California, Berkeley’s College of Education in 1961. Returning to Oklahoma, he worked at the Oklahoma Art Center, now the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, as its assistant director from 1961 until 1965. In August 1965, he was hired by OSU’s Department of Art to start its first full-time gallery. He ran OSU’s gallery as a staff of one, hanging 11 shows a year until his retirement.

Mr. Smith’s painted artworks are in the permanent collections of the Fred Jones Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman; Oklahoma State Collection of Artists and Craftsmen, Oklahoma City; Oklahoma City Museum of Art; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Neb.; and numerous private collections. Since 1978, he has been listed in Who’s Who in American Art. He also is included in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest and Men of Achievement.

Mr. Smith is survived by a brother, George Smith and his wife, Marion of Westminster, Colo.

Memorial Scholarships To learn more about memorial scholarships, contact Jason Caniglia at 405-385-5155 or email jcaniglia@osugiving.com

You may not be thinking about coming back home today.

But you will. until then, CONNECT with us at okstate.edu cas.okstate.edu twitter.com/OSUartssciences orangeconnection.org osugiving.com

Oklahoma State University College of Arts & Sciences

No n - P rof it o r g an i zat ion U.S . P O S TAGE P A I D

201 Life Sciences East

S t i l lwat e r , OK

Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-3015

BAC K YAR D

P er m i t N o. 1 9 1

SUPPORT Donors support OSU many ways, including outright cash gifts, donations of property and estate-planning tools such as wills and trusts.

An opportunity that isn’t as well known is the gift of mineral rights. Oil and gas royalties could help you achieve your charitable goals.

Whether the gift is an entire or undivided fractional interest, it can significantly impact many areas, including scholarships, faculty, facilities and programs.

Isn’t turning something in your backyard into a gift that helps students an exciting thought?

For more information, contact Jason Caniglia or John Strah at 405.385.5617 or visit OSUgiving.giftlegacy.com.