Oklahoma Memorial Union hummed with pep-rally energy September 12 as spirit squads led fans through a rousing rendition of “Boomer Sooner,” pumped up by members of The Pride of Oklahoma marching band. Decorated with balloons and banners, Beaird Lounge was filled to overflowing as OU President David L. Boren made his way to the podium. The event, a...

A $500-million campaign on its 125th anniversary will determine the future of the University of Oklahoma and will take strong leadership, diverse experience and personal commitment to the institution. OU President David Boren found such qualifications and more in campaign co-chairs Jim Day and Bonnie Kennedy.

Jim Day, of Sugar Land, Texas,...

“I am pleased to inform you that you have been awarded the Mary Lester Scholarship.”

When Sheyda Zakerion first received the letter notifying her that she was named a Mary Lester Scholar, she could not believe her eyes.

“This scholarship is one of the greatest gifts I have been given,” said Zakerion, a social work and sociology se...

It’s a hard fact: Paying off student debt is easier for some majors than others. One goal of the Live On, University campaign is to raise $3 million for an endowment dedicated to scholarship support for students in the bachelor’s and master’s programs in social work, both on the Norman campus and at the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center.

The nee...

Spaces that blur the distinction between work and play are becoming increasingly common in a corporate setting and for good reason. Great ideas are often discovered in a communal environment while collaborating with peers. At the University of Oklahoma, this notion is shaping a new approach to a familiar concept in college living—the residential c...

Aarol Parks was looking for an experience of a lifetime in college, and she found it on the OU campus in Arezzo, Italy. The human resource management and marketing junior spent a month at the University of Oklahoma’s Signature Study Abroad Program. Being able to participate in a global learning experience opened her eyes.

“Through both my...

The way we build the world around us—from the designs of buildings to the dispersal of park space, the scale of intersections, or the density of street trees—has a profound influence on our lives. Studies have shown that aspects of the built environment affect our mood, influence our friendships, inform how customers perceive our businesses, and di...

The Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy is already home to a world-class interdisciplinary program that translates academic research into key private-sector technology. Imagine, though, if there were specific, advanced research facilities dedicated to energy technology and entrepreneurship. That’s exactly what OU President David L. Boren imagin...

In his 2008 critically acclaimed book, A Letter to America, OU President David Boren describes a crisis in American political life, manifesting itself in profound cynicism, bitter partisanship and public apathy. The cause, he believes, is rooted in a growing ignorance about American constitutional history.

‘‘America today is seriously hamp...

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art on the University of Oklahoma campus has been the fortunate recipient of no less than six exceptional collections in the past 15 years—from Impressionist masterpieces to contemporary Native American works, yet in some ways, the museum’s work has just begun. Many people believe that once a museum acquires a work of a...

The Presidential Teaching Fellows program in the Joe C. and Carole Kerr McClendon Honors College is designed to bring together great teachers from across campus and highly motivated students in a small classroom setting. The program is modeled after an initiative established by University of Oklahoma President David Boren in 1994 as a merit-based...

Comfier seats, new elevators and escalators, and dozens of more restrooms are just a few of the amenities that could be awaiting Sooner fans when the renovated Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium opens for its first home game as early as 2016. Most startling among the proposed changes, the south end zone will be enclosed to form a continuous b...

A $1 million grant to OU from the Sarkeys Foundation will support two important programs at the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center.  Half of the gift will support efforts to recruit established scientists, who will bring strong National Cancer Institute-funded research programs to the Stephenson Cancer Center. The other half will create an...

Jon and Cathryn Withrow of Norman have made a $1 million endowed gift to the College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Scholars Program, making it possible for all students in the program to study abroad during their years at OU.

Mr. and Mrs. Withrow’s gift will fund international travel scholarships for 20 Leadership Scholars annually. “The...

An estate gift from 1954 University of Oklahoma alumnus Logan Wickcliffe “Wick” Cary Jr. will provide $11 million in support for a variety of programs and endowed professorships at his alma mater.

Cary’s estate gift will provide $3.5 million to OU Athletics, with $2 million being used to complete the indoor rowing facility, and $1.5 milli...

Jared Glass had already asked the OU alumnus to consider making a gift when the man admitted that he had lost almost everything he owned just days earlier in the May 21, 2013, Moore tornado.

“We stopped right then and there,” said Glass, who is among 60 students calling alumni each year on behalf of OU Sooner Outreach, one of the Universit...

No one ever said that teachers go into the education profession to get rich. But a new program at the University of Oklahoma Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education might ensure that they don’t graduate saddled by debt.

The college’s new Debt Forgiveness Program addresses the reality that half of OU’s graduates leave with as much as $21,00...

he University of Oklahoma has received a grant from the Schusterman Family Foundation to elevate its existing Schusterman Program in Judaic and Israel Studies into a full-fledged center to be housed in the Department of History. The new center will promote exemplary teaching and scholarship about Jewish history, thought and culture as well as moder...

February is not an ideal time for Oklahoma golfers—ice on the fairways, wind chill below par. As an antidote to the winter blues, the OU Jimmie Austin Golf Club offers refuge in the desert, Palm Desert that is, where Sooners can join Bob

Stoops, Joe Washington or any number of University of Oklahoma celebrities for sun, sport and camarade...

A $40,000 gift from the Kirkpatrick Foundation will fund a catalog of the works of Oscar Brousse Jacobson to accompany an exhibition by the artist and former director of the School of Art to commemorate the centennial of his appointment to the University of Oklahoma. The retrospective at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art will be the most comprehensi...

The University of Oklahoma Class of 2014 will celebrate their time at OU by establishing a scholarship to be awarded to future generations of Sooners. The gifts raised from the Class of 2014 will be matched by funding from the OU Alumni Association to establish an endowed scholarship to be awarded annually to an incoming freshman. Class of 2014 me...

Like many parents, Arts and Sciences Dean Kelly Damphousse and his wife, Beth, wanted to find the perfect graduation gift for their daughter Kayleigh when she graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May with a degree in sociology. They wanted the gift to be something that would celebrate her accomplishments over the past four years and the tra...

The OU Club of Houston is celebrating its 50th anniversary by paving the way for a new generation of Sooners. The club recently established an endowed scholarship fund with a $150,000 gift to OU. It is believed to be one of only a handful of OU endowed scholarships established by an alumni organization.

“The awarding of scholarships to out...

Almost since their first meeting at a Ponca City elementary school, Tom and Nancy Scofield Hester have been partners in life’s dance, providing support for each other throughout school, college, careers and the joys of raising a family.

The latest gift from the Naples, Florida, couple celebrates the give-and-take relationship of partners...