W E E K D AY E D I T I O N | S E P T E M B E R 2 5 - 2 7, 2 0 17 | T W I C E W E E K LY I N P R I N T | O U D A I LY. C O M
OUDAILY
For 101 years, the student voice of the University of Oklahoma
OU President David Boren speaks in front of then-Hester Hall after the unveiling of the statue of Omar Khayyam donated by the Farzaneh Family Foundation.
NOOR EEMAAN/THE DAILY
L EAVING A LEGACY College of International Studies to bear Boren’s name
F
arzaneh Hall is lined with photos. With art on loan from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art to smiling students studying abroad, every few steps is covered with life. There’s one face that appears over and over across the floors and halls: OU President David Boren. Boren was instrumental in founding the College of International Studies and has been one of its biggest champions over the years. Now, after Boren’s announcement of his retirement on June 30, 2018, pending the selection of his successor, the college will bear more than just his pictures — it will bear his name. BUILDING A NEW COLLEGE The international studies program at OU has existed since 1996, but was made its own college by Boren in 2011. The college combined the School of International and Area Studies, t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l P ro g r a m Center, Education Abroad and International Student Services into the College of International and Area Studies. On Jan. 27, 2011, Boren announced a $2 million beginning to a $14 million fundraising campaign for the fledgling college. At the time, the college had approximately 450 undergraduate students. The first dean of the college, Zach Messitte, came to OU to lead the International Programs Center in 2007. Messitte had known Boren since
ALLISON WEINTRAUB • @ALLIEFRANCES12 the mid-1980s, when he interviewed then-Senator Boren for his school paper. Messitte later worked with Boren in various capacities, including as an intern and employee in Washington. Messitte, who currently serves as president at Ripon College in Wisconsin, said Boren’s passion for international affairs made working with him as the college’s dean a “dream.” “He’s an internationalist,” Messitte said. “He always has been, from his earliest days as someone who was interested in history and politics and economics. He obviously studied at Oxford and traveled the world as both a senator, but also just as a student. He loved international travel, he loved being in the international environment.” Messitte said Boren’s work establishing the Colle g e of International Studies has helped students and the state of Oklahoma as a whole by giving students important experiences. He said the college and all affiliates will be an important part of Boren’s legacy. “There’s a whole generation of students going backward and now going forward who have had an international experience at OU,” Messitte said. “They have been touched by this idea that it’s a much wider world than just Oklahoma and Texas — there’s this great big world out there that we need to be a part of.” The current dean of the college, Suzette Grillot, became interim dean in 2012 and took on the position officially in 2013.
When Grillot was appointed, she stressed the importance of attending to all aspects of the College of International Studies’ mission. She said while global education is important moving forward, offering students a chance to expand their horizons through globally-focused classes and study abroad opportunities is also beneficial to their understanding of the world. CHANGING THE COLLEGE One of the biggest changes the college has undergone is the renovation of Farzaneh Hall. The building, formerly known as Hester Hall, changed its name to recognize a gift given by the Farzaneh Family Foundation. Boren helped spearhead the fundraising campaign, which raised $13.5 million to expand the building for international studies majors. The Farzaneh brothers, Jalal and Mohammad, through the Farzaneh Family Foundation, gifted the college $4 million, the largest gift in OU’s history from international students. Jalal Farzaneh said he thought Boren’s time in the Senate gave him vision about the difficulties Oklahomans faced getting into the world of politics. Due to Boren’s vision, he was able to develop a program that went “toeto-toe” with the Ivy Leagues, according to Farzaneh. “He made it possible for everybody, every kid in Oklahoma, and afforded everybody the opportunity for them to be able to get into a school that is going to
be about on par with all the Ivy League College of International (Studies),” Jalal Farzaneh said. The brothers, who are from Iran and received masters’ degrees from OU in 1984, had previously donated to support the establishment of the Education Abroad and International Student Services reception suite and an endowment fund, in addition to donating more than $8 million. Mohammad Farzaneh said Boren’s understanding of the importance of global community helped shape the college. OU’s three campuses abroad in Arezzo, Italy; Puebla, Mexico; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, help extend the reach of the opportunities for students, according to Farzaneh. “It is very difficult for (O klahoman) kids to imagine they can study locally and be exposed to all those things,” Mohammad Farzaneh said. “But, this college ... it’s just an amazing opportunity for Oklahoma young men and women just to get this kind of exposure.” At the time, Grillot said the gift was extremely helpful to the college. “The impact that it has on this college is just tremendous,” Grillot told The Daily in 2016. “It’s allowing us to develop the world’s most premiere Iranian studies program.” BOREN’S LEGACY In 2017, the College of International Studies boasted 774 students on the Norman
Campus, according to OU Fact Book. That’s an increase from its original enrollment number of 431, in only 6 years time. Mohammad Farzaneh said Boren deserved to have his name on the international studies program because he played such an instrumental role in the college’s foundation. “He deserved to have his name there and that college deserved to have David Boren’s name for the future of people to realize: that’s (an) important college because he’s (an) important man,” Mohammad Farzaneh said. Jalal Farzaneh said the College of International Studies should be proud of the work Boren did for the college. “(It) shows the legacy of a man who has vision,” Farzaneh said. “Because of his vision we are now seeing the College of International (Studies), which is going to play a role in the future of the United States.” Messitte said while Boren has influenced every department of OU, his work in the field of international studies and founding the college was one of his defining moments. “He’s got so much to be proud of,” Messitte said. “I would put right up there, at or near the top of the list, the things he did to promote internationalism at OU. (Those) will be among his most lasting contributions to the university and really to the state.” Allison Weintraub
allison.weintraub@ou.edu
Boren inspires in freshman class OU president intends to continue teaching after his retirement HANNAH PIKE @h_pike_
When President David Boren was little, he invited his whole class to his birthday party, including the banker’s daughter and the garbage man’s son.
Despite their differences, they were all friends, Boren told his students in class one day, just as he was later friends with senators who did not share his political beliefs. Ha n na h Pe r r y , a c re at i ve media production sophomore, said she learned this inclusive mindset while taking Boren’s freshman political science class, and will always remember. Even after Boren’s 23-year
tenure as president comes to a close June 30, 2018 — pending the selection of his successor — the former United States senator, governor and state legislator plans to continue teaching the class, in which he has impacted students across campus every semester through his jokes and anecdotes. “Getting to see just a real him and not him as President David Boren was just really like, ‘Hey,
there’s Professor Boren,’ and it’s a different kind of feeling,” Perry said. “It really just shows how personal he was with his students and how he really just wanted to connect and touch everyone’s life.” The first day of class, students were “tensed up” and nervous when Boren walked in, but after that, Boren was playful, which made the class fun, said Chris Loerke, a chemical biosciences
sophomore who took the class his freshman year. “Before, he had just seemed like such a powerful figure, but then we just kind of saw him as a person — and a person who really wanted the best for his students and the best for the people he interacts with — and that just see BOREN page 2