ALUMN i NOTES

Hermiston Herald, Blue Mountain Eagle and Wallowa County Chieftan. He is a 25year veteran of the journalism industry.

’70

Bill Archer (BBA ’70) this summer had his fourth novel hit the market, “Terminal Mortality.” A fifth work is autobiographical, “My Nine Year Hike with the Marines.” To view and/ or purchase Archer’s work, visit www.lulu. com/spotlight/billarcher.

Commission on Children and Youth, as well as the Oklahoma City Homeless Youth Alliance. She also has been involved with AmeriCorps since 2001.

’92

Joe Siano (MEd ’79) is now associate executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. Siano served as superintendent of Norman Public Schools from 2000 to 2017. He also previously served as an assistant superintendent in Oklahoma City Public Schools and Putnam City Public Schools.

’79

Lt. Col. Keith Varner (BBA ’92) recently retired after more than 30 years of service to the Oklahoma Army National Guard. He served in various leadership and staff positions, including national vice chair of the strength maintenance advisory group. He is an active member of the Society of Human Resources and the Oklahoma City Human Resources Society. He also serves as scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 79, in Edmond.

’92

Steve Bradshaw (BBA ’82) was inaugurated as the 2018 chair of the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce. He has served as the president and CEO of BOK Financial since 2014.

’82

John Shawareb (BA ’92) has joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties as a residential real estate agent in Piedmont, Oklahoma. Earning his real estate license last year, he previously worked as a licensed insurance broker.

’95

Greg Reber (BBA ’83) recently was promoted to senior vice president, chief distribution officer of the life insurance division for Pacific Life. He is now responsible for setting the strategic direction and management for distribution, sales and marketing functions.

’83

Gena Beeson (BAEd ’95) was named 2017-18 Deer Creek School District Teacher of the Year. She has taught at Deer Creek High School for seven years. Prior, she taught at Putnam City North High School for 15 years and Crescent Academy for one year.

’01

Randall Stephenson (BS ’84) was the featured speaker for the 103rd all-university commencement ceremony for Southern Methodist University. He is chair and chief executive officer of AT&T.

’84

Justin Coffelt (BSEd ’01, MEd ’10) has been named chief operating officer for the Edmond Public Schools board of education. He was formerly the director of facilities and district operations. He has worked in education for 15 years, all in Edmond.

’02

Jennifer Griffin (BSEd ’02) was named 2017-18 Teacher of the Year at Spring Creek Elementary in the Deer Creek Public Schools district. Prior to teaching in the Deer Creek district, she taught for five years in Moore Public Schools.

’04

Stacy Jones (BS ’04) has joined Berkshire Hathaway Anderson Properties as a residential real estate sales agent. He has been a real estate investor for two years. Prior, he worked in aircraft maintenance, supervision and engineering capacities at Tinker Air Force Base.

’04

Jacob Winkler, CPA (BS ’04, MBA ’07), was named a 2018 Trailblazer for The Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants. Only 20 CPAs are selected for the honor each year.

’05

April Perry (BA ’05, MEd ’07)in August was named interim associate dean of Western Carolina University’s graduate school.

’06

Kari Hoffhines (BBA ’06) recently was promoted a director with Crowe & Dunlevy. She is a member of the firm’s banking and financial institutions, bankruptcy and creditor’s rights, real estate, and wind and renewable energy practice groups.

’90

Chris Rush (MEd ’90) has been named regional publisher and revenue director of the East Oregonian,

’02

Jacqueline Pereira-McDaniel (BA ’02) has joined Price Lang Consulting as senior project director. She currently serves the Oklahoma

Please send Alumni and In Memory notes to UCO, University Communications, 100 North University Drive, Box 198, Edmond, OK 73034, or email ucomm@uco.edu with “Alumni Note” in the subject line.

’09

Kali Pulliam (BSEd ’09) was named 2017-18 Teacher of the Year for Rose Union Elementary School in the Deer Creek School District. She is a kindergarten teacher.

’11

Jarod Conrady (BS ’11) has been appointed physical security solutions manager at United Systems. He has 20 years of experience in physical security, most recently specializing in proactive video analytics detection and monitoring.

’11

Joy Parduhn (BS ’11) recently joined Heritage Trust Co. as a senior trust associate and office manager. She will maintain the vendor management program and serve as the primary liaison between audit and staff. Prior, she served as chief operations officer/chief compliance officer at an independent registered investment adviser firm.

’12

Heather Zacarias (MEd ’12) was named the new director of elementary education at John Rex Charter School. She has been involved in education for more than two decades, most recently serving as principal of Adams Elementary School in Oklahoma City.

’12

Andrew Akufo (BFA ’12) has joined Healdsburg Center for the Arts as its first executive director. Prior, he served as executive director for the Lea County Commission for the Arts in Hobbs, New Mexico.

Opera’s production of “Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins.” He played the part of Cosme´ McMoon in the Oklahoma City production.

’13

Austin Foust, CPA, (BBA ’13, BS ’13), recently was selected as a 2018 Trailblazer for the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants. Only 20 CPAs are selected for the honor each year.

’17Stephanie Robberson (MS ’17) was named an associate at Stinnett & Associates, a professional advisory firm. She has experience with several systems for use in digital evidence.

FACULTY/STAFF

’14

Mike Johnston (BS ’14) recently joined Edmond Public Schools as district safety coordinator. He will work closely with building principals and school safety committees in the coordination of safety programs. He also serves as a liaison with municipal authorities that include police and fire departments.

’15Shy Griffin (BS ’15) has been promoted to senior associate at BKD LLP. She is a member of the audit and assurance team, serving primarily financial institutions. She also has more than five years of previous experience with an Oklahoma-based community bank.

’16

Joey Harbert (BM ’16) performed in the Painted Sky

Nicole Willard (BA ’92, MA ’94), assistant executive director for the Chambers Library at Central, was appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin as chair of the Archives and Records Commission for the state of Oklahoma. Created in 1947, the commission is part of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and has a five-member statutory board.

Kevin J. Hayes, UCO professor emeritus, has won the George Washington Prize, one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious literary awards, for his book George Washington: A Life in Books. The annual award recognizes the past year’s best written works on the nation’s founding era. He was announced as the winner in May at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Coley, Sunderland, New Hall of Famers

In May, the Oklahoma Athletic Trainers Association inducted Central graduate Brian Coley (BSEd ’90), left, and UCO Athletic Training instructor Ed Sunderland into the association’s hall of fame. Coley is a 1991 graduate of the United Sports Medicine Academy, and he has been a certified and licensed athletic trainer for 26 years. He currently works at Rogers State University and Catoosa High School. Sunderland has worked at UCO since 2007. He has more than 40 years of experience as a certified athletic trainer and is credited with helping to establish Central’s graduate athletic training program, the first in the state.

Athletics, New Famers

In October, the UCO Athletics Hall of Fame inducted six individuals and two teams into its Class of 2018. From left are inductees, Booker T. Washington (BSED ’61), who played basketball for Central from 1959-61; Lisa (Hansen) Tolin (BSEd ’03), who led the Broncho soccer team through a dominating stretch as she played 1999-02; Jim Seward, Central’s men’s basketball coach from 1987-02 with six Lone Star Conference championships; Willie Henderson, a four-year letterman who played on Central’s 1982 national football championship team; Shawn Fleming (BS ’91), a 1989 national championship wrestler on the Bronchos’

1987 and 1989 national championship teams; and Brian Melchiori (BS ’95), a two-time national wrestling champion at 126 pounds. Also inducted into the

Sigma Kappa Reunite, Announce House Expansion

More than 300 alumnae of the UCO chapter of Sigma Kappa sorority gathered in August in the Nigh University Center to mark 60 years on campus. Initiation years of the women spanned from 1959, when the university’s chapter of Pi Kappa Sigma was absorbed into Sigma Kappa, to present.

A $1 million capital campaign was announced to renovate and expand the existing sorority house at 920 N. Chowning Ave. More than $750,000 of the goal was raised during the campaign’s quiet phase. Lynn Gravitt Means (BA ’89, MEd ’91) and Christa Abbott (BS ’05, MEd ’10) are co-chairing the effort.

Stacy McNeiland (BA ’93) emceed the event’s program that featured the chapter’s history, a video, songs, stories and prayer. Tours of the house followed.

Among those present were Sue Craig and Eva Bucke Mears (BSEd ’61), both members of the original 1959 group. Also attending was Kathleen Henry (BA ’72), a 1969 initiate and a 1978 UCO Distinguished Alumni.

Class of 2018 Athletics Hall of Fame were the 1980-81 and 1981-82 wrestling teams, which won back-to-back national championship titles.

Chickering Restored

Thatcher Hall now houses a beautifully restored Chickering piano, circa 1936, that once graced the fellowship area of Murdaugh Hall. The piano was refurbished by the UCO Museum of Residential Life, with special funding from alumnus Dale Reeder, who died in August, said Randal Ice, Ph.D. Ice has shepherded the instrument to its new home. The piano was “quite beat up” after a possible 80 years in Murdaugh, Ice said, but the tiger-burled mahogany now shines, and the ivory keys are complete. Both Murdaugh and Thatcher halls were completed in 1937, during peak Depression years on campus and with funding from the Works

Progress Administration. So, it remains a mystery how such an expensive, quality instrument came to be on campus.

If anyone has additional information, please contact Ice at rdice@uco.edu or call 405-974-2157.

Honoring Recently Retired Faculty

Saba Bahouth, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Information Systems & Operations Management, 29 years of service

Richard Bernard, Ph.D., Professor of History and Dean of the Jackson College of Graduate Studies, 10 years of service

John Bowen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry, 18 years of service

Donna Carlon, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Marketing, 17 years of service

Siegfried Heit, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Humanities and Philosophy, 27 years of service

William Hickman, J.D., Professor, Department of Mass Communication, 21 years of service

Kurt Hochenauer, Ph.D., Professor, Department of English, 25 years of service

Donna Kearns, Ed.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, 25 years of service

Vaidya Sivarama Krishnan, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Finance, 11 years of service

Linda Steele, Ph.D., Professor, Department of English, 23 years of service

Oklahoma’s 2019 Teacher of the Year, UCO Leadership Student

Oklahoma’s 2019 Teacher of the Year is Becky Oglesby, who is currently pursuing UCO’s Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership. She is part of the Yukon/Mustang cohort that began in summer 2018 and will finish in spring 2020.

Oglesby is a Yukon elementary school art educator, known as the “Batman Teacher” because of all the comic book memorabilia in her classroom.

“Batman believed that one man could make a difference and took it upon himself to do so and, in turn, became a legend. I want to be Batman,” Oglesby said in an interview following the announcement of her recognition. “I want to be the ordinary person who puts on the mask that hides the simplicity of who I am and fights to give my students the best education that empowers them to find their purpose.”

Oglesby remains in the classroom for the current school year, assuming full-time teacher-of-the-year duties July 1. These include speaking engagements and encouraging others to become or remain teachers while serving as Oklahoma’s goodwill ambassador for teaching.