Unlimited Education

BY MARKETA SOUCKOVA

Student with Ph.D. goes back to the beginning in mechanical engineering

OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE AND TECHNOLOGY WELCOMES STUDENTS OF ALL AGES AND BACKGROUNDS AND PROVIDES THEM WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND GREAT EDUCATION.

One student is a living testament to the lifelong pursuit of education.

Vaughn E. Berkheiser is an undergraduate mechanical engineering student who was born in 1946 in San Marcos, Texas. In August 1976, he received a doctorate in soil science from Michigan State University. And in 2015, Berkheiser decided to go back to school as a fulltime student.

His journey back to school can be traced back to 2011, when he and his wife moved to Guthrie, Okla., to be closer to family and grandchildren. He went to work as a field geologist and logging analyst for ALS Empirica in Edmond, Okla., preparing mud logs (graphical pictures of drilling parameters plotted on a foot-by-foot scale) for client company geologists.

“The life as a mud logger wasn’t satisfying and didn’t leave too much room for a life outside of work,” says Berkheiser. “I wasn’t happy with this job, even though I enjoyed the oil industry.”

Berkheiser’s wife died in August 2014. Less than six months after that, he lost his job in layoffs due to the oil industry crisis. These occurrences prompted Berkheiser to take care of things he hadn’t had time for before. For one thing, he underwent shoulder surgery.

For another, he reconsidered his future. Outside of school and work, he always built new things and came up with new ideas. A lot of his thinking and talent for building came from his father, who did woodworking for a living. A young Berkheiser often helped his dad and enjoyed it.

“I have a mechanical mind,” says Berkheiser. “And I like to make things. I’d like to be able to make better things and make things better.”

He has always been passionate about mechanical engineering. Even while working on his undergraduate degree at Purdue University, he thought about switching his major to mechanical engineering instead of soil science, but he never did.

In 2015, the time was right. He decided to enroll at Oklahoma State University and pursue a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. It didn’t hurt that his grandson, Hunter Suntken, was also getting his degree in mechanical engineering at OSU.

The transition from work to school hasn’t been easy. Just like every other freshman, Berkheiser had to take the math placement test and his electives. Much has changed since he last attended school, but he praises the help that he gets from the professors, students and the college in general, and he loves his classes.

“CEAT and the professors offer so much help,” say Berkheiser. “At the beginning of the year, I would study at home by myself, and then I realized that I can use the help that is provided to CEAT students, and it takes me half the time now.”

“He is doing great at school,” says Laura Emerson, his college academic counselor. “And he is making a lot of friends among students.” to eit her OKC or Tulsa, and you’ll see the convenience and simplicity of jet service out of Stil lwater Regional Airport with American Airlines.

He plans to graduate in 2019 and get a job in North Central Oklahoma. The fact that he will be past his 70th birthday then doesn’t bother Berkheiser, who believes he still has contributions to make.

“He always says he will work until he dies,” says his grandson, Hunter Suntken.

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