CAS News

While Oklahoma and most of America has been in some form of lockdown over the past two months, Italy implemented one of the strictest versions in the world and did it earlier than most nations. That country has now begun easing restrictions, but we spoke with OSU art history alumna Lora Webb when they were still in place. She is in Italy working toward a Ph.D. from Stanford. Lora published a letter in the Oklahoman urging her home state to shut down to save lives, just as Italy did. We spoke about that, how her experience compares to what we are seeing in Oklahoma, and why her research area makes some people uncomfortable.

William Colt Chandler wanted to be a police officer as a child. Now he is using his education from Oklahoma State University – at both the Oklahoma City and Stillwater campuses – and his experience from the OSU Police Department to help others on a day-to-day basis and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a young kid, I fell into one of the categories of a typical male of wanting to be either a firefighter or a police officer,” said Chandler, now a captain with the OSUPD. “It kind of stuck with me in my teenage years. And then my oldest brother became a police officer.”

Many graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences are on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19. One example is Dr. Corby Smithton, a biology and zoology graduate who went on to earn his medical degree from the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. His wife, Colbi, is another CAS and OSU med graduate. They are both providers at Stillwater Family Care, where they are seeing patients who have, or think they have, COVID-19. Corby Smithton joined us to talk about what that experience is like, what he expects to see as we continue to face this pandemic, and why CAS graduates are key to pulling us out of this situation.

With the closure of campus mid-semester, OSU’s classrooms and concert halls alike have been unusually quiet. But in late April, the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts got a welcome visitor: Dustin Boatright, a music education major in the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music, came to record a three-song set for CAS Spring Commencement with the help of his voice professor, Steve Sanders.

“It was just us in the building,” Boatright said. “We set up the stage, had a little podium there, I threw on a cap and gown and we recorded three songs: the national anthem, ‘Oklahoma!’ and the alma mater.”

Ten-year-old Annagrace Lewis sat in the backyard inspecting each flower. She gazed at the shape, inhaled the smell and most importantly, considered the color. The color is what she needed. She picked the perfect color and ran back inside. Her mom took the little flower and taught Lewis to crush it, add water and witch hazel, and then brush her small cheeks with a little color.

“Those were the first moments I realized a plant could be so much more than just a plant,” Lewis said.

For graduate students in the OSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the OSU Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic is the best way to earn patient contact hours necessary for graduation and licensing. OSU moving its classes online through the summer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has created a major challenge for those students.

“We have been seeing our limited number of patients through teletherapy,” said Ramesh Kaipa, head of the department. “We really want to increase that number over the summer, both for the benefit of patients who utilize our services and to help the graduate students. This is a great way to assist both groups in a safe manner.”

Chris Jones of Edmond, Oklahoma, has left his mark on Oklahoma State University. He was named a 2019 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, the 2019 Top Junior for the College of Arts and Sciences, a Niblack Scholar, a Wentz Research Scholar, a 2019-2020 Outstanding Senior, and also the Orange Gown Graduate for the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Within geology I focus on geochemistry, so how organisms are interacting with the Earth and the chemical record of that. I like chemistry and I like biology. The way to study both is by studying rocks and the sediments that are left,” he said.

Chapman Howard, a mathematics and mechanical engineering major from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been selected as an Oklahoma State University 2019-2020 Outstanding Senior by the OSU Alumni Association.

The Outstanding Seniors award recognizes seniors who show excellence through academic achievement; campus and community involvement; academic, athletic or extracurricular honors or awards; scholarships and work ethic during their time at OSU.