11 An Inclusive Spirit College of Arts and Sciences alumna and Choctaw Nation member Gena Timberman uses the sense of community she experienced at OSU as she navigates her job and life. On a day where the temperature is well over 100 degrees, Gena Timberman is cool and composed as she shows visitors the American Indian Cultural Center & Museum. From the glass, steel and zinc visitor center in Oklahoma City, the 1996 OSU alumna points at a symbolic American Indian mound composed of more than a million cubic feet of red dirt. She explains the Courtyard of the Wind consists of lighted pillars with flutes inside them. She talks about the tradition behind the concept of fire, which honors the past, rejoices in the present and anticipates the future. The 37-year-old is the executive director of Oklahoma’s Native American Cultural and Educational Authority, a state agency created in 1994 to build and operate the center and museum sharing the experiences of Oklahoma’s American Indian population. The job involves overseeing a $170 million project that includes a 125,000-square-foot museum, a 250-acre park, a 43-acre commercial center and a 4,000-square foot visitors’ center. The construction, however, is incomplete. In May, the Oklahoma Senate failed to consider bond legislation to fund the project, leaving the project in limbo after more than six years of building. Many would find the delay discouraging. For Timberman this is a journey she will see all the way through. “It is not if we are building, but when.” UNDERSTANDING WHO SHE IS Timberman is well equipped for the uphill trek. Fresh out of law school, a 24-year-old Timberman was asked to work on the museum project. Twelve years later, she knows statistics by rote and quotes them to legislators and laymen alike. The museum would have nearly a $4 billion impact on Oklahoma as a cultural tourism project. Cultural tourists, those who visit museums and sites, spend 36 percent more than other tourists such as conference attendees, and stay 50 percent longer. The museum is expected to open in 2016, a year behind schedule. Despite the delay, Timberman keeps the fires burning. “In Oklahoma, we started out as a collision of cultures and today that has grown into a collaboration of cultures. This is an exciting time to be an Oklahoman and to be a part of this journey,” she says. Timberman’s journey started in a city where church, home and society were united. Mustang, Okla., which is surrounded on four sides by Oklahoma City, would grow from about 10,000 people in 1990 to more than 17,000 in a couple of decades. Despite the growth, Timberman said she found “a spirit of inclusivity.” She attended church camps, took part in community events, and ran track and cross country at Mustang High School. Timberman’s mother worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. Her father was a part-time student for 10 years while working full time at the Dayton tire plant. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering a year after his daughter entered law school at the University of Oklahoma. “My father was the most influential in terms of me seeking higher education,” Timberman says. “He has a commitment to working hard and to being a dad.” CONTINUES STORY BY Lorene A. Roberson ’84 PHOTOGRAPH BY Jason J. Caniglia
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