Outcomes of Oklahoma City University Alumni

OU TC OM ES OKLAHOMA CIT Y UNIVERSIT Y R E A DY F O R T H E WO R L D

O K L A HO MA CIT Y UNIV E R S IT Y G R A D UA T E S

FI ND S U CCE S S On Broadway and Wall Street, in boardrooms and hospitals, behind pulpits and cameras, OCU graduates excel. They are leaders in their professions and enrich their communities.

GE T S TA RT E D O N BE C O MI N G A N

OC U S U C C E S S S TORY!

O P POR TU NITY

DEDICATED PR O FE S S O R S

Oklahoma City University students take advantage of hundreds of internships and partnerships with a variety of companies and organizations.

Oklahoma City University professors count your success as their own.

Disney Entertainment

Oklahoma Historical Society

Amazon

Sunbeam Family Services

OKC All Sports Association

Utah Festival Opera Co.

National Science Foundation

Box Talent

Chesapeake Energy

KWTV News 9

Ackerman McQueen

Manhattan Construction Co.

Ernst & Young

National Institute for Health

Oklahoma State Senate

Oklahoma City Thunder

Target Corporation

Oklahoma City Civic Center

Integris Health

Oklahoma Children’s Theatre

Farmers Insurance

Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre

Walt Disney World

Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma

Devon Energy

Oklahoma City Ballet

Sonic Corporation

and many more...

“ “

I tell my students that I am their teacher forever and if they ever need anything, I’m just a phone call away. Soon, though, a rather wonderful and sweet switch occurs wherein I am no longer the teacher, but rather the student. Hundreds and hundreds of eyes, ears, hearts, and minds send back their stories and perspectives of the art and industry that connected us in the first place. It is the simple, yet significant, cycle of teaching.”

Professor David Herendeen Bass School of Music It is always exciting to learn about our students’ successes as they get accepted into the graduate schools of their choice, publish scientific papers, or begin their chosen careers. It is even more gratifying to hear students say that what they valued most about the time they spent here at OCU is how the professors truly cared about them as individuals, and how we helped them develop into prepared and caring adults.”

Professor Helen Gaudin Petree College of Arts & Sciences

CAREER S E RV I C E S If you want to go beyond the basics in your search for the right internship or career opportunity... the OCU Career Services Staff is ready and willing to assist. Career Services provides a wide range of resources including individual career counseling, resume and personal statement critiques, career seminars, on-campus interviewing, internship services, employer information sessions, job fairs, on-campus jobs, and work-study positions. OCU students and alumni can register for the online database where you can search for jobs, internships, alumni mentors, employers, and Career Services events. Find out more at okcu.edu/careers.

YO U CA N

S T U DY A B R OA D Visit okcu.abroadoffice.net to learn more about studying abroad.

“

Being in Argentina was a life-changing experience. I was involved in a nursing program called Child Family Health International (CFHI) in the city of Córdoba. It was a program where not only would we take Spanish classes, but we also spent time in the hospital working alongside nurses and doctors. I definitely gained a lot more hands-on experience as a nursing student while I was there. I was also able to get to know a whole different culture and a whole different world. It was one experience in life that I will never forget and I was so glad that I was able to do it.”

Deborah Moaning Nursing ‘16

“

While deciding where to study abroad, I began by looking into programs in Spanish speaking countries, because the opportunity to learn a language by immersion was very intriguing to me.

I was really drawn to Spain, and as the fourth largest city in Spain, I knew that Seville would be big enough to offer a wide range of opportunities, yet small enough to still offer an authentic, local experience. During my four months in Seville, I took classes at a local university while living with a wonderful host family. My host family made me feel so welcome and helped me to grow, learn, and experience as much as a could while I was there.

While I was abroad, I visited Paris, France; Lagos, Portugal; Fez, Morocco, and several cities and towns within Spain. While I was in Seville, I did touristy things and saw all of the sites, but I really made an effort to experience as many elements of everyday life as I possibly could. I worked as a volunteer teaching English at a local elementary school, which turned out to be my favorite part of each week. I went out

to eat with local Spanish students frequently as part of a language-exchange program and got to know what being Spanish meant to them. I loved all of the places I got to go and historic things I got to experience, but my favorite experiences were the ones that felt normal and authentic.

The day I left to go to Spain was without a doubt the most terrifying, nervewracking day of my entire life. Despite the nerves and fears, I made myself get on that plane, and it was the best decision I have ever made. I moved to a new country that spoke a different language where I knew absolutely no one, and I survived. But I didn’t just survive; I thrived. And if I can do that, I can do anything!

This is something that I posted on Facebook the night before I left Seville.

I think it perfectly describes what I learned from my experience.

“Over the last four months, I got to go to a lot of really incredible places. I saw the monuments, the art, ate the food, and

explored the streets. And every place and every moment of that was amazing, but the most amazing part was not the museums or the monuments - it was the opportunity to experience Seville. I was able to experience regular, everyday life. Maybe that doesn’t have the glitz and glamour that the traveling does, but from these everyday experiences I discovered how much we all have to learn from each other. How important it is to be open-minded. My cultural way of doing things is just one way, not the “right way”, because there’s really no such thing as the “right way”. Even with such diversity in the world, people are really very much the same when you get down to the core of who we are. One of the best pieces of advice I received before I went was to, “cultivate the habit of listening and observing, rather than merely seeing or hearing.” It is so important that we get out of our own ways and open ourselves to all that the world has to offer.

Whether it’s from someone half a world away or our neighbors, we have so much to learn from one another if we allow ourselves to do so. I hope I never stop learning.”

Kelsey Ricks Political Science ‘14

Scan to learn more about Deborah’s experience abroad.

WHEREVER T H EY G O, OC U GR A D U A TE S

Tori Schelling

BPA Dance Performance ‘10

FIND SUC C ESS

Jess Palu

Here are a few examples...

American Dance and Arts Management has produced 47 Rockettes.

BPA Dance Performance ‘12 Schelling and Palu are Radio City Rockettes. The Ann Lacy School of

Chris Harrison

BA Mass Communications ‘93

Alex Enterline

A television host and previously a sports reporter, Harrison is the

BFA Acting ‘14

After graduating in 2014, Enterline was cast to play the lead role in the first national tour of “Nice Work If

current host of the ABC reality television dating show, “The Bachelor” (since 2002), and its spin-offs, “The Bachelorette” (since 2003), and “Bachelor Pad” (in 2010).

You Can Get It”.

Marcel Wilson

BPA Dance Performance ‘98 Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Kevin Wilson

BPA Dance Performance ‘98 The Wilson brothers’ choreographic

DeEtta Cravens

style is a fusion of jazz,

BA Political Science, BA Philosophy, BA Spanish ‘12

contemporary, hip-hop, and musical

Cravens was a triple major in political science, philosophy and Spanish

theatre. They have performed with

at OCU. She earned a Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to

artists such as Madonna, Beyonce,

teach English in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She then received the Charles

Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz,

B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship and is attending

Mandy Moore, and Mary J Blige. For the past three seasons, Kevin Wilson

the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

has been associate choreographer on the hit TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” and was associate choreographer for the 2010 Miss

Kristin Chenoweth

BM Music Theatre ‘91, MM Opera Performance ‘93 Chenoweth is a singer and

USA pageant. The Wilsons have also created their own entertainment company, Mister Wilson Entertainment.

actress, star of the 2003 Broadway production of “Wicked” and Tony Award winner for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”. She has appeared in many television shows, including “Glee”, “The West

Kelly Hanlon BSN Nursing ‘08

Hanlon is currently a nurse for The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center on the pediatric hematology and oncology unit.

Wing”, “The Good Wife”, “Sesame Street”, and a starring role in “Pushing Daisies”—for which she won a

Valene Bartmess

2009 Emmy Award. Her movie credits include “RV”, “Deck the Halls”,

BS Nursing ‘95

“Bewitched”, “Four Christmases”, and “You Again”.

Bartmess is the director of Public Health for the OKC Indian Clinic.

“

Completing a degree in Humanities has allowed me to see a broad and varied future for myself. By studying across multiple fields, I feel like I can do nearly anything.”

Lyne Lewis BA Humanities, ‘12

O C U BY T H E

N U MB E RS 70+ 100% 100% 95% 90% 100+ 47

alumni have choreographed, managed, or performed in Broadway musicals acceptance rate for grad school for psychology students of Kramer School of Nursing grads find employment or enter grad school upon graduation of Meinders School of Business students are employed or go on to graduate school upon graduation of OCU science students are accepted into their professional school of choice employers visit OCU every year to recruit graduates OCU has produced more Radio City Rockettes than any other college or university in the world

Buzz Williams

Jennifer Fletcher

BS Kinesiology ‘94

BME Instrumental Performance ‘07 Williams is the coach of the Virginia

Fletcher was named Purcell Junior High Teacher of the Year and Purcell

Tech Hokies men’s basketball team.

Public Schools District Teacher of the Year for 2011 and 2012. She is a junior and senior high band director and teaches fifth-grade music.

Dr. Christian H. Pilgrim BS Biology ‘96

Dr. Pilgrim attended Oklahoma City University on a baseball scholarship and now owns his own dental practice in south Oklahoma City.

Heather Sparks

BS Early Childhood Education ‘91, MED Elementary Education ‘97 Sparks, a teacher at Taft Middle School in Oklahoma City, won the

Kelli O’Hara

BM Vocal Performance ‘98

Oklahoma Teacher of the Year in 2008. Three OCU alumni have won

O’Hara is a stage actress, singer,

the state honor since 2006.

and songwriter and is a two-time Tony Nominee for starring roles in

Timothy Long

“The Pajama Game,” opposite Harry

BM Piano ‘90

Connick Jr., and “The Light in the

Long studied piano and violin while at OCU. Long is a former associate

Piazza”. She recently starred in a new musical, “Far From Heaven,”

conductor at the New York City Opera and is a faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Logan Wehling

and will perform in NBC’s live production of Peter Pan in December 2014.

Jeff Riles

BS Finance ‘04

Wehling is the NAL operations controller for Schlumberger Energy.

BS Justice Studies and Pre-Law Political Science ‘09 Riles in an attorney at Phillips Murrah, P.C. in Oklahoma City. He was also recently named president of the OCU Alumni Association.

Ashley Bowen Murphy

BSB Business Administration ‘02, JD Law ‘05

Kami Brokaw Huddleston BA Graphic Design ‘03

Peter Markes

BS Music Education ‘01 Murphy and Huddleston are

Markes earned the 2014 State Teacher of the Year Award. He currently

entrepreneurs who combined their

teaches at Edmond North High School.

business, graphic design, and law degrees to successfully launch The Brides of Oklahoma magazine in

Elizabeth Wythe

2007 and The Brides of North Texas

BS Entertainment Business ‘09

in 2008. Their company is now a

Wythe manages the entire ticketing system for the Minnesota Twins,

multi-media wedding resource that

which also includes the team’s spring training in Florida and major

includes websites, blogs, and a mobile app.

concerts at Target Field.

Armand McCoy

John Riesenberg

BA Mass Communications ‘10

BSB Economics ‘11

A former Student Government

McCoy is the business

Association president, Riesenberg

development director at Trifecta

works as a policy and government

Communications. He served as a

affairs professional at Devon

public information officer for the

Energy. He was named to the

city of Moore in the aftermath of

ionOklahoma’s 2013 30 under 30.

the May 2013 tornado, working photo courtesy of the White House Press Office

daily with CNN, NBC, the BBC, and other major news outlets.

Lyonel Reneau

Tyler Kirk

Reneau is a New York City based actor, singer, dancer, and voiceover artist.

Kirk is an associate pastor at Checotah United Methodist Church

He is currently a student in Matthew Corozine’s Acting Studio and

in Oklahoma.

BFA Acting ‘11

BA Religion ‘10

a Resident Actor for Sanguine Theatre Company. Reneau received a 2014 New York Innovative Theatre nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.

Brittany Sky Stanley (Gibson) BA Religious Education ‘09

Stanley is the editor of Children’s

Cindy Rauh

Resources at the United Methodist

BSN Nursing ‘04

Publishing House in Nashville,

Rauh is vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer

Tennessee.

at Duncan Regional Hospital (DRH).

Tyler Cofer

BS Entertainment Business ‘08 Cofer is the Oklahoma City Thunder game presentation and entertainment coordinator.

largest alumni chapter in

NYC

25,000 alumni worldwide

alumni in all

50 6

states and

countries

S TA Y C O NN ECTE D WITH O C U A L UM N I

The OCU Alumni Association is the ultimate networking tool.

From the corporate offices of Devon Energy in downtown OKC to the bright lights of LA and NYC, there are OCU alumni who have been in your shoes... And they are here to help you every step of the way! Find more information at okcu.edu/alumni.

Devon Energy employees from left to right: John Riesenberg (Economics ‘11), Vicky Murphy (Accounting ‘12), Murod Mamatov (Accounting ‘11), John Richels (CEO at Devon Energy), Paul Poputa-Clean (MBA Information Technology ‘09), Michael Haxton (Business Administration ‘08).

@OKCU

Oklahoma City University

okcu.edu/alumni

o kc u.e d u

2501 N Blackwelder Oklahoma City, OK 73106