CAS News

The Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences honored 25 of its most successful alumni Sept. 21 during the 2018 Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Wes Watkins Center for International Trade & Development. Frank Wicks and Linda Young were both inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Theodore Wagener was recognized as a Rising Star. There were also 22 Distinguished Alumni recipients.

Mia Solomon White knew two things in high school: She wanted to attend college in Oklahoma, and she wanted a career involving the study of human behavior.

As a high school junior, she visited Oklahoma State during homecoming. White found the experience captivating.

“The energy was pretty incredible. I was blown away by the amount of work that went into the floats and the house decorations.”

That influenced her decision soon after to attend OSU.

Noah Mennenga is excited to watch the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music continue to grow larger and even stronger than it already is in the near future. The trumpet performance senior will graduate in May after a wonderful experience at Oklahoma State University. And as he continues his musical career, he looks forward to telling members of the next generation to consider OSU.

Mennenga spoke Saturday morning at the groundbreaking for the new Greenwood School of Music building, which will house a variety of music laboratories, classrooms, rehearsal spaces and teaching studios equipped with the latest technology for high-level studio production, offering a premier teaching and learning experience.

A love of math, physics and the outdoors adds up to one passionate geologist.

You can find all of those traits in Camelia C. Knapp, the new Boone Pickens School of Geology head.

The Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences announced its faculty and staff award winners Aug. 28 at its annual Fall Convocation, held in the Wes Watkins Center Exhibition Hall. CAS leaders presented 11 awards to members of the faculty and staff, along with 89 service pins for milestone work anniversaries. 

Steve and Susan Burgess had never been to Stillwater, Oklahoma, before they made the roughly one-hour drive from their new home in Shawnee on Aug. 9. They discovered Oklahoma State University has a beautiful campus and expert faculty, and most importantly, a community fulfilling the modern land-grant mission.

The Burgesses, who have been married 46 years, were among more than 50 participants at a three-day Parkinson’s disease (PD) boot camp funded by a College of Arts and Sciences Community Engagement Grant. The couple recently moved from Oregon to Oklahoma to live closer to their children and grandchildren following Steve being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movements, speech and cognitive skills – about 18 months ago.

A few common threads run among three members of the College of Arts and Sciences family: They all love OSU, attended Harvard Law School, and remember professors who helped them get there. 

Craig Grounds (English 2014), Travis Leverett (political science ’14) and Jeffrey Roderick (political science/economics ’13) all graduated from Oklahoma State University with their sights set on law school.

The “Student First Aid Station” in Dana Hatter’s office in Life Sciences East is stocked not only with band-aids and ibuprofen, but also with boxes marked “Popcorn” and “Hot Chocolate.” 

“I call all of the students I advise my kids,” Hatter joked, “and I basically am a mom 24/7, both at home and here.” 

A Boone Pickens School of Geology faculty member is hosting a national workshop at OSU this weekend.

Priyank Jaiswal is hosting A Forum on Infrastructure, sponsored by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the National Science Foundation. The forum will concentrate on unique challenges to geotechnical and civil engineering and geoscience and geophysics in the Central USA.