Arts & Sciences 2014

The official magazine of the College of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma State University 2014

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MAMMOTH FIND TOM COX (LEFT) AND CARLOS CORDOVA ARE LEADING OSU’S RESEARCH EFFORTS WITH THE HELENA MAMMOTH.

PHOTO / BRIAN PETROTTA

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On the Cover

Still ‘The Natural’

To m C o x ( l e f t ) a n d C a r l o s

Former OSU and

Creating ‘Good Citizens’

C o r d o v a a r e l e a d i n g O S U ’s

professional mixed martial

Visiting political science

Assistant acting professor

research into the Helena

arts fighter Randy Couture

professor Brandon Lenoir

Jodi Jinks takes a

Playing Behind Bars

mammoth. Photo: Phil Shockley/

is taking his talents in a

has helped instigate

crew of students to an

University Marketing

v a r i e t y o f d i r e c t i o n s t o d a y.

the “OSU Debate Series:

Oklahoma prison for her

Decision 2014” to pique

ArtsAloud-OSU project

student interest in politics.

s t a f f 2014 v16

C A S .OK S TAT E .E DU

Arts and Sciences Magazine is a publication of the Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences. All communications should be mailed to OSU College of Arts and Sciences ATTN: Arts and Sciences Magazine 205 Life Sciences East Stillwater, OK 74078-3015 2 0 1 4 © O K L A H O M A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

Oklahoma State University, in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Higher Education Act), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, or status as a veteran, in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This provision includes, but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services. The following have been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director of Equal Opportunity, 408 Whitehurst, OSU, Stillwater, OK 74078-1035; Phone 405-744-9154; email: eeo@okstate.edu. This publication, issued by Oklahoma State University as authorized by the College of Arts & Sciences, was printed by University Printing Services at a cost of $6,700/6M. #5546 10/14

Editor

Dorothy L. Pugh ’83

Art Director

Paul V. Fleming ’90/’00

Photographers

Phil Shockley Gary Lawson ’83

Writers

College of Arts and Sciences

Dean

Bret Danilowicz

Senior Director for Development Lauren Kidd

Communications Coordinator Brian Petrotta

Brian Petrotta Jamie Hadwin Shelby Holcomb

YEAR INDICATES OSU COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES GRADUATES.

FROM THE

Dean’s Office

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elcome, alumni and friends, to the 2014 Arts & Sciences magazine. I’ll highlight a few achievements here from this past year — but you’ll need to visit the college and its faculty to really learn what we’ve been accomplishing! Oklahoma and our nation have a critical shortage of science and math teachers, so we are doing our part to help address this shortage. In partnership with the College of Education, A&S has launched OSUTeach with a $1.45 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Led by Kristen Baum (zoology) and Steve Marks (aviation), OSUTeach provides our science and math graduates the opportunity to simultaneously earn certification in secondary teaching. These students are immersed in classroom teaching opportunities from their freshman year and are professionally mentored by some of the state’s top-performing teachers. You can learn more at OSUTEACH.OKSTATE.EDU. This will put some of our best students on track for a teaching career, and in turn, they will teach science and math to our future Cowboys and Cowgirls. Our dedication to students was further validated by a second grant from the Hughes Institute. Don French (zoology) will lead project funded by a $1.5 million grant to provide an undergraduate research track for students in life science majors at Oklahoma State University. This initiative will introduce students to research programs as early as their freshman year, properly preparing them for research, teaching or health-related careers, or simply for making 21st-century decisions in any career that will depend on STEM skills. While these programs will further elevate the profile of our college, we already have faculty and students who were recognized regionally and nationally. I only have the space to provide examples from two of our 24 departments: In the Department of Music, Thomas Lanners received the 2014 Distinguished Teacher Award from the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, while the OSU

trumpet ensemble (undergraduate students Cleon Chai, Nick Doutrich, Tyler Murray, Matt Register and Natalie Upton) won the National Trumpet Competition. In the Department of Chemistry, Allen Apblett was named the 2014 Oklahoma Chemist by the American Chemical Society, and Richard Bunce received the Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in College/University Teaching from the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. Imagine — each department has examples just like these! Currently, the arts and arts programs are undergoing a transformation at Oklahoma State. Last year, the OSU Museum of Art debuted in its new home at the Postal Plaza Gallery in the heart of Stillwater. We are formally entering a campaign to expand the visibility of the arts on campus, which will include a new performing arts center, a new home for the Department of Music and a completely renovated facility for the Department of Theatre. The arts at OSU will never have looked — or sounded — so good! Over the next few pages, please continue to enjoy with me the College of Arts & Sciences’ journey to distinction. Best Wishes

BRET S. DANILOWICZ DEAN, COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

PHIL SHOCKLEY / UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Randy Couture earned the nickname “The Natural” with his quick rise in the arena of professional mixed martial arts fighting.

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Still ‘The Natural’ STORY BY Brian Petrotta

Hard work, dedication helps former OSU wrestler move from athletics to arts and business successfully

They call Randy Couture “The Natural,” a moniker bestowed after a swift rise to the peaks of professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting. While his athletic exploits still rate notice, “The Natural” earns his nickname these days by taking on vastly different projects with similarly apparent ease. “He’s a jack-of-all-trades.” Those words are intended as a compliment to Couture, but they fall far short. They ignore all the hard work, extreme discipline, and driving focus with which the 1992 Oklahoma State University graduate approaches each challenge. In truth, not an ounce of success came easily to Couture.

These days, his challenges range from writing to broadcasting to acting in feature films. Physical brawn cannot carry the former Cowboys wrestler in such pursuits, but lessons learned in the cage and on the mat continue to pay off. “I think that people have these preconceived ideas of what wrestlers and mixed martial artists are,” Couture says. “They think we’re these Randy Couture was a three-time Academic All American member of OSU’s wrestling team during his days on campus. big, burly folks who can’t articulate.” For Couture, nothing could When he is not writhad freshmen been eligible. A be further from the truth. He foreign languages and litering, broadcasting or acting, has worked as a television Couture spends time with his ature major who specialized analyst on MMA bouts, writ- highly successful Las Vegasin German at OSU, Couture ten or co-written three books, based gym Xtreme Couture entered college at 25 after and spent the last decade MMA, his Xtreme Couture serving in the United States building a promising career clothing line, and his miliArmy for six years. Part of that in film, most notably as part time was spent in Germany, tary charity, Xtreme Couture of The Expendables franchise. G.I. Foundation. Retirement but that did not necessarily In fact, The Expendables 3 from MMA, it seems, has left give Couture a leg up. hit theaters in August, and “I learned a lot of slang,” Couture as busy as ever. Couture, alongside such Couture says. “I didn’t know Oklahoma State fans are action star icons as Arnold how to spell, and I really likely to recall his runner-up Schwarzenegger and Sylvester finishes at the NCAA wresdidn’t know how to read Stallone, has been involved in tling championships in 1991 [German]. Language skills all three installments. at that age are a lot of road and 1992. What they may not remember is that Couture was a three-time Academic All-American and would have made it all four years

memory anyway, so then it becomes a function of diligence.”

CONTINUES

ALL PHOTOS / XTREMECOUTURE

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with co-writer Loretta Hunt to past, been most visible in produce the book and, thanks his athletic pursuits. He was to his lay-it-all-out-there a three-time All-American approach, it was not always at OSU, made Team USA’s Greco-Roman wrestling team an easy journey. “I tried to be as honest as as an alternate, and took I could in the book and, you the UFC (Ultimate Fighting know, a lot of that was hard Championship) by storm, winning six world champion- and painful to drudge up,” he ships and earning a spot in its says, “but a lot of it I’ve dealt with and still managed to get Hall of Fame. through those things, not use Couture continues to seek them as excuses to fail.” challenges, looking for ways As he moved into his 40s, to fail. For that, he believes, is Couture realized his years how to build character. in the UFC were numbered. “I think it started from the Acting, something the athletwrestling mindset at an early age — the kind of diligence ically gifted Couture never and technical mindset that it saw himself doing, became builds, because every single not only a viable option, but a guy I know has lost matches passion. It was a risky passion and had to deal with adverfor while Couture had spent considerable time in front sity,” he says. of a camera, he was always The facts that he did not “The Natural” (or “Captain win an NCAA championAmerica” or “Old Man”, ship nor advance beyond depending on your preference “alternate” status for the U.S. for his nickname). His biggest Olympic team clearly motiRandy Couture in his OSU days in the early ’90s vated him as a competitor. He challenge has simply been to set “Randy” free so that remains equally motivated His professors in the foreign his on-screen characters feel with his current pursuits. languages department made authentic. “It’s problem-solving in its an impression on him. He “I’ve spent most of my simplest form.” appreciated the continuity and life in an individual combat Couture has overcome all focus of the faculty. sport where the key was to sorts of problems. Many are “It was a small group, you be able to compartmentaldetailed in his best-selling had a lot of the same instrucautobiography, Becoming ‘The ize, to place your emotion in tors, so you developed relaNatural’: My Life In and Out boxes and kind of stuff them tionships with them and they of the Cage. Published in 2009, away,” he says. “Now I’m in got to know you a little more,” Couture gives an uncomproan endeavor where the whole he says. “It made it more idea is to let those things out.” misingly honest account of enjoyable. And yet, honesty remains. his life up through the latter Diligence, focus, motivastages of his UFC career. He tion — pick one and it probspent more than two years ably applies to Couture. Those qualities have, in the

Randy Couture is busy as ever today, with a career that involves acting, broadcasting and entrepreneurship.

Current OSU head wrestling While his coaches and coach John Smith made a huge contemporaries such as Chuck impression early on, largely Liddel or Tito Ortiz have by how he pushed himself pushed him and helped shape competitively. his career, Couture looks to “I walked into the wreshome for his most important inspiration. tling room on my recruiting “I think the biggest influence trip in 1988, and I saw John in my life has always been my Smith and Kenny Monday in there training, putting the mother,” he says. “As a single time in and doing the work,” parent, with three kids, she demonstrated the work ethic Couture says. that she instilled in us three Smith had just wrapped up one of the great collegiate wres- kids and is one of the things that allowed me to distinguish tling careers in the 134-pound myself from all the others. weight class and would soon “It boils down to being able win his first gold medal at the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul. to put yourself out there and do the work.” He became head coach of the “They know their industry, “You do some things you Couture is “out there” in a they know their audience, they Cowboys wrestling team during would never do in real life,” know how to succeed, and that Couture’s senior season in 1992. whole new way these days. In Couture says of acting, “but addition to The Expendables “I learned in the Army that takes a lot of hard work and you still have to kind of twist 3, he has starred in two projI could compete at that level, dedication to what they do.” that around in a way so that and I learned at Oklahoma ects for the Spike TV channel, That could easily describe you can relate to it and tell a film called Fight Master and the truth. If you’re not telling Couture’s path to becoming a State that I could win at that level,” Couture says. a series called Gym Rescue. UFC champion. It took hard the truth, nobody is going to He’s been winning ever He also has a cameo in the work, dedication and keepbuy it.” since but is quick to point out action-comedy, Stretch, which Apparently audiences ing his failures close enough his physical prowess only tells stars Ed Helms and Jessica and producers are buying it to be used as motivators Alba, among others. It is a indeed, for Couture’s career instead of inhibitors. It began part of the story, especially different role for Couture, and is on an upward swing. The when he started wrestling as a in regards to the sometimes misunderstood UFC. he seems especially excited Expendables franchise has child; those values continued “It’s a thinking man’s game,” about it. given him a high-profile platto grow as he did. He spent “I’ll be interested to see if six years in the Army, includ- Couture says. “It’s not just form and put him in contact physical brawn; it’s kinetic anyone even recognizes me in with some of the most success- ing three in Germany where chess in just about every sense. that one but it’s a fun movie,” ful movie stars in the business. he honed his wrestling skills You have to outthink your he says. Aside from enjoying a behind- enough to earn a recruiting opponent in a physical way visit to OSU. the-scenes interaction with and that takes a lot of disci“Rocky” and “The Terminator,” “I knew the first week I Couture observed and sought rolled into Stillwater, I’d made pline and dedication.” the right choice,” Couture says. to learn from the best of the best, just as he did in wrestling and MMA.

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Mary Beth Davis demonstrates the Ekso Bionic Suit at Deer Creek Middle School in Edmond.

PHOTO / DAVID McDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN, © 2014

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ertain events during a person’s life are associated with walking: walking down the aisle at a wedding or across a stage to receive a diploma.

‘Watch Me’ OSU student doesn’t let paralysis stop her STORY BY Jamie Hadwin

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Mary Beth Davis, a zoology graduate from Oklahoma State University, never really gave those events much thought until a car accident four years ago left her paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors told Davis and her family that she might have to change her career plans and that she may never walk again. “I’m always up for a challenge and I challenge myself personally all the time,” Davis says. “If somebody tells me, hey, you can’t do something, I’m going to be like, ‘Watch me.’ ” AND WATCH THEY DID.

On May 10, Davis defied her doctors’ prognosis by graduating as a pre-vet major, and with the use of an Ekso Bionic Suit, she walked across the stage in Gallagher-Iba Arena and received her diploma. Aug. 27, 2010, was the Friday of the first week of fall classes. Davis was in her first semester at OSU in Stillwater, after transferring from OSU-OKC. Driving home to Guthrie, she went off the road slightly, overcorrected and flipped her truck. At the hospital, Davis and her family were told she had broken the C6 and C7 vertebrae in her neck and had also bruised her spinal cord. The road to recovery was going to be a long one, but Davis knew she could not give up.

In the beginning, Davis had to have help with most everything. Once she was able to get out of bed and participate in therapy more frequently, she became stronger. Strong enough that the following spring, Davis re-enrolled at OSU, taking one physiology class. The first day of class was an adjustment, but returning was a familiar and welcome feeling. “After the first five minutes after lecture started, it felt normal, you know,” Davis says. “I was taking notes, I was listening, and you just kind of forget about your injury for a little bit while the class is going on.” Davis was determined to keep moving forward, describing herself as having always been a student who loves learning and being in class. Because she knew she wanted to go to veterinary school before her injury, it helped her to stay focused on that goal. Davis was exposed to the Ekso Bionic Suit when the Integris Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation Center in Oklahoma City received the suit as a donation from the Chickasaw Nation. The Jim Thorpe Center is the only rehab center in Oklahoma that has one of these suits. When INTEGRIS received the suit, the center’s director and her former therapist believed Davis would be the perfect candidate to use it. With support from the Jim Thorpe Center, Davis strapped herself into Murphy, the suit’s Robocopinspired nickname, and began learning how to work with the suit to start walking. “It really is actually pretty straightforward,” Davis says. “We were at Deer Creek Middle School demonstrating it for engineer classes, and it’s pretty easy to explain.”

CO M M E NCE M ENT (From left): Mary Beth Davis, zoology graduate, with Amy Martindale, A&S Director of Student Academic Services

The Ekso Bionic Suit works by using a Davis says a lot of focus for individuals series of simple motors, straps, remotes, who use wheelchairs typically surrounds and Davis’s own weight-shifting abiliaccessibility, ADA requirements, and disability rights. Using the knowledge she ties. A backpack on the back of the suit learned in her nutritional science courses, stores all the suit’s programs, includDavis promotes health and nutrition as a ing ones specific to Davis. After the first goal for the disabled community. step is initiated through remote, Davis “It was a really unique platform to takes over by shifting the weight in her advocate,” Davis says. “Ultimately, I’m torso signaling to the suit that she is ready to take the next step. The program trying to get people healthier. It can makes sure she’s in the right position and improve their lives and their disability.” Davis is taking a year off after graduatthen obliges her body’s request to move forward. ing and will apply to the OSU School of Davis gets a lot of questions when Veterinary Medicine to start classes in fall people see her using the suit. She doesn’t 2015. During this year, she will perform mind all the questions, but one thing her duties as Miss Wheelchair Oklahoma, she really wants to emphasize to curious speaking at seminars and support groups minds is that the suit has an impressive and advocating her platform. She also list of health benefits for its users. will continue extensive therapy in Dallas. Some of those health benefits include Davis’s road to recovery has been long improved core stability, increased bone yet rewarding. The support of her family density from weight-bearing activand friends and her faith have played a large role in her personal success. She ity, improved circulation, a better digescan’t imagine herself doing anything tive system and improved mental and different than what she’s doing now. emotional well-being. “You either waste an opportunity or On top of being a college graduate and Ekso Bionic Suit aficionado, Davis is also make the most of the it,” Davis says. “And this is what I’ve chosen to do with the 2014 Miss Wheelchair Oklahoma. Her winning platform involved her stud- this new life.” ies at OSU as a nutritional science minor.

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Through the Doel Reed Center for the Arts in Taos, N.M., OSU is offering students and lifelong learners unique academic opportunities. If you would like to help us enhance educational experiences through the Doel Reed Center for the Arts, please contact Debra Engle at the OSU Foundation at 405-385-5600 or dengle@OSUgiving.com. For more information about summer academic and adult leisure learning course opportunities, please visit drca.okstate.edu or facebook.com/doelreed.

The Doel Reed Center for the Arts is named for the renowned artist who directed OSU’s Department of Art from 1924 until retiring to the family estate in northern New Mexico in 1959. Thanks to the generosity of his daughter, Martha, the picturesque property and three historic adobe structures now serve as an inspiring setting for teaching, research and outreach related to the Southwest.

THEY DECLARE JOBS FINISHED only after they are proud of the result. Their personal standards are higher than most, which is why their successes are also greater. NEARLY 100,000 loyal and true Cowboys have combined to exceed $1 BILLION for Branding Success: The Campaign for Oklahoma State University. But the state’s most successful higher-education campaign continues until Dec. 31, 2014. OUR JOB ISN’T COMPLETE. There is still so much to do. FOR MORE INFORMATION about supporting OSU now or through your estate, contact Lauren Kidd, Senior Director of Development, at lkidd@OSUgiving.com or 405.385.0724.

GARY LAWSON / UNIVERSITY MARKETING

The OSU Cowboy Marching Band parades in uniforms that include pants custom dyed “America’s Brightest Orange.”

Drumming Up Success OSU’s marching band ‘makes the dream work’ In 2012, Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis and his wife, Ann, led the initiative to provide new uniforms to the OSU Cowboy Marching Band. In fact, the pants of the uniform can only be achieved through a combination of dyes, resulting in a new color that could be called “America’s Brightest Orange.”

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Two years later, the Cowboy Marching Band still To make the dream work, Henderson collabdrums up success and is as orange and as big as ever. orates with Dr. Ben Lorenzo and Wayne Doug Henderson, director of the Cowboy Marching Bovenschen, assistant directors of the marching Band, appreciates the support and success the band has band, to plan for the band’s continued success, received in the four years he has been at OSU and credincluding space to accommodate the band’s growth, sustained recruitment efforts, support its part of that with the amazing teamwork between the from OSU administration and the success of band’s members and staff. OSU athletics. “To have 300 or more people feel like they play an “We want to get people in the stands earlier, important role in the total product and be on the same and the bottom line was let’s win some games page is not an easy thing,” Henderson says. “When I was in grad school, we had this phrase, ‘Teamwork makes the and that will happen,” Bovenschen says. “It’s already happening, and there are other dream work.’ Everyone kind of gets it now and underthings non-football related that the president stands what their role is.” supports, too. Whenever he has a big event, he contacts the band to see if it’s possible to have us play.”

While Bovenschen works primarily with the percussionists, Lorenzo spends much of his time planning and rehearsing the logistics of the band’s formations. The recent turf replacement at Boone Pickens stadium and the addition of the Sherman E. Smith practice facility help provide some of the best practice and performance areas for a marching band in the country. The new facilities are a marked improvement from the uneven grounds of the library lawn where the band used to practice. Lorenzo is grateful for the new practice areas, but he would like a practice area that is 100 percent for the band. “We have the same schedules as the football team and other athletic teams,” Lorenzo says. “We’re in constant contact to see if this [a field] is available, and if not, where can we rehearse, but our students have been great in being flexible with that.”

Henderson knows the newer facilities appeal to high school recruits when they are considering OSU, but he’d also like to continue focusing on his outreach activities in Oklahoma and surrounding states. OSU participates in 10-15 clinics each spring where band staff will work with a high school band and offer them guidance and instruction. It’s a great opportunity to talk with students about the OSU band program. Jonathan Villela, music education senior, is in his second year as one of the marching band’s three drum majors, a position that comes with a lot of responsibility, including conducting halftime shows. He came to OSU to pursue a degree in pre-health sciences. His participation in the marching band led him to change his major, and now he wants to follow a career path similar to Henderson’s. While Villela is a music education major, on average, only 25 percent of the band is composed of music majors. The

other 75 percent will pursue careers that don’t revolve around music, but what the students learn in marching band benefits them in other areas. Students must have a commitment to excellence in order to memorize the music, learn the marching band formations, and do it all at a very high level. That commitment to excellence carries over into the workplace, no matter what it is. Villela explains that his experiences in the band taught him to be efficient and responsible. He believes band members understand that things that are worthwhile, like the halftime shows or a future promotion, take hard work and investment. The reward isn’t always immediate, and it often takes a lot of dedication. “It certainly does make you look at yourself in the mirror,” Villela says. “In a sense, you represent the program. I appreciate that because it’s really made me ensure that I am the person I want people to see.”

Jamie Hadwin

Family creates scholarship In February 2011, Seneca Black Elk Mathews was killed by a drunk driver in an auto accident. He dreamed of attending Oklahoma State University while living near Miami, Okla. As his family continues to recover, they have worked diligently to create something positive from the tragedy, creating an endowed scholarship fund in his name for Native American students at OSU. By all accounts, Mathews burst with positivity and was always there to lend a hand. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the scholarship fund has attracted generous donors. His parents, J.R. and Beth Mathews, have been at the forefront of these efforts, organizing a tribute concert at a casino, creating a softball tournament and building an annual golf tournament that continues to grow in popularity. Since August 2012, the fund has collected more than $160,000. Each recipient of the scholarship receives $2,500 per year for tuition and books. As of fall 2014, eight scholarships have been awarded, including one for a Native American non-music major in the OSU marching band.

Beth and J.R. Mathews

BRIAN PETROTTA / A&S

Mathews loved the OSU marching band and music, in general. In fact, he enthusiastically participated in karaoke, though his enthusiasm may have trumped his talent — “You’d have no idea what song he was singing,” his father says. While J.R. may not have been able to identify the song, he and his wife, Beth, can certainly name Seneca’s tune — “caring and giving.” The Seneca Black Elk Mathews scholarship helps that caring and giving spirit live on at OSU.

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DIGGING FOR

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TREASURE

Mammoth find a boon for OSU’s geography department

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hat began as a mere invitation to the site of a potential mammoth has evolved into an unexpected whirlwind of information pointing to the past, present and future for Oklahoma State University. The geography department in the College of Arts and Sciences is busier than ever as it anticipates funding for the artifact’s campus debut. In July 2013, natural gas company Access Midstream stumbled across the bones while drilling just outside Enid, Okla., and contacted the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, which confirmed the remains belonged to a mammoth. Survey member Lee Bement contacted the university for help. Tom Cox, a first-year Ph.D. student at OSU who had previously worked with Bement, took over the dig site and included the data and overall experience in his master’s thesis. Cox had been working with OSU geographer Carlos Cordova on reconstructing the environments of paleo-mammoth remains in the Great Plains region. Bement gave Cox the chance to work with an untouched site, a rare opportunity for a graduate student, especially at OSU. “What we thought was going to be this little thesis project has turned into something huge,” Cox says. “I think the biggest thing I’ve wanted to see come out of this is to show people that geography isn’t just learning about dates, places and things. There is so much cool stuff that you can do in geography that people don’t even know about.” After two months of weekend excavations, Cox had a nearly complete and surprisingly wellpreserved mammoth, referred to as the Helena or Enid mammoth. Volunteers, which included OSU students and faculty, were recruited for the PHOTO / TOM COX

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PHOTO / CARLOS CORDOVA

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Cordova specializes in geoarcheolexcavation through word of mouth. The bones were donated to OSU by the site ogy, the application of earth sciences to landowner, an OSU alumnus. archaeology, and paleo-ecology, the study OSU’s involvement can be described of past ecosystems. He’s generally interas a matter of happenstance, says Dale ested in ecosystems that existed in North Lightfoot, head of OSU’s geography America, particularly in the Great Plains, department who has been involved in from the Pleistocene to the Holocene orchestrating the big picture. Everything period, and how the climate, vegetahappened at the just the right time; tion and animals have adapted or gone Lightfoot credits this to Cox’s and extinct, as well as the role humans and Cordova’s interest and expertise. global climate played. For Cordova, the This project is extremely significant Helena mammoth excavation and data for OSU because the university doesn’t analysis serves as a data point that he have a specialty that focuses on research can use for his broader project. With the involved with paleontology. OSU has only Helena mammoth, Cordova conducted been able to take on this project because research similar to what he’s been gatherof Cordova’s experience with mineraling for North American plants, animals and soil for relating them to those of ized plant remains (phytoliths and fossil southern Africa. pollen) and Cox’s interests and skills.

PHIL SHOCKLEY / UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Shawna Smith, a first-year geology graduate student, and Taylor Iberosi, a junior majoring in geography, worked with the remains in a campus lab. With the help of the Dean’s Excellence Fund, the two gained rare hands-on experience in the preservation and final construction of the Helena mammoth throughout the spring semester. “I got an email from my adviser, who was looking for geography majors to volunteer for the dig,” Iberosi says. “I emailed her back asking if this was a real thing. She emailed me right after, assuring me that it was real, and I jumped on that opportunity like it was the last biscuit on the breakfast table.” After receiving special training in proper preservation techniques from the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, the two students began to preserve, puzzle and glue the bones back together. In addition, they photographed, sketched and measured the completed bones while documenting the lab process. “Some important points I’m taking away from this experience are the scientific need for attention to detail and a new appreciation for extensive documentation that will serve me well in my future career,” Smith says. Although the data analysis is complete and the remains safely stored, the story continues. Because of the lack of technology and certain expertise at OSU, Cox and Cordova have sent samples to labs and are patiently waiting for many answers regarding dates and specifics about the Helena mammoth that may determine the next chapter of its story — and that of OSU.

15 Cox and Cordova have their own ideas regarding the mammoth: Is it an Emperor or Columbian mammoth? How old is it? Male or female? What did it eat? What killed it? And there may be evidence of human involvement with the animal, but more will be known once the proper testing is completed. For example, the leg bones of the Helena mammoth were completely separated from the rest of the body, found in a separate area of the dig site.

“Hopefully, this is going to be a new area of research for OSU,” Cox says. The department hopes to secure funding and display plans for the mammoth in the fall, but until then, Cordova and Cox have bigger ideas. “There is more than just this mammoth,” Cordova says. “It’s not only that mammoth. It’s all the mammoths that may have existed in that area and all the other ones we are looking at.”

Shelby Holcomb

Bringing Students Back to Politics Professor’s range of experiences, sense of humor appeals to classes as he works to ‘create good citizens’

16 Democratic challenger Joe Dorman takes on Republican Gov. Mary Fallin during their only debate during the race.

PHOTO / PHIL SHOCKLEY / UNIVERSITY MARKETING

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idterm elections are approaching, and recent polls show that less than a quarter of adults under 30 are sure they’ll vote this upcoming election season. Brandon Lenoir, visiting political science professor at Oklahoma State University, aims to change this trend. Does he stand a chance? Well, many of his students call him engaging, enthusiastic and funny. Yes, funny. So is that the secret behind Lenoir’s success with his students, many of whom are part of this absent group of voters? Derek Wietelman, a political science and statistics junior, thinks Lenoir’s diverse experience in politics, media, the military and academia all contribute to his success. “He has all these various life experiences in different fields that he can tie together and interweave and it benefits everyone,” Wietelman says. “He’s a really funny guy, too. I think anytime you add humor to your lectures, it helps with student engagement.” CONTINUES

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PHOTO / BRANDON LENOIR

DIVERSE BACKGROUND

Since arriving at OSU, Lenoir has Lenoir later moved to Michigan to stayed active about getting his students cover the state capitol for WLNS in Lenoir gained political experience involved and interested in politics. Lansing, a CBS affiliate. One of the working for the Idaho deputy state “OSU Debate Series: Decision 2014” major stories he worked on involved controller’s office after graduating from was a collaborative effort with Lenoir, his Guantanamo Bay. The timing of his Idaho State University. From there, he moved to Washington D.C., lobbying for “Inside the Wire” series came when stories students, and the university to establish OSU’s political science department as the of abuse at Gitmo were just breaking. local and state governments to use the go-to resource in the state when it comes “From a historical perspective, very Internet to provide government services. to political questions. interesting, obviously a dubious history,” He was doing a lot of privacy and The debate series is already receiving Lenoir says. “But still, being on the front security work concerning the Internet, a lot of attention. Earlier this year, Sen. line of history was interesting, and that but after 9/11 and the passage of the Tom Coburn announced his early retireHomeland Security Act, many of his proj- ties in when I talk to my students about media and politics.” ment, putting two Senate seats on the ects were eliminated. He reached a “T” in After his Gitmo coverage, Lenoir took Oklahoma ballot this year. C-SPAN and the road. a job in Pittsburgh with ABC affiliate OETA have expressed interest in airing “Do I shift policy focus or do I do WTAE, but he found he was covering less the debates, especially since Coburn is a a career change?” Lenoir says. “I had politics, which motivated him to get back high-profile senator. already received a few offers to go into to what he really enjoyed doing. On May 1, Lenoir and his students television, so I took a job with NBC held a preliminary debate with the [affiliate WICS-TV in Springfield, Ill.] and CHOOSING STILLWATER GOP candidates running for Coburn’s covered politics in the state of Illinois. Lenoir received a master’s in politseat. The debate featured Rep. James That was how I got my feet wet in broadical science and his doctorate from Lankford, former state Sen. Randy cast journalism.” the University of Pittsburgh, and after Brogden, and Norman paramedic and Lenoir covered Rod Blagojevich’s adjunct and visiting professorships in EMS instructor Jason Weger. Lankford first gubernatorial campaign and the Pennsylvania, he was ready to explore would go on to win the Republican indictment of Blagojevich’s predecessor, another region of the country. primary, facing Oklahoma state Sen. George Ryan, both of whom he joked Lenoir interviewed with a handful of Connie Johnson of Oklahoma City in “are in the same federal prison right now.” universities, but after his interview at OSU, November’s general election. He even bumped into a little-known he says the decision to move from the east A few months later, on Oct. 2, OSU Illinois state senator from Chicago coast to Stillwater was an easy one. hosted the state’s only gubernatorial named Barack Obama. “The student population, the landdebate between Republican incumbent grant university, and the fact that it’s a Mary Fallin and Democratic challenger research school all fit into the criteria Joe Dorman, both of whom are OSU of what I was looking for,” Lenoir says. alumni. “And I wanted them to have a good football team.”

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RISING PROFILE The following week, on Oct. 7, Lankford and Johnson participated in In another high-profile event, Gov. a debate for Coburn’s Senate seat. All Mary Fallin set time aside during a debates were free and open to the public campus visit last spring to speak to a and took place in the theater in OSU’s media and politics class about her own Student Union, with Lenoir serving as experience with the media as a politician. moderator. Lucas Sheets, an agricultural busiOStateTV, the university’s video and ness senior with a minor in political web-based network, recorded the last science, was instrumental in making two debates, which were streamed live Fallin’s visit happen. Lenoir, knowing on OETA and C-SPAN. The involvement that Sheets was the president of the OSU of these organizations really gave his College Republicans, encouraged Sheets students the opportunity to learn some to reach out to Fallin about speaking to of the intricacies in organizing a political the class while she was on campus. Sheets and media event. explains how events like Fallin’s visit The debate between candidates for raise awareness of OSU’s political science state superintendent of public schools will department. be held Oct. 28 at the OSU-Tulsa campus. “Without a doubt, if I hadn’t been taking this class, College Republicans wouldn’t have been involved with Mary Fallin,” Sheets says. “To get students there to ask questions and see the actual people … they think it’s really cool to see and talk to people that have political experience like the governor. They were pretty impressed.” Lenoir still participates in broadcast journalism through his appearances on Oklahoma Forum, a public affairs program on OETA featuring topics related to the Oklahoma state legislature. He often arranges for his classes to attend live tapings when he is a guest on the program, so they can get a behind the scenes view of how a political television segment is put together. Lenoir has even managed to have his students involved in some of his research. Last spring, he recruited a cross-section of OSU students to participate in his Perception Analyzer experiment.

PHOTO / BRIAN PETROTTA

For the experiment, students watched President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address and the subsequent GOP rebuttal. They recorded their reactions in real time by using a knob. Turning the knob to the left indicated they did not agree with the current message and turning the knob to the right showed they did agree. Based on the students’ demographics such as gender, age, etc., Lenoir tracked in aggregate numbers which issues resonated and which did not. “If you’re going to study voter mobilization and the challenges that are involved with getting people who traditionally wouldn’t vote to get out and vote, what a better place to be than a college campus?” Lenoir says. “What I try to do is get the students involved. I don’t tell them how to vote, but I do give them extra credit to register to vote. If they vote in this election, they’re probably going to vote again in the future. I’m trying to create good citizens.” Whatever Lenoir’s secret to success is, it seems to be spreading. By giving his students a reason and opportunity to get excited about politics, they begin to become hungry for more events like the debate series, the OETA trips and speaking events featuring political figures. With the debate series, OSU will continue the path to raise its visibility on the state and national levels with help from its students, faculty and support from the university. The nation will soon be in the hands of young voters, and Oklahoma State University is doing its part to shape America’s brightest future.

Jamie Hadwin

19

There’s Nothing Like Prison … … As a crew discovered in bringing ArtsAloud-OSU project to inmates

20 Jodi Jinks listens to her students go over a script.

ALL PHOTOS / BRIAN PETROTTA

Once upon a time,

Imagine playing the part of a

than our worst choices.” A

an OSU assistant professor of

man nicknamed “Bear” directly

month before the OSU students

acting and a group of her most

in front of him.

arrived, the inmates performed

talented students went to prison.

“This kind of acting experi-

None of them had committed

ence takes the notion of ‘embod-

the show for their contemporaries. The script was packed

a crime nor were they being

ied learning’ to another level,”

with inside jokes and included

punished. In fact, each of them

professor and head of the

poetry, short scenes and even

felt privileged.

theatre department Andrew

a band with inmates who did not

“It was a great experience,

Kimbrough says. “The students

take part in the class.

something I will never forget,”

get a very powerful sense of the

OSU sophomore Kia Dorsey says.

lived experience of the inmates/

Make no mistake, apprehen-

writers.”

“It just went so well,” Jinks says. OSU graduate student Lacy

sion existed and even tears

Jinks established this program

Delaino was among the small

were shed but there was also

at OSU after earning the Mary

group of people from outside

laughter and, ultimately, under-

Lou Lemon professorship in

the prison to observe the show.

standing. By pulling her students

January though she began this

“I had no expectations of

so far out of their comfort zone,

type of work several years ago

it whatsoever,” Delaino says,

Jodi Jinks saw the vision of her

at women’s prisons in Texas.

“but they performed in such an

ArtsAloud-OSU program realized

Her first effort in Oklahoma

incredible way.”

at the John H. Lilley Correctional

brought her (and volunteer

The subject matter, perhaps

Center in Boley, Okla.

Linda Smolen, who served as

not surprisingly, often touched

co-director of the play) to a mini-

on forgiveness but also included

“Orange Friday” if you consider

mum-security, all-male facility,

stories of who they were before

the prison uniform — and Jinks

and though the gender of her

prison and even who had they

brought her students to the facil-

subjects changed in Oklahoma,

had become while inside the

ity to perform for the inmates.

the overall reaction did not.

correctional center. It sounds

It was April 18, 2014 — truly an

Acting out any script in that envi-

“They’re thankful for the inter-

like a therapeutic process, but

ronment would induce goose

action,” Jinks says. “I think

Jinks is quick to point out her

pimples but Jinks’ approach

they’re loving the fact that

role is to help them create a

added a new level of anxiety.

they’re being heard, that they

work of art.

She teaches “devised theatre,”

have a story people actually

in which the inmates worked

want to hear.”

“I am not a psychologist,” Jinks says emphatically. “I stay

with her to tell their stories and

After several months of writ-

create a performance. They had

ing and collaborating with Jinks,

because I don’t have the skills

already performed this material

the inmates created a show

to do anything with that. When I

for their fellow prisoners but now

called Reflections of Time, which

hear people talk about ‘healing’

the OSU students were going to

chronicled “the challenges, the

in association with this work, I

play that same material back to

joys, and the dreams of these

want to push back.”

those who lived the stories and

particular men, and reminds us

penned the script.

that we are all so much more

away from the dark material

CONTINUES

21

Jodi Jinks

Nevertheless, the inmates’ performance in front of their fellow prisoners proved to be an emotional experience. Delaino says those in the audience commented after the show how thankful they were to see their fellow inmates share details and stories they may have kept quiet in day-to-day interactions. They laughed and, yes, they cried. “The most surprising part was to see the vulnerability in these men and that they were willing to show it in front of their peers,” Delaino says. The task for the seven OSU student actors was to capture that vulnerability, find the humor, and play the story back to the inmates inside the Lilley Correctional Center. The

22

students had limited time to rehearse — and several were involved in OSU Theatre’s production of Man of La Mancha, which debuted a week later — but they delivered a performance that seemed to please both their instructor and the audience. Zack Graham, then a senior at OSU, says he was not scared or nervous about entering the prison but more apprehensive about “messing up” the show these men had written. “Watching them watch us was an emotional experience,” he says. “It surprised me how emotional I got. Once we got their reactions, it was kind of like, ‘Oh, I have emotions, too.’”

The slightly informal setting of the prison’s chapel lent itself to a more reciprocal experience than a typical show on a stage in a theater. During dress rehearsal, Jinks warned the students that parts of the show would inspire members of the audience to respond. She pushed her actors to embrace such interaction and to even encourage it. Dorsey related that in a few scenes they left out a word or adjective, forcing the actors to enlist the audience for help in filling in the blanks. At another point, Jinks directed actor D.J. Grigsby, who had the task of playing “Bear,” to go up to the inmate himself and say, “Hello, Mr. Handsome!” during the monologue.

Moments such as the latter drew tremendous laughter, no doubt a welcome release in between teardrop-inducing pieces with titles like “How to Trust” and “Forgiveness and More.” According to Jinks, the inmates embraced the young actors’ interpretations. “They were very impressed with the skills of the acting students. Some of them said, ‘Well, that’s what I was trying to do with my part!’ ” After the students performed, they held a question-and-answer session with the inmates. Dorsey and Graham both noted how much the prisoners enjoyed seeing trained actors deliver the script. Suddenly confronted with seeing both sets of very different

students in the same space (“I felt like my parents were meeting my future in-laws”), Jinks spent most of the time watching the inmates. “I saw some people crying as they saw their pieces read back to them,” she says. “I remember looking at Kevin, who’s 6-foot7, and seeing his mouth wide and his eyes wide, watching this student read his part. He was glowing.” That performance ended a sixth-month journey for Jinks and the inmates. She received four letters shortly after the event, all complimentary and the inmates asked for additional writing assignments. She will return in the fall to continue working at the Lilley

Correctional Center and has already expanded the ArtsAloudOSU program, with Delaino taking the lead at Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft, Okla. Jinks hopes to add another prison and more volunteers soon. Gratitude became the fruit of her first mission with ArtsAloudOSU. From the inmates reflecting on their time to their own performance, to then watching trained OSU actors tell the story they had written, to the actors feeling privileged to perform in front of, and meet, the authors, every turn produced reciprocal gratitude. On April 18, 2014, at the John H. Lilley Correctional Center, a group of OSU students went to prison. They could not have been more thankful.

Brian Petrotta

23

The School of Hard Rocks

OSU’s Les Huston Geology Field Camp going strong at 65

BEFORE T. BOONE PICKENS MADE HIS NAME IN THE ENERGY INDUSTRY, HE ATTENDED A FLEDGLING FIELD CAMP NEAR CAÑON CITY, COLO., AS A GEOLOGY STUDENT WITH OKLAHOMA A&M COLLEGE. A FEW THINGS HAVE CHANGED SINCE THEN. OKLAHOMA A&M COLLEGE IS NOW OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, AND ITS GEOLOGY SCHOOL IS THE BOONE PICKENS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY.

24 Students from the field camp made their way to the top of Pikes Peak.

ALL PHOTOS / C.J. APPLESETH

T

he field camp has been renamed the Les Huston Geology Field Camp, and it celebrated its 65th year this past summer. Despite the changes, geology students are still receiving the same hands-on field experience students like Pickens received in the camp’s early days. Jim Puckette, associate professor of geology at OSU and current field camp director, attended the camp in 1975 as an OSU geology student. He returned to OSU in the ’90s as a professor and was asked to assist with field camp. “The next year I went out and taught halftime,” Puckette says. “And then within a year or so, I was teaching full time and I was made director, and I just love the camp.”

Students at the Les Huston Geology Field Camp outside Cañon City, Colo.,

CAPSTONE

show off their OSU pride.

The field camp is the capstone course for OSU geology undergraduates. The camp helps HISTORY students apply what they learn in their core The first Oklahoma geology camps were curriculum to a real-world setting. Puckette held in the Arbuckles of southern Oklahoma. listed the four core areas of the OSU geolWhen Oklahoma A&M and the University ogy program as mineralogy, petrology (the of Oklahoma began looking to Colorado for study of rocks), structural geology, and sedia new field camp site, a Cañon City rancher mentology and stratigraphy (the study of rock named Les Huston suggested some of his land stratification). would be well suited for their needs. In 1949, C.J. Appleseth, a first-year graduate student the schools began leasing land from Huston. with the OSU geology program, attended field Originally, the campers and faculty stayed camp this past summer. He was excited to in tents. Over time, the camp would add a get out of the classroom and onto the rocks, kitchen and cabins, and by the ’60s, all the describing the camp’s mapping exercises as tents were gone. In the mid ‘80s, OU would the “meat and potatoes” of geologic fieldwork forfeit its half of the lease to OSU. In 1990, the because they combine knowledge from all the land was donated to OSU to maintain the field program’s core areas. camp, which was then renamed after Huston. “If I could sum up mapping … you’re basiWhen Puckette took over as field camp direc- cally walking around and recording what tor in 1998, the cabins were still “rustic.” He you’re walking on, and then later trying to and his staff began renovating the camp. They draw a map based on those measurements you upgraded the cabins and bathrooms, doing took,” Appleseth says. “It’s a whole different most of the labor themselves. animal being able to climb around these rocks After a flash flood in 2006 washed away versus just reading about them.” most of those cabins, the camp built its presSedimentary rock and geophysics receive ent-day facilities with help from a successthe most emphasis at field camp because ful fundraising campaign. The camp now sees many of OSU’s geologists will end up going record high usage with students coming from into the environmental or petroleum indusOSU and other universities. tries, but students also get to expand their repertoire through exercises on other types of rock in the area. CONTINUES

25

TEAMWORK

Not only does the Les Huston Geology Field Camp offer a variety of rocks and strata to study, but diversity is also reflected through the schools that send students and faculty to the camp each year. The camp regularly receives students from schools in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Missouri. Occasionally, the camp has students from the Appalachians and the northeastern part of the country. “Some schools are better at teaching certain areas than others,” Appleseth says. “You get to play off each other’s strengths because not everyone is going to be 100 percent solid in every area of geology.” Working with campers they’ve never met before also preps OSU geology students for the workforce. In the petroleum industry, it’s not uncommon to work with geologists from all over the world. Working in teams to complete projects is a skill employers like to see on résumés. “These students have been able to work with, not their buddies and their friends, but

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At the field camp, students go over

what they learned in classrooms

and apply it to a real-world setting.

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ARTS AND SCIENCES

students they’ve never really met before until they come to field camp,” Puckette says. “I think they learn a lot about themselves, and they learn a lot about human nature.”

“Every year, we have people stop in and visit us,” Puckette says. “It was a really important part of their life. And because of the relationship we have with our neighbors, we’re part of that little community out there.”

and offer a memorable and educational experience year after year. IMPACT

A geologist is used to seeing change in rocks over time, and COMMUNITY for those who visit the Les Huston Geology Field Camp, The Huston family has CONTRIBUTIONS they see something new every remained closely involved year. The landscape might be with the camp since the Donors and alumni also ever-changing, but any geolocamp’s beginnings. During support the camp through the camp’s “tent years,” the an endowment fund that gist will tell you that basics of Hustons would often open helps with camp operations, field work taught at the camp up their ranch to let students however, the camp is designed beginnings are still just as shower, do laundry, and enjoy to break even. Major repairs applicable today. a good meal. or disasters are not included in As someone who has Tiny Striegel, Les Huston’s the camp’s annual budget. completed a field camp session daughter, remains a key Puckette says the camp and is continuing his educafigure in the camp’s operawould not have been able to tion with the Boone Pickens rebuild after the 2006 flood School of Geology, C.J. tions. In addition to donatwithout donations from Appleseth describes how field ing her father’s land to OSU corporations, individuals and camp is a common denominato use for the field camp, she alumni. The campaign to also contributes her time and tor for all geologists. rebuild raised nearly a half wisdom when she visits the “It’s like a geologist’s rite camp and its students each year. million dollars. of passage going through Students also receive assisThe community of Cañon field camp,” Appleseth says. City has also become very tance from a scholarship fund “Everyone has to do it, and I familiar with the camp. set aside to help with the costs can go talk to a man in the Campers and faculty contrib- of attending the five-week industry who looks like he’s camp. Alumni and geological on the doorstep of retireute to Cañon City’s econsocieties are frequent contribu- ment, and our experiences at omy when they shop and eat at local businesses. Puckette field camp will be very simitors to the scholarship fund. lar. Some things may change, and the faculty frequently These contributions allow give presentations to the OSU to continue to bring geol- but other things remain 100 local geological society. The percent the same.” ogy students to its field camp community wants to see the camp succeed.

Tiny Striegel

Whether it was because her family’s

home was open to campers looking for a shower and a good meal, or through her visits to the camp to interact with the campers and faculty, Tiny Striegel has become synonymous with the OSU geology field camp experience. In addition to donating her father’s land

Tiny Striegel still visits the geology field camp. She donated the land outside

to OSU for preserving and maintaining

Cañon City, Colo., which OSU had been

the field camp, Streigel has also donated

leasing from her father, Les Huston.

roughly $500,000 through legacy gifts and annuities to the university. “In the fine print was something the attorneys failed to see,” jokes Jim Puckette, OSU geology field camp director. “Tiny comes with the camp — and what a fortunate arrangement for the students and staff of field camp.” When she’s not devoting her time and efforts to the field camp, Striegel is an accomplished poet and a pillar of the Cañon City community. Puckette recently recognized Tiny Striegel as an honorary alumnus of the Boone Pickens School of Geology. Striegel believed she was at the geology banquet to give a presentation and was surprised to receive the honor. True to her poetic roots, she wrote after the banquet: “To be honorary member of the alumni there, my grateful joy I cannot hide. The highest honor anywhere I humbly accept with greatest pride.”

Jim Puckette

Jim Puckette indeed “has orange running through his veins” after

earning two bachelor’s degrees, his master’s and his doctorate from Oklahoma State University. And his time at OSU didn’t end there. After spending a decade as a geologist in the oil industry, he returned to OSU as a research assistant and eventually became a professor with the geology department. In addition to his work with OSU and the Les Huston Geology Field Camp, Puckette remains active with several organizations and civic clubs. He belongs to several committees with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and has been involved with the Geological Society of America. Puckette served as a scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 818 and has given numerous presentations on geology in public schools and to various civic clubs. In recognition of his achievements, he was recently honored with and holds the Geoscience Education Chair in Honor of Dr. Jim Puckette. The chair was created and funded by many donors, largely from the Geology Advisory Board.

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Z. Randall Stroope: “There is no location that can compete with a group of on-fire, dedicated people — whether at Carnegie Hall or a small community center. People make the difference.”

28

If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too rnuch space. Professor and conductor Z. Randall Stroope’s edge is still a crowded place that includes conducting at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, directing music for Mass at the Vatican and at music festivals across the U.S. There’s also room on the edge for publishing more than 100 musical works that have sold millions of copies, developing a music-conducting computer software and directing international music festivals. “I am honored to be able to darken the door of many of the great performance venues of the country, but ultimately what stands out about the experience are the people,” Stroope says. “There is no location that can compete with a group of on-fire, dedicated people — whether at Carnegie Hall or a small community center. People make the difference.” Stroope finds such people at OSU, where as director of choral and vocal studies, he was awarded the Doug and Nickie Burns Endowed Chair in Choral Music.

PHIL SHOCKLEY / UNIVERSITY MARKETING

The chair has allowed Stroope to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding music department, students and the OSU community. It also ensures that the arts aren’t simply pushed aside. “The money has greatly enhanced several areas of performance and research that would not have been possible otherwise,” Stroope says. “As an example, I am working on a new conducting software program with a person at the University of California, Berkeley. I was also able to bring in two international guest artists — one from the Metropolitan Opera in New York — to work with our students this year. Also, conducting playback technology was purchased this year. The incredible generosity of Doug and Nickie Burns has made a deep mark in the lives of so many students and faculty, even in the first year.” Stroope thinks John F. Kennedy’s phrase, “A rising tide lifts all boats,” captures the new funds’ impact on the music department. Students agree. CONTINUES

29

ZRSTROOPE.COM

Stroope lauds OSU’s administration and regents for thinking beyond the current state of academia, moving forward and leading. He also says the leadership is pushing hard to ensure OSU continues as one of the finest universities in the country. Music has been a natural part of the Albuquerque, N.M., native since he was young. His mother was a pianist, and his father sang in church choirs. When Stroope was 8, he began studying piano and later participated in band and other activities. The pilots in Stroope’s musical journey were his piano teacher, who ensured that he saw area performances, and his college piano and composition “Dr. Stroope has made tremendous An American composer, conducteachers. Stroope received a master’s efforts to recruit good musicians and tor, lecturer and world traveler, Stroope degree in music from the University of to publicize events, helping to put OSU is among the most active and decoColorado and a doctorate in musical arts on the map,” says Judith Prenzlow, a rated people in his profession. Stroope from Arizona State University. junior vocal music education major. “He shares his love for music with the world, Stroope is married to Cheryl Stroope, a also helps bring in excellent master-class and most importantly, with OSU. Since vocal music teacher at Stillwater Middle presenters, like (opera singer) Barbara 2000, he has conducted twice a year at School and Stillwater Junior High. The Dever this past semester, which has been New York’s Carnegie Hall. He has also Stroopes have five children, who are scatmore than constructive for all the voice conducted five times in the last four years tered across the U.S., and a sheltie dog students.” during Mass at the Vatican; directed 38 who accompanies them on their advenOSU alumni Doug and Nickie Burns all-state choirs; conducted music festitures and sometimes during class. created the endowment in 2008 to retain vals in 45 states; directed 12 summer Stroope has a distinct, memorable presOSU’s pre-eminent faculty, raise awareinternational music festivals in England, ence and teaching style. His rehearsal ness for the arts and support OSU’s music Germany and Italy; and he has around atmosphere is comfortable, fast-paced department. Their daughter, Whitney 125 published works that have sold and humorous, his students say, although Burns, sang in the choral program, so millions of copies. he has extremely high expectations. His this endowment symbolizes the Burns’ This fall will mark the beginning of ultimate priority is musicality instead of personal connection to the department, Stroope’s sixth year at OSU. While he absolute accuracy, according to Prenzlow. which makes the award and the endowhas guest conducted at renowned venues His high standards have helped many ment that much more important to and worked with some stellar conducstudents to grow personally and as Stroope. The Burnses initially donated tors and performers, Stroope believes performers. $250,000, which was matched by T. that OSU is an unbeatable place. Among “Though he’s really famous within the Boone Pickens’ chair commitment and other features, Stroope pointed out the choral community worldwide, he’s still then by the Oklahoma State Regents for family-like atmosphere, a commitment very personable,” says Renae Perry, a Higher Education, bringing the endowto excellence, opportunities for faculty senior vocal music education major. “His ment’s impact to $1 million. to accomplish great things and the active support made me believe in myself as a ownership and pride the community has musician.” with OSU. Shelby Holcomb

30 COLLEQE2!:

ARTS AND SCIENCES

PHOTO / JAMIE HADWIN

31 Learning the Wide World of Sports Media camp aims to turn fans into journalists

ALL OF THE GROWTH AND ATTENTION TO OSU ATHLETICS ARE GREAT FROM AN ATHLETIC RECRUITING PERSPECTIVE. PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW, HOWEVER, THAT THE OSU SCHOOL OF MEDIA AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS IS PULLING ITS WEIGHT IN THE SPORTS WORLD BY RECRUITING TOP STUDENTS THROUGH ITS ANNUAL SPORTS MEDIA CAMP. CONTINUES

PHOTO / JAMIE HADWIN

Since 2007, the OSU sports media Adam Hildebrandt, a 2012 sports camp has allowed high school students to media graduate, was one of those first get hands-on experience in sports broad- eight campers at the first OSU sports media camp. He attended the camp twice casting and journalism. Many of these before coming to OSU as a freshman in campers later return to OSU as students the sports media program. in its sports media program. Hildebrandt now works for a group Dave Hunziker, or as many know him, of media stations in Moberly, Mo., doing “The Voice of the Cowboys,” has been play-by-play and analysis for local sports the camp’s director since it began. He teams as well as contributing to the daily acknowledges the impact the camp has news programming. had on the sports media program. “Everything that I’m doing now was “A high percentage of the best students in our program have been to this camp,” born from this camp,” says Hildebrandt. Hunziker says. “This has been a tremen- “All the things I learned at the camps I use in some form of my work. The amount dous recruiting tool.” of well-rounded preparation you get OSU began offering its sports media from the camp I don’t think you’ll find degree in 2006, and members of the sports media faculty decided they needed anywhere else.” The sports media camp gives campto hit the ground running on recruitment. The following year, they held the first ers the opportunity to experience multisports media camp. ple aspects of the sports media industry. The camp hosted eight campers its first John McGuire, OSU sports media profesyear and was a great learning opportusor and camp faculty member, says one of the camp’s goals is to turn sports fans nity for both campers and faculty. The camper limit usually hovers around into sports journalists. 18-20, but this year, the camp expanded its roster to 24.

32

“You’ve got to make the progression from being just a sports fan to being somebody that understands what’s involved in reporting, and writing, and telling a story,” McGuire says. “And these concepts are introduced to students at this camp.” McGuire and Hunziker, with their combined professional and academic experience in broadcast and play-by-play calling, teach the campers how to be “on the air.” They work on vocal projection and conversational skills, vocabulary and research in sports broadcasting. The campers take the skills they develop to record podcasts, do on-camera stand ups and conduct play-by-play coverage. One of the camp’s highlights involves a trip to a minor-league ballgame, where the campers sit in a press box and record live play-by-play coverage. This year, the campers called an Oklahoma Redhawks game in which the Redhawks made an explosive sixth-inning rally, helping them defeat the Omaha Stormchasers 8-5.

COLLEQE2!:

ARTS AND SCIENCES

BOTH PHOTOS / JAMIE HADWIN

While the baseball game is perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the camp, the faculty, counselors and previous campers stress enough how the camp develops important journalism skills. That’s where Ray Murray steps up to the plate. Murray, an OSU sports media professor, works with the campers on print stories and instructs them how do research in order to be prepared to ask the tough questions. The campers put their research to the test at a mock press conference with an OSU coach or athlete. In the past, campers have held “press conferences” with OSU football head coach Mike Gundy, OSU women’s basketball head coach Kurt Budke and former OSU golfer turned pro, Chris Tidland. Murray says the camp helps end misperceptions that a career in the industry involves sitting around watching ESPN’s SportsCenter and eating hot dogs at the ballpark by exposing campers to many sides of the sports media industry. “In addition to writing talent, you have to research,” says Murray. “It’s highly competitive. You have to know what you’re talking about. You have to ask the tough questions, and you’ve got to be observant.”

Nathan Ruiz, a sports media sophomore from Sparks, Nev., attended the camp the year they held a press conference with Tidland. Murray says Ruiz’s story was so good that it ended up running on the front page of the OSU student newspaper, The Daily O’Collegian. With OSU offering one of the few sports media degrees in the country, Ruiz already had a strong desire to attend OSU, and the camp was an added bonus. He says that getting to experience a little taste of college life is a great way to draw students to the program. “Being on OSU’s campus makes you fall in love with it,” Ruiz says. “I did feel a little more prepared going into my freshman year simply because of being at the sports media camp. It benefited me during my first year and will keep benefitting me over the next three years.” It’s a great time to be a sports media student at OSU, as Ruiz found out this year. He’s an avid baseball fan and as a sportswriter for the O’Colly, was able to cover OSU’s baseball team as they made their run for the College World Series, which came up short at the super regionals.

OStateTV, a digital media network that showcases OSU-related videos, launched two years ago. OStateTV will serve as a laboratory for OSU School of Media and Strategic Communications students, who will provide content, including a regular student-produced sports show. Orange Power Studios, which produces original and exclusive content for the OSU athletics department and assists in production efforts with Cowboy Sports Properties and Fox Sports Net, is making its debut this fall. The OSU sports media camp and its state-of-the-art training resources are designed to give a hands-on experience to those students looking to be successful in the sports media and broadcasting industry, and it’s hard to argue with the camp’s results. “Every one of those kids won some type of award while they were in college,” McGuire says. “So I don’t know if there’s cause and effect there, but there you go.”

Jamie Hadwin

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Campers at the 2014 version of the OSU sports media camp gather outside the Paul Miller Building.

PHOTO / MICHAEL LINDBLAD

Sharmily Khanam presented her work on an antibiotic-resistant bacteria to a general audience in the Three-Minute Thesis Competition .

GARY LAWSON / UNIVERSITY MARKETING

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Three Minutes to Win It OSU Ph.D. student strives to shed light on her research STORY BY Jamie Hadwin

the physiological properties of the bacte“I even presented in front of my daughResearching calcium-induced antibiotic resistance on Pseudomonas aerugiria. Khanam and her team study the link ter; she is a 4-year-old,” Khanam says. “I nosa: Imagine saying that five times fast. between calcium and the bacteria’s antibi- tried to just figure out whether they are Microbiology and molecular genetics otic resistance. able to at least follow what I’m doing. I’m trying to see whether it makes any doctorate student Sharmily Khanam did JOURNEY TO OSU sense to them or not.” almost just that. Khanam received her master’s degree Khanam frequently speaks at sympoOn April 10, Khanam gave a presentain molecular medical biology from the siums and conferences about her research, tion over this research in three minutes or University of Knottingham in England. so she wasn’t nervous about speaking in less, with the use of only one visual slide, She visited the United States for the first and to an audience with no background front of an audience. She was nervous time when her husband came to OSU for in the field of microbiology. that she wouldn’t be able to get her his doctoral work in theoretical physKhanam’s presentation, representing message across to the 3MT audience. ics. She felt at home in Oklahoma, and its the College of Arts & Sciences, was one “I’m presenting something that I’m geography and friendly people reminded of many in Oklahoma State University’s working for, and I’m so attached to it,” her of her home in Bangladesh, but second annual Three-Minute Thesis Khanam says. “I’m coming from a differStillwater also had something else to offer. (3MT) Competition, sponsored by ent language background, so that makes “I looked at OSU for my research Halliburton. me very conscious. Maybe they won’t because I wanted to work on bacterial Khanam says random conversations be able to understand it, and then that pathogenesis,” Khanam says. “I found about her work inspired her to take on would be the reason they would not really good researchers here in the microthis challenge to explain such a technical appreciate it.” biology department, and Dr. Patrauchan subject to people unfamiliar with it. BACTERIAL-FILLED FUTURE is, of course, one of them.” “Whenever I am talking to general Dr. Marianna Patrauchan is Khanam’s Although Khanam did not place at the people, when they hear about me workadviser and heads the research on the competition, she knows her research is ing on antibiotic resistance, they are very effect of calcium on P. aeruginosa. In important and is worth appreciating, and curious,” she says. “It’s a daily-life issue. addition to providing guidance and is not in the field of microbiology for I can at least deliver the message; that this knowledge in bacterial research, she also the accolades. She describes working on is how it works, and we are trying to get offered Khanam some powerful advice on bacterial pathogenesis as her “aim in life.” better ways to treat (bacterial) infections.” her presentation. She loves the passion of the academic THE BACTERIA BEHIND IT ALL “She told me … talk about what setting but is not opposed to doing we work for … what is our passion,” research at a private company or instiPseudomonas aeruginosa is an Khanam says. “Then I started working tute. As long as the research is “challengextremely antibiotic-resistant bacterial on it in a way so I can actually deliver the ing” and “adventurous,” she says she pathogen that can cause severe or even message in a more meaningful way.” would accept the opportunity to work fatal infections. Khanam says that most fatalities with it occur due to the adaptive with different researchers in a variety of PREPARING FOR nature of the bacteria. environments. THE COMPETITION Research found that in the lungs of “Research is more like a philosoKhanam used her academic conneccystic fibrosis patients, where P. aerugiphy,” Khanam says. “The more mentors, tions to give her presentation in front of diverse mentors I get, the richer my nosa infections are very severe, elevated as many people she could get to listen as philosophy of research would be.” levels of calcium significantly influence she prepared for the 3MT Competition.

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2014 COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Top Ten Seniors

More than 175 scholarships and awards were recognized at the 2014 OSU College of Arts & Sciences awards banquet. Among those awards were the college’s Top 10 Seniors, who were honored for their academic excellence and campus and community involvement. Standing with A&S Dean Bret Danilowicz, they are (from top left): Michelle Danser, Kristi Triplett, Kenzie Wahl, Lucy Bates, Haydon Vosburgh, Baylee Butler, (from bottom left): Hope Headrick, Anneliese Krull, Anna Marie Baroni, and Sammi Hembree.

2014 ARMY ROTC

Spring Awards Ceremony

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ARTS AND SCIENCES

COURTESY OSU ARMY ROTC

The 2014 Army ROTC Spring Awards Ceremony presented awards and scholarships to its cadets and program supporters on April 23. From left at the ceremony are cadets Anthony Molinar, Amber Evans, Moriah Wallace and David Taylor.

M E D I C A L COW B OYS TREAT SCHOLARSHIP NEED When the OSU Medical Cowboys program was established in 2007, Dr. Barry Pollard not only saw an opportunity to help pre-med students financially but also to create a network of medical professionals who shared his passion for Oklahoma State University. Entering its seventh year, the program is playing out that vision. One of the first recipients of the scholarship was Kayeleigh Stallings, who is entering her third year at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center after graduating from OSU in 2012 with a degree in biological sciences. She was a standout high-school student who flourished at OSU, thanks in large part to financial flexibility from the scholarship. “If I hadn’t had the scholarship, I would have had to get a part-time job and that would have prevented me from doing all the extracurricular activities I valued so much,” she said. The extra-curricular activities were critical in preparing her for medical school, as was her flawless 4.0 grade point average. She served as an active member of the College of Arts & Sciences Student Council, led the college’s peer mentorship program for two years, and worked closely with A&S faculty. She was also heavily involved in Greek life at OSU and, during her senior year, worked in a microbiology lab — something she did not expect to be able to do as an undergrad. Best yet, the scholarship put her in contact with the Medical Cowboys committee, including regular correspondence with Pollard, who heads the program. Like Stallings, Pollard graduated from OSU. He has excelled as a neurosurgeon in Enid, Okla., and created the Medical Cowboys program with the

OSU Foundation to raise awareness of OSU’s role in developing medical professionals. “Primarily we’re looking for students who have a desire to be in the field of medicine and understand the devotion it takes to dedicate their lives to that,” Pollard said. Several scholarships are available each year, with some taking into account financial need and others targeting a specific area of the state. The latter is designed to reach what Pollard considers a critical audience in Oklahoma. “We need to recruit from rural areas as those students are more likely to go back to those areas to practice medicine,” he said. The Medical Cowboys program continues to grow and still has room to expand. Pollard, having seen the impact of pooling resources, notes ways interested parties can contribute: through the general fund, the annual giving program, and by taking advantage of available matching funds. A recent class of unofficial “medical cowboys” went in together on a donation. “As a group, we try to help anyone who wants to contribute,” Pollard said. It is the “group” that gives Medical Cowboys its power. Whether pooling funding to create significant scholarships or creating a network of OSU-educated medical professionals, Pollard and the OSU Foundation have blazed a trail for future Medical Cowboys. BY BR I AN PETROTTA

Oklahoma State University College of Arts & Sciences 201 Life Sciences East Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-3015

NO N- P ROF IT O R G ANIZAT ION U.S . P O S TAGE P A I D S T I L LWAT E R , OK P ER M I T N O. 1 9 1

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