4 minute read
Stanley Nnochirionye
Wheel Has Come Full Circle for Professor
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Dr. Stanley Nnochirionye has been quietly making a difference at East Central University and in the Ada community since 1992. This past year, they said thank you.
Dressed in the attire of their roots, Dr. Stan and his son Noah Obinna march beneath the flag of Stan’s home country Nigeria in the October 2010 homecoming parade.
BRINGING THE WORLD TO ADA
Award-winning Oklahoma City television producer and station manager the late Bill Thrash (‘61) welcomes students from Dr. Stan’s radio and TV broadcasting class to the OETA studios in 2008.
When Dr. Stan first came to East Central University to teach radio and TV broadcasting, there were only 16 international students from six countries on campus. He, along with fellow members of the human diversity committee Dr. Mara Sukholutskaya and Dr. Dragan Jankovic, decided they had to do something to take care of not only those students but recruit future ones as well. They proposed establishing an office specifically for them and submitted the idea to then—president Dr. Bill S. Cole, who created the Office of International Affairs as a result of their efforts. The University now has close to 200 international students from over 31 countries who, along with their predecessors, have made lasting academic, cultural, athletic and humanitarian contributions to the campus, community and world.
“In my opinion, that was my greatest contribution to the university.”
Dr. Stan came to the United States from Nigeria on a soccer scholarship to study and play at State University of New York at Buffalo. In every community he has lived since then, from Indiana to Tennessee to Ada, he has been involved in soccer. He wanted to take a break at ECU, but some international students had other ideas. A player from Nigeria pleaded for his help organizing a soccer club and the break was over. A club consisting of both men and women was born.
Later, the women wanted to form their own club. Forty girls
Students from countries in Africa and the Caribbean celebrate their traditions in dance at Fusion Night in April 2012. Dr. Stan has been the advisor to the African/ Caribbean Students Association since its inception in 2009. showed up to tryout. In 1997, shortly after they defeated Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa to advance to the Oklahoma College Club Soccer League finals, Dr. Cole added soccer to the ECU women’s athletic lineup with Dr. Stan at the helm. He coached the team for one year and turned it over to his captain Heather Beam.
“I wanted to make sure there was prestige, and there was transparency, but above all I wanted to represent the university in a very good light,” he said.
Dr. Stan was diagnosed with liver cancer in October 2011. To avoid a long-term occurrence, he was advised to consider a liver transplant. After five days of tests at
International students celebrate the end of a long road trip to Niagara Falls. Dr. Stan drove the group of 29 from Ada to New York for spring break 2011, giving them a cross-country tour of America and a visit to his old stomping grounds at SUNY Buffalo State.
Stan’s transplant physician Dr. Lori Kautzman and posttransplant nurse Lenzi Elliott, a 2004 ECU alumna, welcome their patient home at a reception in the Chickasaw Business and Conference Center in November 2013. Dr. Stan and his son Noah pose with the welcome home cake.
Integris Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute and a week of waiting and wondering, test results qualified him for the transplant he underwent in August 2013.
Students, faculty, staff and the community could not wait to welcome him home to show their support and help raise money to pay for the procedure at a reception in the Chickasaw Business and Conference Center that November.
As Dr. Stan continues his recovery and service to ECU as coordinator of distance education ITV/multimedia, his next venture is spearheading a group of transplant recipients and organizations to encourage the type of organ donation that saved his life.
Dr. Stan and his U6 Blue Ninjas from the Ada Boys and Girls Club celebrate the end of the spring 2013 soccer season. Standing next to Coach Stan is his son Noah Obinna. Stan has been involved with the Ada Boys and Girls Club since 1993. He was chair of the soccer committee from 2008-10 and president of the board of directors from 2010-12.
Dr. Stan poses with members of the soccer team he coached right before his liver cancer diagnosis in 2011. Dr. Andrei Ghenciu (back row, fourth from left), his assistant and player at the time, took over his duties. The club has not had a coach since Ghenciu left for the University of Wisconsin.
