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Raising the barre: Teaching dance at OSU

Wed, Jan 30, 2019

Dance has been Leslie J. Miller’s passion from a very young age. “I got really serious about dance when I was about 7 years old,” she said. Originally from south central Pennsylvania, she began her training at the Hanover School of Ballet and has had opportunities to perform throughout Europe, China and several venues in the U.S. Before joining the faculty at OSU, Miller lived in Manhattan as the Education Programs and Dance China NY Manager; an adjunct instructor of dance at Nassau Community College; and a dance teacher throughout the Tri-State area.

College of Arts and Sciences

CAS senior represents OSU as Spirit Rider

Wed, Jan 23, 2019

Madeline McClaran is a political science senior minoring in religion and sociology – but she’s doing much more than that. McClaran represents both the university and specifically the College of Arts and Sciences as this year’s Oklahoma State University Spirit Rider. After getting involved with OSU Rodeo early on, she was selected for this honor following last year’s rider, Elise Wade.

College of Arts and Sciences

Kensinger finds organizational involvement helpful for academic success

Wed, Jan 16, 2019

Zachary Kensinger of Enid, Oklahoma, really pushed himself to get involved on campus from day one. He started with the Arts and Sciences Freshman Forum, which is now called Freshman Student Council, before joining a plethora of other organizations. “I have actually learned that I do better academically being busy,” Kensinger said. “I think a lot of people actually learn that because if you have a lot of free time, you probably aren't doing anything productive.”

College of Arts and Sciences

Busey: OSU professor 'instrumental' in my success

Wed, Jan 09, 2019

Gary Busey was only one credit away from graduation when his music drove him from Oklahoma State University to California, yet he never forgot the impact that OSU left on him. Busey accepted a football scholarship from Kansas State College of Pittsburg, now known as Pittsburg State University, but transferred to OSU after a knee injury. In Stillwater, he studied theatre under Vivia Locke, who set him on a new path. Locke was the legendary head of the Department of Theatre, and the 600-seat Vivia Locke Theatre inside the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts still bears her name more than three decades after she died. “My teacher, Vivia Nail Locke, was instrumental in giving me the platform to stand on to do the motion picture business with power,” he said.

College of Arts and Sciences

Team awarded $2.9M to study families of children born with a DSD

Thu, Jan 03, 2019

Larry Mullins is passionate about helping people. That’s guided his career as a clinical psychologist, professor and researcher. The Vaughn Vennerberg II Chair of Psychology, Regents Professor and inaugural director of the Center for Pediatric Psychology at Oklahoma State University focuses his research on chronic health conditions in children. His mission is to find best practices for dealing with many conditions, from such high-profile illnesses as cancer to lesser-known chronic health conditions. Consequently, he has become one of the nation’s leading scholars on disorders of sexual development. That’s why the National Institutes of Health recently awarded Mullins and his collaborators $2.9 million to fund the second half of a 10-year study on families of children born with a DSD.

College of Arts and Sciences

Winburn honors late brother through OSU experiences

Wed, Dec 19, 2018

Sarah Winburn of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, earned a prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, which is awarded to 1,000 of the most brilliant minority students across America each year. The Gates Foundation-funded program covers all expenses, from tuition to room and board. Winburn utilized the scholarship to attend New York University, choosing to return to the city where she was born and raised, before tragedy brought her back to Oklahoma. Her brother, Jerry, was a year older than Winburn. He had been a student at Oklahoma State University for two short weeks before a fatal car accident. The proud member of the U.S. Army died at 19.

College of Arts and Sciences

CAS faculty, staff honored at University Awards Convocation

Mon, Dec 17, 2018

Z. Randall Stroope received the Eminent Faculty Award, “the highest honor given to a faculty member who has made sustained contributions to scholarly creative activity, instruction and service, bringing honor and recognition to the university,” during the University Awards Convocation on Dec. 4. Stroope is the Greenwood School of Music’s director of choral and vocal studies, and holds the Doug and Nickie Burns Endowed Chair in Music. He has previously received the Regents Distinguished Research Award and the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Mentor Award, as well being voted Outstanding Faculty Member of the College by the Greek Councils at OSU.

College of Arts and Sciences

Ghana native loves Stillwater and study-abroad experience

Wed, Dec 12, 2018

Josie Akosa grew up more than 6,000 miles from Oklahoma State University in the West African nation of Ghana. Her father—a civil engineer—and her mother—the head of the equivalent of a community college—pushed their five children to aim high, which is how Akosa wound up in OSU’s Department of Statistics as a Ph.D. candidate. “My dad always said, ‘I know I can give you money to do whatever you want, but I would rather invest in your education,’” said Akosa, who graduated Dec. 14. “I think he has done that pretty well.”

College of Arts and Sciences

CAS alumnus creates career connecting through art

Wed, Dec 05, 2018

Jason Wallace was in kindergarten when he won his first art contest. Since then, his artistic journey has led him through a variety of majors, media and careers, leading to his current position as a graphic designer at the College of Arts and Sciences. “We moved around a lot when I was a child, so I don’t feel like I’m from any one place,” Wallace said. “Art and photography stayed with me through every move. When I was a child, my mother sent me and my brothers to keep my father, a high school teacher, company in the high school darkroom. At seven years old, I watched a photo come to life on a blank page. That’s magic, and it stuck with me forever.”

College of Arts and Sciences

The Turn: Poetry provides a non-traditional pathway

Wed, Nov 28, 2018

Shanley Wells-Rau, a non-traditional student in the Oklahoma State University master of fine arts poetry program, applied to graduate school after a 20-year corporate career. “This is the degree I have always wanted,” she said. “When I was younger, I could not figure out a pathway to poetry. It did not fit with a viable career plan.”  Wells-Rau has always been a poet, and writing has been an integral part of her life.

College of Arts and Sciences

Political Science class hosts mock election for elementary students

Wed, Nov 14, 2018

Jeanette Mendez fondly remembers voting in mock elections while she was in elementary school. In 2011, when she was head of the OSU Department of Political Science, she was disappointed to learn that her children, Gwendolyn and Elias, would not have that experience at Stillwater’s Sangre Ridge Elementary School. So, she decided to do something about it. She reached out to the school, which gladly granted permission for one of Mendez’s classes to teach the children about elections, including facilitating a mock vote.

College of Arts and Sciences

CAS students win money in Three Minute Thesis competitions

Wed, Nov 14, 2018

Three College of Arts and Sciences students combined to earn $1,400 between the CAS and Oklahoma State University Three Minute Thesis competitions over the past few weeks.

College of Arts and Sciences