M ES SAG E FR O M
PR ES IDE NT BUR N S H A RGI S
Dear friends, It’s hard to believe we have completed another school year. It has been a remarkable year full of academic success, campus growth, excitement in athletics and countless other campus activities. I want to provide you with this update of the year and future plans. GRADUATION We held nine commencement ceremonies across our five campuses this spring, with around 4,500 students receiving degrees. The commencement speaker at our three undergraduate ceremonies in Stillwater was OSU grad Dr. Tererai Trent, who was awarded an honorary doctorate. She is one of our most amazing and inspiring graduates. A native of Zimbabwe, she overcame tremendous obstacles to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees from OSU. Oprah Winfrey named Dr. Trent her “all-time favorite guest.” She shared the story of her struggle to get an education in her home country and her efforts to provide girls there the same privilege. Her remarks and most of our commencement ceremonies were streamed live and can be found on OStateTV.
Dr. Tererai Trent speaks at OSU’s Spring Commencement.
ENROLLMENT The year started with enrollment across the entire OSU System of more than 36,000 students. The freshman class was the second highest in OSU history and, based on applications and admissions for the fall, we could see another record year.
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A major factor in our enrollment success is the OSU experience. Many students tell us they select OSU after making their first campus visit. Not only is the campus beautiful, but our people are welcoming. Many say, “OSU feels like home.” And for most students, the experience only gets better. A national survey ranked OSU among the “happiest” universities in the U.S. for its student experience and willingness among graduates to “do it all over again.” OSU MEDICAL SCHOOL We took a huge step in securing the future of our osteopathic medicine program with the announcement March 31 of an agreement with Mercy Health System to manage the 249-bed OSU Medical Center in downtown Tulsa. This public-private partnership with the nation’s sixth largest Catholic health care system will allow us to upgrade our facilities, enhance health care delivery and draw upon the expertise and capabilities of an established regional health care system with tremendous scale and scope. RESEARCH OSU conducts innovative research and technology transfer vital to our nation’s future. Our total annual expenditures on research activities are approaching $200 million and our expertise extends to nearly every area of our lives – energy, agriculture, the environment, food, health, national defense, sensors, unmanned aerial systems and much more. As a comprehensive research university, OSU is a leader in enhancing the learning experience with undergraduate research that begins the freshman year. We are committed to investing in the human and physical infrastructure to grow our research activity and serve society even better. Our unmanned aerial systems efforts have received