By Rex Daugherty

There are more than a century of memories that Dr. Tom Alexander takes with him when he retires in June, giving up the reins of the OSU Institute of Technology infirmary.

Dr. Tom Alexander, who has treated patients at the OSUIT infirmary for 40 years, examines Jennifer Tubbs, a culinary arts student from Wilburton, Okla. Photo by Rex Daugherty

For 40 years, Alexander has provided medical care to students and employees on the Okmulgee campus. He treats OSU patients during his lunch hour, between the morning and afternoon appointments at his thriving Okmulgee medical practice.

Since 1904, there have been several Drs. Alexander serving the people of this area. Dr. Tom, as he is affectionately known on campus, loves to reminisce about his relatives’ adventures and endearing qualities.

Dr. Tom is a third-generation physician in Okmulgee, as is his brother, Dr. Robert Alexander Jr., a retired surgeon. Their grandfather, Dr. Lin Alexander, took his horse and buggy to call on patients in the Muscogee (Creek) allotments that served as guide points in Indian Territory.

Dr. Lin Alexander

Lin Alexander came to Oklahoma in 1903. Carrying his Texas medical license, he got off the train in Okmulgee, found a young doctor needing a partner and started his practice, Dr. Tom says.

One of Lin Alexander’s first calls was to the home of prominent Creek citizens Celia and Harrison Berryhill. He got his license to practice in Indian Territory in 1904. The new state of Oklahoma issued medical licenses in 1909; Lin Alexander’s license was No. 50. It’s framed on the wall at Dr. Tom’s clinic.

Dr. Robert Alexander Sr.

Lin Alexander’s son, Robert, followed in his father’s footsteps, earning a medical degree and practicing in Okmulgee. Dr. Tom says his father was very patient-focused and loyal to his family.

“He was always available to his patients,” Dr. Tom says. “People would call in the evening and he would have them come to the house, or he would meet them at the emergency room.”

In 1947, Dr. Robert Alexander Sr. was invited to head the infirmary at the newly organized Oklahoma A&M Tech-Okmulgee. One of OSUIT’s student housing buildings, Alexander Hall, is named in his honor, citing his service as founding chief physician from 1947 to 1972.

The citation says, “During his 25 years of service, Dr. Robert L. Alexander provided exemplary, experienced, attentive, and empathetic care for the health and wellness of the students and employees of the university.”

Dr. Tom says his father’s duties were diverse, including delivering babies for the students’ wives and caring for hospitalized students at the infirmary.

Dr. Robert Alexander Jr.

Observing his father also gave Dr. Tom the opportunity to see how the college was meeting the needs of returning veterans who were using the GI Bill of Rights to obtain job training.

“Initially they had farming courses; auto body and auto mechanics; jewelry; refrigeration; shoe, boot and saddle; and diesel,” Dr. Tom says. “In the diesel class, the students learned off a Navy destroyer engine. It was huge — 15 feet long and 8 or 10 feet high. The students had to take the engine completely apart, reassemble it and make it run.”

Dr. Tom says the hands-on approach to learning is a service to OSUIT students.

“The administration at OSUIT has tried to go with what industry needs,” he says. “They have contact with different industries to help point the school to where the needs are. As leadership changes at the college, I see they have been able to continue upgrading the programs and quickly responding to industry demands.”

Dr. Tom says when he told his wife about his plans to retire from his duties as OSUIT’s chief physician, she said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Dr. Tom Alexander

Dr. Tom says his experiences examining students and sometimes their children underscore the need for improved rural health care.

“The students I see here frequently do not have any insurance, so we are limited on what treatment and medication they can afford and what kind of tests they can get,” he says. “If a student needs tests that day, I will see them in my office at no charge to give them the test results.”

Dr. Tom says he often negotiates additional treatment with local health care providers, who try to help when possible. “If I have medication samples, I give them to the students when needed,” he says.

The main service he tries to provide to patients is the opportunity to look a doctor in the eye and talk about their symptoms.

“Part of medicine is looking at people and touching people,” he says.

“You know they want you to look at them and examine them — that begins the healing process.”

Story by MARLA SCHAEFER

Everyone knows everyone in Buffalo, a small town on the eastern edge of the Oklahoma Panhandle where the nearest Walmart is a 45-minute drive.

So, Buffalo is just what physician Jac Snyder, D.O., wanted. A 2006 graduate of OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, she practices family medicine at Harper County Community Hospital.

“I always knew a small town was for me,” says Snyder, who grew up in

Wynnewood, Okla. “I feel like I make a difference here. It’s like family. I’m not just collecting a paycheck.”

MEETING A NEED

Oklahoma ranks 49th among U.S. states in the number of primary care physicians with 82 such physicians per 100,000 Oklahomans, according to America’s Health Rankings prepared by United Health Foundation.

Physicians who choose a rural practice find they quickly become a vital part of the community.

At the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, promoting rural health is a top priority. Rural physicians share their stories with students through the OSU Center for Rural Health’s Rural Health Option Program. Through elective courses, the option prepares medical students for the challenges and rewards of a rural practice.

Vicky Pace, director of rural medical education, says the first Perspectives in Rural Health elective in 2008 had 12 students.

“This year we had our fourth class, with 35 students enrolled,” she says. “It includes students from both rural and urban areas.”

The elective for first- and second-year medical students provides an in-depth look at life in a rural practice. Oklahoma physicians Jennifer Scoufos, D.O., Sallisaw; Darryl Jackson, D.O., Prague; and Monty Grugan, D.O., Broken Bow, share their experiences working in rural areas.

Oklahoma physicians who volunteer to assist in training for another course, Rural Medical Care, are J. Michael Fitzgerald, D.O., Lawton; Tammie Koehler, D.O., Miami; Tulsa-based physicians Shawna Duncan, D.O., Joseph Johnson, D.O., and William Wylie, D.O.; and Stacey Knapp, D.O., Clinton.

“I see a new group of students each year and it is always amazing to hear their stories and feel their enthusiasm,” Pace says. “When the students tour one of our rural residency programs, it is a real highlight. They are terrific students who have great stories to tell and are excited about being in the program.”

CREATING LEADERS

The program does more than promote rural medicine.

“We are creating leaders for rural health, not just expanding an interest,” Pace says. “These physicians become community leaders, too.”

The mission of the OSU Center for Health Sciences is to serve rural and underserved Oklahoma. Second-year medical student Eryn Bass performs basic health checks at the Mission of Mercy free dental clinic in McAlester in February. Photo provided by OSU Center for Health Sciences

Jennifer Duroy, a second-year student from Ponca City, Okla., is vice president of the Student Osteopathic Rural Medicine Club. The club gives students insight into rural medicine through activities such as a spring health fair and discussions with physicians.

“I will do four rotations in Tulsa and the rest in rural areas of the state,” says Duroy, who begins rotations in November.

OSU also is increasing efforts to recruit and train students for medical practice in rural and underserved Oklahoma through an early admissions program. The agreement with College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the College of Arts and Sciences allows select students to gain early admission to the osteopathic medicine college. These students commit to practice in rural areas after graduation.

Students in the program complete their first three undergraduate years on the Stillwater campus, then transfer to the osteopathic medicine college in Tulsa. The first year of medical school counts as the fourth year of undergraduate work, so students graduate with their bachelor’s degree.

In July 2012, students may choose a rural medical track, an integrated curriculum designed to provide rural-focused primary care training. The rural medical track will help alleviate the shortage of physicians in Oklahoma counties that have been federally designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas.

Duroy plans to practice family medicine in northwest Oklahoma.

“That’s where I am from, and my husband is from Billings,” Duroy says, adding she wants to take a fellowship in obstetrics.

“That way, I can actually deliver babies and take care of them and their parents too,” she says. “All my doctors were like part of the family. That’s the kind of doctor I want to be.”

Where Are the Doctors?

There are several factors — such as having one physician for every 3,500 people — that can lead to an area being federally designated as a Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area. In Oklahoma, all or parts of 64 of the state’s 77 counties have been designated Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas as of Nov. 1, 2011:

Adair, Alfalfa, Atoka, Beckham, Bryan, Caddo, Carterk Cherokee, Choctaw, Cimarron, Coal, Comanche, Cotton, Craig, Custer, Delaware, Garfield, Garvin, Grady, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Haskell, Hughes, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnston, Kay, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Latimer, Le Flore, Lincoln, Love, Major, Marshall, Mayes, McClain, McCurtain, McIntosh, Murray, Muskogee, Noble, Nowata, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pittsburg, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Pushmataha, Roger Mills, Seminole, Sequoyah, Stephens, Texas, Tillman, Tulsa, Washington, Washita and Woods.

The 45-foot-long Mobile Cardiology unit provides services for people in rural communities. Photo provided by OSU Medical Center

Beat of the Road

OSU Mobile Cardiology unit rolls into rural and underserved Oklahoma.

OSU Medical Center registered diagnostic medical sonographer Catrina Scott, right, discusses the results of a cardiology test with patient Deborah Bright, who was experiencing a rapid heartbeat. Photo provided by OSU Center for Health Sciences

Deborah Bright knew something was wrong. Her heart was pounding.

She awoke on a February morning with a rapid heartbeat. Symptoms worsened, and she nearly passed out before rushing to see her family physician, Dr. Doug Brant.

Fortunately for her, the OSU Mobile Cardiology unit was visiting Brant’s office in Drumright, Okla.

Bright received an echo test and carotid sonogram. The Drumright city commissioner started treatment and scheduled a follow-up visit with a cardiologist at OSU Medical Center.

“I normally would have had to drive to Tulsa to receive access to these types of cardiac tests,” Bright says. “OSU Mobile Cardiology had the tests completed conveniently in less than three hours, and I was able to stay in my hometown.”

The Mobile Cardiology partnership between OSU Medical Center and OSU Center for Health Sciences brings critical cardiac services to Oklahoma’s rural and underserved areas. The new unit is able to provide state-of-the-art cardiology diagnostic services.

The unit saves patients like Bright valuable time, says OSU Medical Center CEO Jan Slater.

“OSU Mobile Cardiology offers critical diagnostic testing on site — at a physician’s office, hospital or health care location,” Slater says. “The testing is the same as what you find in a high-level cardiology center like ours at OSU Medical Center.”

Available testing services include abdominal ultrasounds, carotid duplex ultrasounds, echocardiogram exercise stress tests, exercise stress tests, lower extremity duplex ultrasounds, nuclear stress testing, nuclear medicine diagnostic studies, stress echocardiography and venous Doppler ultrasounds.

The nuclear medicine gamma camera is a component of the equipment available on the Mobile Cardiology unit. Photo provided by OSU Medical Center

Howard Barnett, president of OSU-Tulsa and OSU Center for Health Sciences, says the cardiology unit will save lives.

“OSU’s primary care physicians throughout Oklahoma tell us their patients often will neglect their hearts rather than make the trip to a metropolitan area for cardiac diagnostic services,” Barnett says. “OSU Mobile Cardiology is perfectly aligned with the land-grant mission of Oklahoma State University and, in particular, OSU’s medical school in Tulsa. OSU is dedicated to bringing outstanding medical care to the people who need it most.”

Oklahoma ranks among the five worst U.S. states for heart disease, according to the Oklahoma health department’s 2011 State of the State’s Health Report. Oklahoma tops the list for the leading risk factors of heart disease such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, lack of physical activity and obesity.

The OSU Mobile Cardiology unit is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a challenge grant from the A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Foundation and a contribution from The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation.

“OSU Center for Health Sciences and the OSU Medical Center have a national reputation for our expertise, commitment and compassion,” says Dr. Kayse Shrum, provost of OSU Center for Health Sciences and dean of the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. “The OSU Mobile Cardiology unit augments the care our physicians provide at the front line of medicine — under-served and rural primary care.”

As the mobile unit continues traveling to rural and underserved communities across Oklahoma, patients like Bright are able to follow up on testing with their physicians.

“My experience with OSU Mobile Cardiology was convenient and gave me access to the exceptional technology and services of OSU Medical Center,” Bright says. “The best part was that I never had to leave my hometown.”

Discussing the OSU Mobile Cardiology unit are, from left, OSU Medical Center CEO Jan Slater; David L. Brewer, M.D., chair of the medical center’s cardiology services and the Center for Health Sciences Clinical Professor of internal medicine; Howard Barnett, president of OSU-Tulsa and OSU Center for Health Sciences; and Bryan Harris, D.O., OSU Medical Center cardiology fellow and an OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine graduate. Photo provided by OSU Center for Health Sciences

By MATT ELLIOTT

It’s a tale of two outbreaks.

Two cases of foodborne diseases occurred in 2011 — one in Europe and one in America — illustrating a gap in the level of government coordination when responding to such emergencies.

In May, a rare and powerful form of E. coli bacteria sickened more than 3,500 Germans. More than 850 developed a condition that can cause kidney failure and 53 died, more than ever recorded during an E. coli outbreak.

“The whole European Union was very concerned about it because it took a long time to figure out where it was coming from,” says Jacqueline Fletcher.

Fletcher, the director of OSU’s National Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity, was in Germany for an October conference.

The OSU institute works with the U.S. government and law enforcement officials as part of a coordinated effort to keep the public and its food supply safe. Similar coordination was not apparent last year with the E. coli outbreak in Europe.

Despite the close confines of the European Union, it took weeks for authorities to trace the outbreak to bean sprouts contaminated at an organic farm. While meats in Europe were heavily tested for bad bugs, produce was not regularly monitored, according to Food Safety News.

When authorities tested other produce during the outbreak, they found similar strains of E. coli. The incident exposed shortcomings in how governments handle and alert the public to such emergencies.

“They didn’t have an internationally coordinated response system,” Fletcher says. “Compared to the United States, which is one nation with one set of policies, each EU country has its own regulatory policies, and they may not share everything with their neighbors because of trade issues.”

In September, a different situation developed in America. An outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes killed 30 and sickened 146, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but authorities quickly warned consumers and pinpointed the source as contaminated cantaloupe from a Colorado farm.

Last January the FDA traced the outbreak to new machinery and the use of unchlorinated wash water at Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo.

“When I attended a meeting in Europe shortly after the Listeria cantaloupe outbreak, the European participants looked at the United States and remarked how well the system worked,” Fletcher says. “In the Listeria outbreak, we knew very rapidly where it had come from.”

OSU INSTITUTE UNIQUELY LEADS

With industrialized agriculture and increasing amounts of imported produce, a contamination of a nation’s food supply can pose a litany of threats to public safety. And it s not just bugs like E. coli, Listeria or salmonella.

Jacqueline Fletcher, the director of OSU s National Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity, works in her lab where OSU faculty research ways to protect the food supply. Photo by Gary Lawson

It also is threatened by plant diseases, which can harm rangeland and forests. Understanding the bugs behind natural and manmade threats is part of the goals of OSU s National Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity.

The institute s focus on criminal and random naturally occurring events like salmonella, Listeria and E. coli outbreaks, is unique, Fletcher says.

“Those are two very different things,” she says. “Naturally occurring outbreaks are much more common. Understanding how they work is simpler than, say, investigating a criminal act.

“That s where the forensics part of our name comes in. Everything you do and say in a court of law is going to be challenged by the other side. It s not like the audience is your peers, as it normally is in science.”

ANTHRAX ATTACKS SHOW NEED

Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, anthrax spores in mailed letters killed five people and sickened 17 others in the U.S. Fletcher, a bacteriologist well versed in plant diseases, was asked to work with a federal initiative to examine the nation’s microbial forensics capabilities.

“I learned there was a need for this institute,” Fletcher says.

In 2007, the National Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity launched at OSU. Today, five faculty members and 10 collaborators dedicate themselves to studying and improving microbial forensics and food safety, and setting up a coalition of federal and state investigators to study those issues.

The institute has hosted exercises encouraging collaboration between first responders, law enforcement and scientists. Each group has its own lingo and priorities, Fletcher notes, but they all need to work together during crises.

“Say, for example, a hazmat team is sent to an agricultural incident,” Fletcher says. “That team knows what to do about emergency management. They know incident command structure, but through no fault of their own, they may not know what questions to ask a farmer or what samples to collect.”

ONGOING RESEARCH

Astri Wayadande, the institute s assistant director and an expert on E. coli, is studying how houseflies move the bacteria between livestock operations and fields of leafy greens. The work is hugely important in states such as California where farming often takes place next to large ranching operations.

“Wayadande has collected flies in the greens in the fields, and some are positive for pathogenic E. coli,” Fletcher says. “She has looked experimentally at how the insects pick up and move the bacteria, and whether those deposited on a plant can colonize.”

E. coli on a spinach leaf. Photomicrography by Astri Wayadande

Flies are known to transfer E. coli between cattle, but Wayadande was among the first to show flies transferred the bacteria to plants. She also is look ing at how long the bacteria can survive, which insects are best at transporting them and how far the bugs can fly. Any developments there can help growers keep their products secure.

Other institute projects deal with other foodborne human pathogens.

Li Maria Ma, a food microbiologist, and Fletcher have a study looking at how salmonella can survive in cantaloupe.

The organism’s infection, salmonellosis, was the second leading foodborne illness in 2011, sickening just more than 1 million people, the CDC reports. While it typically disappears within several days, it still can be dangerous for the very young, the elderly or those with weakened

immune systems, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A ripe cantaloupe is rough and ridged, but the melon begins life with a smooth surface broken by cracks. Salmonella can invade through those cracks, Fletcher and Ma’s research shows. Once the microbes have moved in, they can thrive in the melons dark moist interior.

A second part of the project looks at whether the human pathogens might be aided by the presence of plant pathogenic bacteria also found on the fruit rind. The project is funded by an Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology grant.

“This kind of synergism between human pathogens and plant pathogens has been shown by other researchers working with different hosts and human pathogens,” Fletcher says. “We’ve shown it for the first time in cantaloupe.”

The CDC estimates one in six people contract foodborne illnesses, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die annually. Nevertheless, the U.S. food supply is among the safest in the world, Fletcher says, and incidents of human pathogen contamination of cantaloupes and other fresh produce are rare.

A better understanding of these issues, such as those studied by Fletcher and the institute, can lead to better protection methods when they are sorely needed.

Jacqueline Fletcher / Photo by Gary Lawson

Jacqueline Fletcher has a doctoral degree in plant pathology from Texas A&M University. She is a past president of the American Phytopathological Society and an expert in insect transmitted diseases of plants, molecular biology, microbial forensics, food safety and plant diseases found in Oklahoma.She frequently collaborates with government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.

By David C. Peters, OSU Library

“1930 was a year of under and over estimation. Nothing was guessed right all year. Optimism was overrated and pessimism was underrated.” — Will Rogers

Entertainer Will Rogers, left, and pilot Frank Hawks stand in front of the Curtiss Navy Hell Diver used to fly Rogers to performances throughout Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas during his 1931 benefit tour. Photo/Will Rogers Memorial Museum

Crops were lost, ponds dried up, prices fell, debts rose, banks closed and food was in short supply.

The U.S. stock market crash of 1929 and the drought on the southern Plains brought devastating consequences to people in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.

On Saturday morning, Jan. 3, 1931, local farmers gathered in England, Ark. This was not uncommon, but by that afternoon there were more than 500 desperate men threatening to take local merchants’ food.

The men shouted: “We are not going to let our children starve.”

They wanted to work, but there were no jobs. Women in the crowd cried and begged for food. Most of the merchants were also broke, and the Citizens Bank in town had closed the previous year.

Local authorities were able to reach the Red Cross in Little Rock, Ark., and by 9 p.m. half of the families had received food allowances. By the end of the week over 6,000 people had received assistance.

During the same week, the federal Indian Bureau requested food aid for up to 10,000 Native Americans in Oklahoma. Red Cross officials feared there were similar conditions in other parts of the nation.

These stories made headlines across the United States and reached Will Rogers at his California home. The stories brought Rogers to the campus of the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College a month later for his only public appearance in Stillwater.

RELIEF EFFORT FORMS

“You can’t just let the people starve, so if you don’t give ’em work, and you don’t give ’em food, or money to buy it, why what are they to do? What is the matter with our country anyhow?” — Will Rogers

On Jan. 9, 1931, Rogers sent a telegram to Fort Worth, Texas, newspaperman and civic leader Amon Carter about a possible benefit tour for the Red Cross in Texas.

“Now as to what towns we can play and where we can get the most is kinder up to you and them. I will play breakfasts, matinees, and midnights in any place they will give us some dough.”

Rogers also talked with Walter Harrison, managing editor of The Daily Oklahoman about extending the tour into his home state.

Rogers headed east on Jan. 12 in an airmail plane, stopping in Fort Worth, then in Oklahoma, where he spent the night in Claremore, and finally on to Washington, D.C.

He arrived in Washington on Jan. 15 to meet with President Herbert Hoover and congressional leaders. The president felt the federal government should not support such relief efforts. Rogers also was frustrated by congressional inaction, and he failed to secure any aid for hungry and weary inhabitants on the southern Plains.

“They seem to think that’s a bad precedent to appropriate money for food – it’s too much like the ‘dole.’ They think it would encourage hunger,” Rogers said.

People inspect the two-passenger biplane Frank Hawks piloted to bring Will Rogers to Stillwater on Feb. 5, 1931. Photo/OSU Special Collections

The secretary of the Navy did authorize Rogers’ use of a plane during the tour. After a trip to New York City, Rogers returned west in a two-passenger Curtiss Navy Hell Diver biplane, piloted by Frank M. Hawks.

While Rogers was out east, the organizational wheels planning the charity tour were spinning in Texas and Oklahoma. At his request, Rogers’ sister, Sallie McSpadden, phoned Oklahoma A&M officials. The Oklahoma planning committee wanted to book the largest venue available in each city. In Stillwater, that setting was the A&M Auditorium.

Organizers announced the weekend of Jan. 17 that the Will Rogers’ benefit for the relief of drought stricken farmers would be coming to Stillwater.

Oklahoma A&M President Henry G. Bennett received a telegram notifying the college that Rogers would perform on Feb. 5. The local committee needed to raise $2,000, but hoped to reach $3,000. The committee hoped to draw their audience from Stillwater and the surrounding communities of Cushing, Yale, Pawnee and Perry.

THE TOUR BEGINS

“Starving ain’t so bad, it’s getting used to it that is rough.” — Will Rogers

Rogers went to Little Rock on Jan. 22, 1931, and spent three days visiting central Arkansas communities, including England and Pine Bluff.

Rogers wrote about the drought’s impact on people and the fundraising efforts of his benefit tour through a daily syndicated newspaper column reaching about 40 million readers.

“In just two counties I visited today, they are feeding five thousand families, with an average of six to the family. You don’t know what hard times are until you go into some of these homes. This is not a plea, it’s just a report, but it’s the worst need I ever saw.”

Rogers finalized preparations for the benefit tour. He would cover many of the expenses and make donations at many locations to encourage the crowds. Local costs for venues and advertizing would come from community donors. Rogers would pay for additional entertainers, such as country singer Jimmie Rodgers and the Revelers quartet.

All donations went to charity, half to the state organization and half to remain locally.

For 18 days, beginning on Jan. 26, 1931, in Austin, Texas, Rogers and Hawks would visit 50 locations in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Newspapers provided daily coverage with reports of relief funds collected.

In the first six days of the relief tour, Rogers performed 17 times in 13 Texas cities.

Arriving in Oklahoma on Feb. 2, Rogers appeared before a joint session of the Oklahoma Legislature and dined with Gov. William “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, then appeared at an 8:30 p.m. Oklahoma City performance that raised more than$10,000.

STILLWATER READIES FOR ROGERS

“Our rich is getting richer, and our poor is getting poorer.” — Will Rogers

Stillwater ticket sales were brisk for the 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, 1931, performance.

Inside the Oklahoma A&M Auditorium, 500 additional seats increase the capacity to 2,000 for Will Rogers’ performance. Photo/OSU Special Collections

Reserve seats on the main floor’s first rows and at the front of the balcony sold for $2.50 and $2. General admission seats were $1. Twenty-five stage seats sold for $5 each.

The college administration shortened the first two class periods and canceled the third on Thursday to avoid academic conflicts between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

A proclamation from Mayor G.M. Thompson encouraged citizens to support the relief effort, and Stillwater merchants agreed to close their stores during the performance.

Rogers spent Wednesday night in Durant, Okla., and the next morning Hawks piloted the Curtiss aircraft 148 miles in 63 minutes before landing at the half-mile grass airstrip north of Stillwater.

A second plane with Rogers’ family members and other dignitaries arrived at the same time. The pilot, Robert W. Cantwell, had attended Oklahoma A&M and was a son of former college President James W. Cantwell.

Hundreds of people greeted Rogers at the airstrip. The Aggie Chapter of the State League of Young Democrats presented Rogers with an honorary membership.

Rogers responded: “So they still raise Democrats around here, do they?”

ROGERS PLAYS OKLAHOMA A&M

“Played this morning at the best agricultural school in America, Oklahoma A&M. Their cattle win all the shows, and their boys win all the judging contests. It’s not a raccoon coat college.” — Will Rogers

The college auditorium opened at 9 a.m., and music professor Carl Amt played the pipe organ from 9:30 a.m. until Rogers’ arrival.

Rogers started the show saying, “You folks don’t look so good. I can’t see anyone I would take back to Hollywood with me. I’ve always wanted to visit this college, I’ve always known you had fine students here for I’ve known one of them personally, my nephew Bogue (Maurice Rogers) McSpadden.”

Rogers shared stories and opinions about Gov. Murray, the state legislature and the college. He mentioned the compulsory military training at the school, their excellent cattle herds and President Bennett’s absence because he was in Oklahoma City trying to secure funding for the next year.

“About the only thing I can make of the situation is that the boys here in uniform looks a lot better than the others. Now that I’ve looked you over I’m going out with Mr. Blizzard to look over the prize bulls out at the barns.

“Your president said he’d like to be here today, but, well, things don’t look so good just now and he had to visit the legislature. The next time I’m through here it may be a benefit performance for Bennett. It looks like our instructors won’t be with us long. If the college is abolished the auditorium would make a suitable dormitory for the legislature.

“You know when a class graduates here, the smart ones go out and coach somewhere and the dumb ones, they go to the legislature.”

Rogers’ one-man show lasted more than an hour. Pilots Hawks and Cantwell briefly joined Rogers on stage, and Oklahoma relief effort coordinator Walter Harrison expressed his pleasure with the size of the matinee crowd.

About 1,700 students attended the event, which raised $2,507.52 for the relief efforts.

The Kappa Sigma house on Ramsey Street, where Rogers requested a lunch of cornbread served with old-fashioned pork and beans.

After a quick tour of the new Beef Cattle Barn on Farm Road the group headed to the Kappa Sigma house on Ramsey Street. Bogue McSpadden had been a fraternity member, and Sallie McSpadden, Bogue’s mother and Rogers’ sister, had arranged the informal luncheon. Rogers requested cornbread served with old-fashioned pork and beans for the entire party.

Immediately after lunch Rogers and Hawks left for the Stillwater airstrip. Large crowds gathered to wish Rogers well. Hawks and Rogers then took off for Enid, covering the 45 miles between the two cities in 19 minutes and arriving before his next performance at 2 p.m.

Will Rogers and Frank Hawks prepare to leave Stillwater for Enid. Photo/Will Rogers Memorial Museum

The Oklahoma portion of the relief tour ended Feb. 8 in Tulsa, where it raised $30,000. The total during the week in Oklahoma was more than $100,000.

The benefit tour finished on Feb. 12, 1931, with one of the last stops in England, Ark. During the entire tour, Rogers and Hawks traveled 15,000 miles and raised almost $250,000 for the Red Cross and related agencies.

Rogers never returned to Stillwater, but he left fond memories for many of a compassionate cowboy, humorist, humanitarian and native son.

“OSU was different than visiting other colleges because they didn’t make me feel like a number. I felt like I was coming to join a family.” — Simone Burnett , a freshman referred to OSU through the Know a Future Cowboy program

By ERIN SMITH

OSU alumni are passionate and enthusiastic about sharing their love of all things orange with future Cowboys and Cowgirls.

That’s why the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, in partnership with the OSU Alumni Association, created the Know a Future Cowboy program, which allows alumni to refer students to the university.

High school students registered through the program receive recruitment information and invitations to on-campus events throughout the year.

“OSU alums are so passionate about their experience, and we love when they can be the spark that gets a prospective student to campus,” says Kyle Wray, vice president for Enrollment Management and Marketing.

“The most powerful thing an alum can do is connect that student with the undergraduate admissions office through Know a Future Cowboy or by simply contacting admissions directly.”

Simone Burnett, a freshman from Rowlett, Texas, and a third-generation OSU student, decided to visit the campus because she received an invitation. Her grandfather Bill Burnett Sr., a 1979 education alumnus, provided her information to the program.

Simone already knew a lot about the university because of the history of her grandfather and her father, Willie Burnett Jr., who graduated from OSU in 1986 with a business administration degree.

Simone first visited campus for an OSU Experience, a football game-day event for prospective students. Her mother, Carla, thought the campus visit was invaluable for her daughter.

“The whole experience of meeting other kids who were considering attending Oklahoma State and talking to actual students who could answer her questions was really good,” Carla Burnett says. “As a parent, I was looking for someone to give me straight answers, and every person that I talked to from every department at OSU assured me that she would feel at home. That really put my mind at ease.”

Simone’s college choices included schools in New York, Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana. She wasn’t convinced OSU was the right place for her until she came back for an official campus tour during her senior year in high school.

“Everyone was so nice, and it was like a family,” she says. “OSU was different than visiting other colleges because they didn’t make me feel like a number. I felt like I was coming to join a family.”

Many legacies have already been to campus with parents or family members and may feel like they already know OSU.

But official campus tours help students see what is new on campus since their parents or grandparents graduated and allows them to begin establishing their own relationships at OSU.

“Taking a campus tour is critical to the college selection process,” Wray says. “It’s important for students to see the campus, understand the atmosphere and meet people who will help them as they set out to accomplish their academic goals. It’s the best way for them to see how they will fit in at OSU.”

Simone learned firsthand about the Cowboy family. She saw the importance of relationships her father, grandfather and uncle built while attending OSU and what those friendships have meant to them throughout their lives.

While her family’s relationships made a strong impression, Simone chose to attend OSU this fall in large part because of the relationships she began during her visits to Stillwater.

“I was so scared about not knowing anybody, but it was such a warm welcome,” she says. “Dr. (Jovette) Dew got me into the RISE program, which helped me meet other people. I also met Keely James, who was my pre-law adviser. I knew I was going to get everything I needed.”

Wray echoes the sentiment.

“What makes Oklahoma State University special is the people,” Wray says. “We make a promise to all prospective students and their families when they come to visit that we will take care of them while they are here, and we mean it.”

The experience was so important to Simone that she recommends all students come to campus for an official tour, even those students who have already been to campus with family members.

“Everyone should take a tour and ask questions,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to meet new people, and don’t be afraid to ask too many questions.”

Simone describes her grandfather as orange to the bone, and he couldn’t be more pleased with his granddaughter’s choice for a university.

“This has been a labor of love for me,” Bill Burnett says. “I wanted her to see the campus and meet the kids up there. They are all very friendly. I have the opinion that Oklahoma State is a great university. I’m very proud that she has set out on this journey.”

Simone and her family believe Oklahoma State was absolutely the right choice for her education.

“It is above and beyond what I expected,” Simone says.

“I think it is even better than we imagined,” her mother adds. “It has been one great experience after another.”

To refer a future Cowboy you know, visit orangeconnection.org/knowafuturecowboy.
To arrange an official campus tour for a prospective student, visit admissions.okstate.edu/visit.

The Class of 1896 were the first graduates of Oklahoma A&M and included Robert Adams’ father, James, and uncle, Arthur. Standing left to right are James Homer Adams, Arthur Wesley Adams, Ervin G. Lewis and Oscar M. Morris. Seated left to right are Alfred Edward Jarrell and Frank E. Duck. Photo/OSU Special Collections

Spring means OSU commencement and traditions reaching back to the early years of Oklahoma A&M.

When it comes to graduation ceremonies, however, few families have the history and perspective of Robert Adams, Class of 1947, and his relatives.

His father, James Homer Adams, was the first student to enroll at the university. James Adams and his brother, Arthur, were in the first class to earn degrees from the institution in 1896.

When Robert Adams was interviewed in 2010, he talked about his father and uncle’s places in university history.

He also mentioned how the ceremonies held in Old Central near the turn of the last century varied considerably from what graduates experience now:

 My father was the first student to enroll in the Oklahoma A&M College. … It was done alphabetically, and the only reason that Arthur wasn’t there, he was sick that day and couldn’t be there. … My dad and uncle Arthur graduated together in the Class of 1896, and my uncle got the first diploma, because they graduated in alphabetical order.

“Now their graduation was different, quite different than today’s graduation. Each of those six graduates had to give a 10-to-12-to-15-minute dissertation on a certain subject that was assigned to them. Each of them. At the graduation ceremony, each of the six, in turn, gave a 10-minute lecture on a subject that was assigned to them.”

Robert Adams, born in 1923, learned about that first commencement ceremony through family stories, but he would get the chance to attend many other memorable graduations in his own time.

His brother James was 10 years older and followed the tradition of attending Oklahoma A&M. Robert Adams was 10 when he attended Jimmy’s commencement, but more than 75 years later he remembered the excitement:

He (Jimmy) went off to college, then he graduated, and I went up to Stillwater in 1934 to his graduation. It was a very big ceremony and a wonderful time. Jimmy was just full of vim and vigor and was thrilled to death that he’d made it through school as an electrical engineer.”

As with most graduates, Robert Adams’ own commencement was his most memorable. Graduation had moved to

Robert Adams, Class of 1947

Gallagher Hall, and an acquaintance of Bob’s father was leading the ceremonies:

The one time that I remember President Bennett more than any other one time was upon graduation. … I walked across the stage and received my diploma. Well, unbeknownst to me, when I walked up to the stage, my father was sitting in a chair next to Henry Bennett. Henry Bennett passed him my diploma, and then my father gave me my diploma upon graduation in June of ’47. That was a very memorable experience.

“I’ll never forget that as long as I live. I’m sure that it might have been repeated by others somewhere, but I don’t know anybody who received their diploma from their father.”

A number of generations of Adamses have attended OSU, and the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program has gathered some of their recollections. John Adams’ relatives interviewed for the O-STATE Stories collection include Arthur Adams III, Julie Adams, Pat Adams (Class of 1948), Stephen Adams (Class of 1976), Travis Adams (Class of 2010), Walter Adams (Class of 1967), Arthur Roberts, and Dwain Sehon (Class of 1977). To access their oral histories, go to http://goo.gl/iGXPb.

We are off the trail today. Last night we slept at the Enchanted Rock Campground. I woke up this morning and opened up my tent to find one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. It is nice to sit at a picnic bench and stare off and think. After spending four days in the desert, this place looks like a paradise, absolutely beautiful and green.”

Journal Entry: Kevin Curry, a junior majoring in recreation management, during a trip to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Texas, on Jan. 7, 2012.

Student Reese Hundley kayaks down the rapids of Arkansas’ Big Piney River during a fall 2009 trip.

By KEONTE CARTER

OSU Outdoor Adventure offers opportunities you can’t experience inside a classroom.

The program’s goal is to provide opportunities for fun, adventure, education and excitement through workshops and wilderness adventures.

Scott Jordan, coordinator of Outdoor Adventure, joined theorganization while he was a student at OSU in the early ’80s.

“Outdoor Adventures was fairly young back then, about 5 years old, when I went on a trip with this program,” Jordan says.

Outdoor Adventure is fully funded by its participants, Jordan says. “Students pay and go on trips or students pay and go on the climbing wall for a year.”

Student Abby Doubrava ascends a rock face in Fern, Ark., during a trip in fall 2011.

The climbing wall is located in the Colvin Recreation Center and is available to students and organizations, but it’s the wilderness adventures where students get the full experience.

Students gain experience through Basic Outdoor Leader Training and Continued Outdoor Leader Training.

“For our trips, leaders start out and go on a weeklong backpacking trip called Basic Outdoor Leader Training, or BOLT. A student will start with BOLT and then in January we have COLT,” Jordan says. “In a two-year period students go through six curriculum points, and through the Wilderness Education Association we certify them as certified outdoor leaders.”

David Walker was a trip leader for two years before becoming the coordinator.

“I have now done COLT on two separate occasions and I’ve loved the experience both times,” says Walker, a graduate student majoring in entrepreneurship. “As a trip leader, the first time, I learned a lot of great skills but the most memorable part was building long lasting relationships with the entire group.”

Cookie Wright, a junior majoring in secondary education, has worked for Outdoor Adventure since 2010 and has led around 10 trips.

“Outdoor Adventure has allowed me to travel affordably to remote places, explore beautiful and incredible areas and participate in exciting sports such as climbing and kayaking,” Wright says. “Every OSU student should take a backpacking, skydiving, rock-climbing, kayaking, hiking or rafting trip with Outdoor Adventure before they graduate.”

From left, Patrick Lewis, Jeri’ Irby, and Bonnie Fentem stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon during a 2010 trip.

Outdoor Adventure is a great opportunity for students to get the college experience, junior Kevin Curry wrote in a journal entry during a recent trip.

“I never thought I would get the chance to hike with a group of people whose company I enjoy,” he wrote. “I am so glad I have the opportunities to go on these amazing trips: hiking in the Latir Range of New Mexico, climbing in Enchanted Rock in Texas, backpacking in the desert in Big Bend State Park in Texas and climbing in Arkansas.”

Hiking into camp was so pretty. It was awesome seeing the cotton woods coming into view. I’m tired from the day and seeing the trees was such a relief. … I’m disappointed we won’t be out another night. I especially love where we are camped tonight. I can see the clear starry sky and backdrop of the mountains form the little window in our tent. Haven’t been told much about the trail, but looking forward to La Guitara!”

Journal Entry: Cate Miller, a sophomore majoring in recreation management, during a trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas, on Jan. 14, 2011.

Students interested in the Outdoor Adventure program should visit Room 101 in the Colvin Recreation Center.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, standing on the Grand Staircase at the state Capitol, are two of many OSU alumni elected to political office. Photo by Phil Shockley

Stories by MATT ELLIOTT

OSU alumni serve their state, their country and, if lucky enough to be one of the dozens serving in an elected office, their constituents.

Elected officials’ dedication to those they represent is first and foremost, but OSU alumni in these roles are united by something more.

“There’s always a special bond or a special feeling when you’re an alumnus of a university,” says Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a 1977 graduate with a degree in family relations and child development. “OSU’s alumni base has tremendous pride in its school and its accomplishments.”

This illustration and the two that follow are from a class of OSU students asked to illustrate this story. Illustration by Talyn Edelson, graphic design senior

Tom Coburn. Lee Denney. Dale DeWitt. Mary Fallin. Todd Lamb. Frank Lucas. Cory Williams.

Those are just a few of OSU’s alumni elected to serve people.

Among those Cowboys, say the politicians, is an ethic not that different from one bred in Oklahoma State since its birth in 1890.

“I’ve always thought that OSU grads are a more pragmatic, laid-back and genuine crowd than maybe those from some of the other institutions around,” says Oklahoma Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater. “They’ve got more of a workhorse mentality. In state government, we show that. My fellow alumni are more approachable and open to different ideas.”

Oklahoma Rep. Dale DeWitt, R-Braman, agrees. Most of the alumni represent rural areas, he notes, and they tend to stick to their roots on issues.

“A good example is a good friend of mine down here, Phil Richardson (R-Minco),” he says. “Phil and I exchange ideas quite often. But I never have to ask him where he’s at on an issue. If one of these folks tells you something, it’s that way. Their word is good.”

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Halligan found out firsthand the loyalty OSU alumni show. Halligan served as OSU’s 16th president from 1994 to 2002.

Halligan, R-Stillwater, isn’t an alumnus, but he might as well be. He helped reverse 12 years of falling enrollment and oversaw improvements to scholars programs and $380 million in facilities in an effort to prime OSU for the 21st century.

He remembers one of the first times he flew into Stillwater as president and observed the campus from his plane.

“I looked down, and it almost looked like a movie set,” he says. “When you get here, the first thing you see is a beautiful campus — the consistency of the architecture. And you say to yourself, ‘This is a special place.’ ”

It’s the commitment of OSU’s alumni in government to the state that strikes Halligan, who was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2007.

“I think there’s an intense loyalty, both to Oklahoma and OSU,” says the former chemical engineer. “I think as we gather together, being a Cowboy is a very, very positive thing. I have seen statistics that show there are more Oklahoma State graduates in the state of Oklahoma than from any other university. They make an enormous contribution.”

ON OSU

For more than a century, OSU has been a place for all students.

DeWitt was the first in his family to get a college degree. Now, he’s the Oklahoma House majority floor leader.

There were 15 students in his graduating class in Braman, a town of about 200 people 70 miles north of Stillwater. He grew up on a farm and was very familiar with OSU because of its huge impact on state agriculture. So coming to OSU was a no-brainer.

“I enjoyed every minute of it,” DeWitt says. “I had great advisers. They helped me out a lot — a small-town person in Stillwater for the first time without ever having been around a large school.”

After graduating in 1973 with a bachelor’s in agricultural education, DeWitt was a rancher and a teacher for nearly 30 years before his election to the state House in 2001.

Gov. Mary Fallin / Photo by Phil Shockley

Fallin had a similar experience at OSU. She grew up in Tecumseh and, before her junior year, transferred to OSU from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.

“Oklahoma State has a family feeling,” she says. “It’s very friendly. It’s very open. The campus is easy to get around. There are a lot of great activities. A lot of school pride. And it was very welcoming as a new student to come to that university. I just felt like it was easy to fit in to.”

That feeling is alive and well today.

OSU President Burns Hargis and his wife, Ann, have an open and welcoming approach with students. They frequently attend student events, meetings and other campus activities.

“I think that means a lot to students whenever the president of a huge university system comes in and just gets one-on-one with you,” Williams says.

Many alumni who are elected officials say activities such as student government and political clubs were pivotal experiences.

Williams, who was a Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member, has a 2001 bachelor’s in political science and a 2005 master’s in international trade and development. He says most of the things he argued about as a member of the Student Government Association weren’t that important in hindsight, but working together, passing laws and learning about governing were.

“I don’t think OSU feels like the big state school,” he says. “I know we’ve got thousands of students on campus. It sure doesn’t feel like it. You can do anything you want at OSU, but it still feels like your own little neighborhood.”

Fallin was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and served as its alumni chairperson. She also volunteered with the Blades, a service organization connected to the Army ROTC on campus.

“I remember going up into the suites with the Blades and handing out programs at the games,” Fallin says. “I received a great, quality education at Oklahoma State that prepared me to be in the position that I am in today. It inspired me to dream big when I was a young girl from a small rural town moving to Stillwater.”

Oklahoma Sen. Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, who grew up on a farm, graduated from OSU in 1967 and finished his master’s in 1968 before becoming an OSU county extension agent. Justice studied agricultural education.

“There were a lot of people who helped me throughout my college career, helped support me and encourage me,” Justice says. “My advisers. My professors. That meant a lot to me to have that encouragement throughout my days at Oklahoma State.”

Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb / Photo by Phil Shockley

Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb owes the start of his political career to OSU. In the early 1990s, he was a political science major and a football player. He remembers former Gov. Henry Bellmon, an alumnus, teaching one of his classes.

But his big break came in 1992 when he attended a speech by Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Frank Keating at a College Republicans meeting.

“I had met him at a reception in my hometown of Enid the summer before,” Lamb says. “I could tell he had a real vision and a strong agenda for Oklahoma.”

Keating hired Lamb, who put his education on hold to work on the campaign. After Keating was elected in 1994, Lamb served on his staff. Lamb finished his degree in 1996 and became an agent with the Secret Service before his election to the Oklahoma Senate in 2004.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas chairs the House Committee on Agriculture, which is instrumental in reauthorizing the Farm Bill that guides the nation’s agricultural policy.

Lucas, R-Cheyenne, is in a key position to put Oklahoma State and Oklahoma’s perspective on pivotal agricultural issues into practice at the federal level.

“I would not be in the position I am in today, I can say with absolute certainty, had I not gone to Oklahoma State University, had I not earned an agricultural economics degree, had I not been a part of student senate, the College Republicans or not developed relationships with the people I did,” he says. “I’m very proud of and very appreciative of my experiences at Oklahoma State University.”

A farmer and rancher, Lucas studied agricultural economics at Oklahoma State. He came to OSU after his wheat crop failed in 1978 and quickly became involved in College Republicans and student government.

Lucas says he was the adult version of many small-town students at OSU.

“One of the most memorable experiences on campus to me was the first time I was in front of Edmon Low Library at 12:30 in the afternoon,” says Lucas, who graduated in 1982. “There were probably 12,000 people within sight, it seemed like. I’d never seen that many human beings before in one time, at one place.”

Others, such as U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, deployed a work ethic at OSU that would guide them throughout their lives. Coburn, R-Muskogee, studied accounting and married his wife, the former Miss Oklahoma Carolyn Denton, his junior year.

The work ethic came from his father, and it made him treat college like a job. It paid off. He was one of the top students in the business school. In addition to serving as president of the Business Student Council, he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.

“I just had a great time,” says Coburn, who graduated in 1970. “My dad said, ‘College is like a job. Spend 40 hours a week at college actually learning.’ That’s five days a week. Then you’ve got another 128 hours per week to do whatever you want. I worked hard at studying, and I played hard.”

Beyond Party Lines

Illustration by Allie Crall, graphic design junior

The elected alumni connections to Oklahoma State breed a camaraderie that transcends party lines.

Williams says many at the Oklahoma Capitol don orange during weeks when there’s a big football or basketball game.

“A bunch of us have jackets ordered that are hunter orange,” Williams says. “We’ll look like we could direct traffic or go deer hunting.”

That camaraderie stretches all the way to Washington. There’s an active alumni chapter in the capital and an Oklahoma State society there, Lucas says. There are OSU grads in all branches of government.

“There’s a sense of family among not just the Oklahoma State folks but also Oklahomans up here,” Lucas says.

While OSU alumni in government may have different political leanings, they can often find common ground on major issues, such as education.

One of Fallin’s top priorities is increasing the number of college graduates in Oklahoma, in part by helping ensure students are prepared to go to college.

“We know we haven’t always done the best job that we should in our state,” Fallin says. “And that’s why we are focusing on keeping our students in college, but that starts in K-12.”

Businesses looking to expand into Oklahoma often ask her about the workforce’s education level, she says.

Williams says OSU alumni at the state Capitol believe strongly in higher education, and they all recognize a need to properly fund the university system and produce more college graduates.

“I think there’s going to be a concerted push this year to help expand or at least hold harmless education for a while. And it’s going to come from a lot of people who’ve actually gone to OSU and graduated.”

Fallin notes more education routinely leads to better-paying jobs. The better educated are also more likely to keep their jobs over time, she says.

More Oklahomans want education, Halligan says.

“It’s rare to talk to someone who doesn’t want their children to go to college,” he says. “That’s a universal aspiration almost throughout the community. So we have to do everything we can.”

OSU’s alumni in government know the university is a part of the economic solution.

Lamb was at a meeting of the nation’s lieutenant governors last year when he met the Irish first secretary for agriculture and food, John Dardis.

“I told him I wanted to bring him to our state and show him what we were doing in agriculture research and how well we do that in Oklahoma,” Lamb says.

Within four months, Dardis was touring the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and its Food and Agricultural Products Center. Soon, the university had signed a memorandum of understanding with Ireland to expand their collaboration in agricultural research.

“Hopefully that will lead to more agreements and commerce and exports in beef and wheat research in Ireland,” Lamb says. “I just found a niche where I knew about Oklahoma State and knew Dr. Dardis would be interested in what the university can offer.”

Coburn says OSU can help the state and the nation overcome their problems by continuing in its role as a land-grant university.

“Doing the basic research it can do and applying it,” Coburn says. “Equipping students for today’s jobs instead of yesterday’s. I think it will make a great contribution, but I think those are tough things to stay on top of.”

Justice calls to mind the university’s land-grant mission when asked what makes him most proud about OSU.

“I think it has served our state well,” Justice says. “In the very beginning, the land-grant universities were about helping people better themselves. I think that’s the goal we strive for. You help people to help themselves.”

Capitol Cowboys’ Grass-Roots Efforts

The Alumni Association keeps elected alumni connected to OSU.

There aren’t many alumni who’ve been better to OSU than Rep. Dale DeWitt, floor majority leader in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Before he was elected in 2001, the Republican legislator from Braman was a fixture in the campus community. He became a champion for higher education with his election to office.

The Alumni Association hosted an event to thank him at the Braman community center in 2005.

“We had 300-plus people show up,” says Larry Shell, president of the Alumni Association. There are just over 200 people living in the small northern Oklahoma farming community.

“It was a surprise deal,” DeWitt says. “We had a lot of people wearing orange shirts that night.”

The Alumni Association also contacted the local newspaper to get coverage of the event. It’s similar to things the association has done many times for other alumni.

A goal of the OSU Alumni Association is keeping alumni connected to their alma mater, an objective that becomes even more important when the alumni are elected officials.

One way of keeping that connection is Cowboys for Higher Education, a grass-roots network of alumni who contact their legislators regarding issues important to Oklahoma universities.

“Just because these legislators are alumni doesn’t always mean that the information we provide them allows them to vote on our side of things,” Shell says. “If they hear it from their constituents where they stand and what they believe in, then I think they have a more comfortable feel that they’re voting to represent their constituents.”

If important and noncontroversial legislation needs support, the association sends out action emails to members who’ve agreed to contact their legislators about issues important to Oklahoma higher education, Shell says.

Additionally, many of the OSU alumni serving are members of the Capitol Cowboys, a group whose 42 members share the kind of camaraderie found only among OSU alumni.

The Alumni Association also hosts luncheons and dinners for legislators at the state Capitol. OSU alumni in government have helped the university in a host of ways, Shell says, not the least of which was the establishment of OSU-Tulsa in 1999.

As Shell says, “We just try to get as much orange in the Capitol as possible.”

2012 Capitol Cowboys

A look at the 42 members, most of them graduates of OSU, of the Capitol Cowboys group at the Oklahoma Capitol:

Statewide officials

Gov. Mary Fallin, R, B.S. 1977

Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, R, B.A. 1996

Oklahoma Senate

Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, B.S. 1990

Roger Ballenger, D-Okmulgee, diploma 1974 (OSUIT)

Don Barrington, R-Lawton, AAS 1992 (OSU-OKC)

Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, B.S. 2002

Rick Brinkley, R-Owasso, working on doctorate

Kim David, R-Porter, B.S. 1983

Jerry Ellis, D-Valliant, B.S. 1969

Eddie Fields, R-Wynona, B.S. 1990

Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater, former president

Rob Johnson, R-Yukon, B.S. 1996

Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, B.S. 1967; M.S. 1968

Illustration by Christine Fowler, graphic design student

Charlie Laster, D-Shawnee, B.S. 1976

Mike Schulz, R-Altus, B.S. 1986

Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, B.S. 1971

Oklahoma House

Gus Blackwell, R-Laverne, friend

Don Armes, R-Faxon, friend

Doug Cox, R-Grove, B.S. 1974

Lee Denney, R-Cushing, B.S. 1976; DVM 1978

Dale DeWitt, R-Braman, B.S. 1973

Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, B.A. 1994

Wes Hilliard, D-Sulphur, B.A. 1997

Mike Jackson, R-Enid, B.S. 2000

Fred Jordan, R-Jenks, B.S. 1996

Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs, B.S. 1973; M.S. 1986

James Lockhart, D-Heavener, friend

Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa, B.S. 1989; M.S. 1992

Skye McNiel, R-Bristow, B.S. 2000

Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, attended

Jadine Nollan, R-Sand Springs, B.S. 1982

Leslie Osborn, R-Mustang, B.S. 1986

Marty Quinn, R-Claremore, friend

Phil Richardson, R-Minco, B.S. 1965; DVM 1967

Brian Renegar, D-McAlester, DVM 1976

Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, M.S. 2005 (OSU-CHS)

Wade Rousselot, D-Wagoner, B.S. 1981

Ben Sherrer, D-Chouteau, B.S. 1990; B.S. 1991

Jerry Shoemake, D-Morris, attended OSUIT

John Trebilcock, R-Broken Arrow, B.A. 1996

Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, B.S. 2001; M.S. 2003

Harold Wright, R-Weatherford, attended

There are also a couple of Cowboys who hold federal elected offices:

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, B.S. 1970

U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, B.S. 1982

This illustration and those to follow were created by OSU students asked to help illustrate Provost Robert J. Sternberg's essay on developing leaders. Illustration by Ben Cheney, graphic design senior

By ROBERT J. STERNBERG, OSU PROVOST

As a land-grant university, OSU’s mission can be summarized very simply: We develop active citizens and leaders who make a positive, meaningful and enduring difference.

The difference can be made at any level — family, community, state, nation and world.

We want OSU graduates to make the world a better place to live. Although this may be obvious to those who embrace the land-grant spirit, it is not the goal of every university. Some universities are content to develop the “life of the mind” without connection to the betterment of the world. OSU is not one of those universities.

Many universities claim to develop leaders. What is it that OSU does differently? Why can OSU claim to be unique, even among land-grant universities, in developing world-class leaders?

OSU has a specific plan for leadership development. It is an integrated and unified system that encompasses admissions, instruction, assessment and campus life.

IT STARTS WITH ADMISSIONS

Illustration by Sean Higgins, graphic design junior

Like many other universities, Oklahoma State requires a standardized test for college admission (the ACT or SAT) and requires students to submit their high school grade-point averages. This information helps ensure that matriculating students will succeed academically.

But OSU is moving in a new and exciting direction to help identify potential leadership skills. This new direction is through a project called Panorama being implemented under the leadership of Kyle Wray, vice president of enrollment management and marketing.

Panorama is loosely based on a conception of leadership I developed that evaluates four personal characteristics.

The basic idea is that good and effective leaders are creative in formulating a vision of the direction in which they want to take their organization (or their followers, in general); analytical in evaluating whether their vision is in fact a good one; practical in implementing their vision and in persuading others of its value; and wise in ensuring the vision helps achieve a common good over the long and short term through the infusion of positive ethical values.

Through Panorama, applicants have the option of writing essays that measure these skills.

An essay might ask them to reflect on how a song’s lyrics have personal meaning in their lives or to predict what kind of contribution they would like to make to mankind that would be considered prize worthy.

How are such essays scored? We use “rubrics,” or frameworks, to evaluate responses. For example, an essay is judged creative to the extent it is novel, compelling and relevant to the task at hand. An essay is judged practical to the extent it represents ideas that are feasible regarding time and place, human and material resources, and to the extent it is persuasive.

Currently, applicants can be admitted through (a) ACT or SAT scores, (b) high-school grades, (c) a combination of ACT or SAT scores and high-school grades, and (d) a holistic evaluation.

These essays will be used initially for candidates admitted through the holistic option and for scholarship consideration. My hope is that over time essays will be used to evaluate a much broader range of applicants.

Note that the essays are optional. No one has to do them. And note also that essays are used to provide reasons to admit students, not reject them. We do not look to reject applicants because they write weak essays, but rather to admit applicants because they write strong ones.

Based on previous results described below, we expect Panorama to increase the successful prediction of leadership potential among admitted students. We also expect it to increase diversity, a university-wide goal that Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity Jason Kirksey and his team are already successfully addressing.

How do we know that such an admissions procedure can accomplish our goals? When I was IBM Professor of psychology and education at Yale University, I collaborated with others on a national project called Rainbow, and when I was dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, I collaborated on a project called Kaleidoscope.

Both of these unique admissions projects demonstrated that scores on essays similar to those in Panorama increased prediction of freshman grade-point average over predictions based on ACT and high-school grade-point averages; successfully predicted meaningful participation in extracurricular and leadership activities; increased equity by reducing differences among ethnic and socioeconomic groups; and increased the acceptability of the admissions process to applicants.

Illustration by Brittany Crow, graphic design senior

In particular, applicants believed questions asked by the Rainbow and Kaleidoscope projects enabled them to present a better sense of who they are as a whole person, as opposed to identifying themselves merely through a series of numbers derived from fairly narrow measures.

Why did we implement Rainbow and Kaleidoscope and now Panorama at OSU? The main reason is that tests like the ACT or SAT are not intended to, and do not, meaningfully predict who will become the active citizens and leaders of the future.

If our only interest in admitting students were based on academic credentials, we would not need such projects. But the leaders who change the world are not necessarily those with the top academic credentials.

While we want to admit students with the academic skills to do the work at OSU successfully, we don’t want to perpetuate the illusion that academic skills are the best predictors of future active citizenship and leadership.

Tests like the ACT measure the analytical aspect of the leadership model, but are silent with regard to the creative, practical and wisdom-based aspects.

The concept of admission for leadership extends even to our Honors College, directed by professor Robert Spurrier. At OSU, the Honors College is not on some lofty intellectual plane separate from our mission of developing leaders. On the contrary, it represents one of our central efforts in leadership development.

The Honors College now is using optional Panorama-like questions to assess applicants’ creative, analytical, practical and wisdom-based skills. Those who do not meet the usual ACT and GPA requirements can now be admitted on demonstrated leadership skills as well as more traditional academic skills.

Robert Graalman, director of scholar development and recognition, also helps students develop the leadership skills needed to win highly competitive, international and national Rhodes, Gates, Goldwater, Truman and Udall scholarships.

Although our efforts to date have focused on undergraduates, Graduate Dean and Associate Provost Sheryl Tucker is working to implement procedures at the graduate and professional levels that will further refine efforts to admit and develop the positive leaders of tomorrow in the broad range of fields we cover at the advanced level. Such efforts will take into account the diverse kinds of disciplines that comprise our graduate-level and professional programs.

This is a university with a mission. Its land-grant mission is to develop the active citizens and positive leaders who will make the world a better place to live.

FINANCIAL AID AND SCHOLARSHIP CONSIDERATIONS

Illustration by Brian Randeau, graphic design senior

To encourage the best future leaders to choose Oklahoma State, we must have a generous program of financial aid, including but not limited to endowed scholarships.

Why is the OSU Foundation, under the leadership of President Kirk Jewell and in partnership with OSU President Burns Hargis and others, so actively raising money for scholarships? Because many future leaders come from families that simply cannot afford to come to OSU without financial assistance.

In my own case, I never could have attended college without scholarship aid. Neither of my parents finished high school and we did not have the resources to enable me to attend college without help.

So I, like all of us, remain committed to realizing a future in which no student will be turned away — and no students will drop out — for lack of financial resources. To develop the leaders of tomorrow, we must ensure they have the financial resources today to attend OSU and to concentrate on their school work without worrying about running out of money.

OSU alumni and other donors have been exceptionally generous in contributing to scholarships that will enable students without adequate means to come to OSU.

KEEPING STUDENTS AT OSU: RETENTION

Students are unlikely to become future positive leaders if they drop out of college.

One can always point to a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs who goes on to a brilliant career without finishing college. But such geniuses are rare exceptions.

The reality is that dropping out of college usually consigns an individual to low-paying jobs with little potential for advancement.

When we admit students to OSU, we have a responsibility to do all we can to retain them. Obviously, students must do their part. We can provide the opportunity to succeed, but we cannot guarantee all students will take advantage of it.

President Hargis has set increased retention as his top academic priority for OSU.

Retention is important for at least four reasons. First, students who drop out lose future earning power and much of their potential for a successful career. Second, students who drop out lose the money they and their families have already put into their college career. They have no employment-enhancing credential to show for dropping out.

Third, OSU loses future tuition revenue it would have gained had the students stayed at the university. Fourth, everyone loses the potential benefits of a college graduate who could have helped increase the productivity and human capital of our great state and nation.

OSU has put into place four measures we believe will help retain at-risk students.

First, we have emergency funds to help students who encounter temporary financial bumps in the road. The emergency funds are not yet at the level we hope to reach, but they can provide a cushion for students who encounter unexpected financial turbulence.

Second, OSU’s new Learning and Student Success Opportunity Center is a resource for students who need assistance to succeed academically. Directed by professor and Assistant Provost Cheryl DeVuyst of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, LASSO focuses on retention of first-year students because they are at the highest risk for dropping out.

Associate Provost and Associate Vice President Pamela Fry has worked with others to put into place an early-warning system to identify students most in need of LASSO learning resources.

LASSO helps address four problems.

Some students may not have had a high school or previous college experience that provided them with all the academic skills needed for success at OSU. LASSO tutors can help them fill in the gaps.

Illustration by Maggie Maltsberger, graphic design student

Some students just don’t understand the “ropes” of being a college student. They may not know how to study for different kinds of tests, how to write term papers or how to take time-limited tests in a time-effective manner. LASSO can help these students learn the often tacit knowledge needed to succeed in college.

Some students may lack self-regulation skills needed to succeed academically. They may not know how to budget their time across different courses or how to divide their time among academic and extracurricular activities. LASSO can help them become better time-managers.

Some students may lack self-efficacy, or a belief in their own ability to succeed. They may have one or more demoralizing experiences at OSU and conclude they don’t have what it takes to succeed.

I went through this myself in college when my first-semester grades, especially in my intended major of psychology, were a far cry from what I had hoped for and expected. My professor in introductory psychology even suggested I had no future in the field.

LASSO can help restore students’ belief in their ability to succeed. LASSO does all these things through intensive counseling and mentorship — showing students that OSU cares and will guide them toward success.

Third, OSU has reorganized the Institute for Teaching and Learning Excellence, under the leadership of professor Christine Ormsbee of the College of Education, to help professors teach in ways that meet the needs of all students.

Students learn in different ways. Some are memory learners. (I’m not one of those, as I discovered through my weak performance in introductory psychology, which was taught as a straight memorize-the-book, memorize-the lectures course.)

Other students are more analytical and excel in courses that encourage them to analyze, evaluate, compare and contrast, or critique ideas.

Still others, such as myself, are creative learners, preferring courses that give them opportunities to create, invent, discover, explore, imagine and suppose. They generally prefer an independent project to a structured assignment.

And yet others are practical learners who like to apply, implement, use and put into practice what they learn. Such students may find it difficult to focus on a course if they cannot see how the material they are learning will apply to the real world.

Similarly, some students are visual learners, while others are auditory. Still others, kinesthetically oriented students, like to learn in a hands-on way by doing things rather than just reading about them.

Professors typically are not trained to teach in all of the different ways students learn. Indeed, many faculty members receive little training in graduate school about how to teach.

Seminars at the institute can turn good teachers into great ones by helping them develop teaching and assessment techniques that meet the learning needs of all students.

Finally, we are working to enhance our academic advising system so that all students get the full and comprehensive mentorship they need to help them succeed in their work.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, SERVICE LEARNING AND INTERNSHIPS

At Oklahoma State, students need to learn not just by reading, but by involvement in the real world. We want our students to learn by doing.

More and more students are engaging in learning experiences beyond the classroom, including experiences in other countries.

OSU is placing greater emphasis on service learning — in which students participate in community-building activities as part of their regular course work — and on internships that help students learn how to apply their skills in the world of work.

This spring, I’m introducing service learning in the Nature of Leadership undergraduate course I teach. Internships, an important part of the OSU experience for many students, can provide entrees into first jobs when employers observe and are delighted by our students’ work ethic and high motivation to succeed.

Students also learn by exposure to OSU alumni. Many alumni have generously shared their time with students by coming back to campus and working with them in various capacities. Others have provided internships and off-campus learning opportunities for our students.

We are fortunate to have so many alumni who appreciate their OSU education and want to give back to current and future OSU students through their time and resources.

In my Nature of Leadership class, all sessions except the first and last bring alumni to campus to share with students how they got to where they are from where they were as OSU students. Without exception (so far!), they have acknowledged the major role OSU played in their success.

At OSU, we are targeting programs specifically designed to enhance leadership skills. Two of particular note are the President’s Leadership Council directed by Stephen Haseley and the McKnight Leader Scholars Program directed by professor Steve Harrist of the College of Education.

Both of these selective programs oriented to new students involve coursework and related activities designed to enhance lifelong leadership skills. All of OSU’s colleges also offer courses that develop leadership skills.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

At OSU, extracurricular activities are an important, indeed necessary, part of the leadership-development process.

As Vice President for Student Affairs Lee Bird says, students develop leadership skills beyond the classroom through these activities. OSU also has a Center for Leadership Ethics in the Student Union that guides students in the principles of ethical leadership.

Consider, for example, athletics. Many people view athletics as distinct or even divorced from the academic mission of the university. But this is not the case.

As Vice President for Athletic Programs Mike Holder told students in my Nature of Leadership class last year, athletic programs provide one of the best ways to develop leaders in the context of university life. I strongly concur.

Think about skills of great leaders — knowing how to work on a team, sharing credit, behaving ethically, knowing how to win and lose gracefully, strategic planning, positive competitive spirit and so forth.

As part of my research on leadership, I listed the skills of great leaders and found, rather to my surprise, they almost entirely overlap with skills developed through athletics, whether intermural or intramural.

Some research shows that athletes often have an edge in later-life leadership activities, and this may be why.

But there are many extracurricular activities that also develop citizenship and leadership skills, such as participation in student government; participation in band, orchestra, or dramatic productions; student journalism; and the community-building activities of fraternities and sororities, clubs and the like.

At OSU, extracurricular activities are an integral part of the collegiate experience. They are not merely “extras.”

FACULTY AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Illustration by Errick Braggs, graphic design student

Leadership development at OSU is not limited to students. Our mission encompasses faculty and staff as well. We have many ongoing seminars and programs designed to enhance faculty and staff’s leadership skills and improve service to our students and our state.

Three new programs are especially noteworthy.

First, faculty and staff teams can receive up to $50,000 per team for developing creative, interdisciplinary research, teaching or service/extension that advances the university’s land-grant mission and has a prospect for future funding from external sources.

Funded grants have covered a wide range of topics, including nutrition, toxicology, entrepreneurship and grasslands. In the most recent fiscal year, a half-million dollars was awarded to investigators encompassing all of OSU’s colleges.

Second, a new program called the President’s Cup awards teams of faculty and staff for creative interdisciplinary teaching, research and/or service relevant to our land-grant mission.

There are three monetary awards totaling $10,000, and first-place winners receive a President’s Cup that travels to the top team each year.

Third, the annual Leave Down the Ladder Award is presented to a faculty member and a staff member in recognition of successfully mentoring and encouraging those they supervise in (or instruct) to reach their fullest potential and achieve higher leadership roles.

This award was suggested to me by one of our alumnae, Alison Anthony, president of the Williams Foundation and member of the OSU Provost’s External Advisory Council, a group of distinguished alumni and other friends who advise me on matters of importance to the university.

IN SUM

Oklahoma State is a university with a mission. Its land-grant mission is to develop the active citizens and positive leaders who will make the world a better place to live.

This mission does not necessarily coincide with rankings produced by national magazines. But no institution ever realized its full potential and greatness by adhering to the standards others set for it, or by competing with other institutions with respect to those standards.

The road to greatness is to define one’s own institutional mission and then strive as hard as possible to attain it. One competes not with others, but with oneself. We plan to be second to none in achieving the greatness of a premier land-grant university.

Robert J. Sternberg is provost, senior vice president, George Kaiser Family Foundation Chair in Ethical Leadership and Regents Professor of psychology and education at OSU.

Proposed site plan for Epworth Living at The Ranch. Rendering by Epworth Villa and Kenyon Morgan Architects

More than eight years ago, OSU alumnus Milton Morris joined the White Woods Retirement Campus project, a nonprofit organization originated by the OSU Emeriti Association of retired faculty members.

The purpose of this project was to bring a retirement community to Stillwater. After several feasibility studies were conducted, the organization concluded that not only could Stillwater accommodate such a community — it also desperately needed one.

The full article is available for members of the OSU Alumni Association here. STATE magazine is a benefit of membership in the OSU Alumni Association. To join or update your membership go to orangeconnection.org/join or call 405-744-5368.