TU Arts & Sciences Magazine - Fall 2017

KENDALL COLLEGE of ARTS AND SCIENCES MAGAZINE

Fall 2017

Through the eyes of

Hamilton:

revolution and resistance

the university of tulsa Kendall College of Arts and Sciences

Paving the road to a great career

In this Issue F E AT U R E S 3 Poetry in Emotion – Tribute to Yevgeny Yevtushenko

advertising students,” Bill said.

“They too, can get a great job when the time presents itself.”

Rosie and Bill (BS ’69) Hinkle have a heart for The University of Tulsa. Studying broadcast journalism, Hinkle dedicated his career not only to being the president of Hinkle Creative Services, but also to serving as a TU adjunct media studies professor for 24 years. “I teach because I want to offer my vast experiences and professional contacts to TU marketing and

The Hinkles became proud members of the Chapman Legacy Society by establishing a scholarship endowment through a planned gift. “We give to TU because of what TU gave me: a fabulous education and the road to a great career,” he said.

“Whatever time and money is necessary, I am there.”

Joining the Chapman Legacy Society is an opportunity to ensure students continue to have an excellent education, and like Bill Hinkle, they will pass along their TU spirit and knowledge.

Visit www.utulsa.edu/giving to make your tax-deductible gift.

918-631-3514 n TU ANNUAL FUND n 800 S. TUCKER DR. n TULSA, OK 74104

4

4 Revolution and Resistance 6 From Oklahoma to Broadway 8 Phenomenal Success 9 First on the Scene 10 Imaginary Journeys with Julius Tennon 12 Calendar of Events

8

14 Third Floor Design Celebrates 25 Years 15 Tom Manhart Retrospective 16 Page Turners – TU Author Profiles 19 Every Line Means Something – Actor Wesam Keesh 20 Places We Call Home

16

D E PA R T M E N T S 12 Calendar of Events 21 College News 22 Student News

20

23 Faculty News 24 Alumni News 25 Bookend

O N T H E COV E R : D’Arcy Fellow Nour El Sabbagh interning at Tulsa’s Iron Gate.

The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on the basis of personal status or group characteristics including, but not limited to individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, ancestry, or marital status in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic and other University sponsored programs. Questions regarding implementation of this policy may be addressed to the Office of Human Resources, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-9700, 918-631-2616. Requests for accommodation of disabilities may be addressed to the University’s 504 Coordinator, Dr. Tawny Rigsby, 918631-2315. To ensure availability of an interpreter, five to seven days notice is needed; 48 hours is recommended for all other accommodations. TU#16259

CONTACT US 918-631-3152 • SUZY-THOMPSON@UTULSA.EDU

2017-18 Kendall College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors Caroline Abbott (‘95 BA, ’00 JD) Ellen Adelson Mitch Adwon (’75 BS) Joan Atkinson Leta Bell Barbara Blackburn Don Blackburn (’66 BA) Beth and John Bovaird

Sarah Brown (’07 BA, ’10 JD) Laurie Brumbaugh (’78 BS) Elaine Burkhardt (’77 BA) Bill Derrevere (’67 BFA, ’69 MA) Harriet Derrevere (’69 BFA) Linda Feagin (’66 BS) John Finley (’91 BA)

Linda Frazier (’79 MA) Marc Frazier Greg Frizzell (’81 BA) Michael Graves (’67 BA, ’70 MA) Jenk Jones Jake Jorishie (’71 BS, ’08 MA)

Cheryl LaFortune (’77 BED, ’79 MA) Mary Lhevine (’82 BS) Judy McCormack (’63 BA, ’77 MA) Paula Milsten (’61 BS) Bob Mogelnicki (‘78 BBA) Mahvash Moghaddam (’81 BS)

Valerie Naifeh (’86 BA) Tim Phoenix (’78 JD) George Schnetzer Greg Spears (’94 BA) Bill Watson (’86 BA) Julie Watson Melissa Weiss Martin Wing

A message from the Dean “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’,” said George Bernard Shaw. The educational experience of students in the Kendall College of Arts and Sciences expands their imagination, nurtures their creative spirit and draws out their artistic selves in the quest for fulfillment and accomplishment. This year, it is fitting that our magazine theme is creativity. We bring you stories from the Broadway stage and tales of revolution seen through the eyes of Alexander Hamilton.

Our students, faculty and alumni are trailblazers in their creative pursuits and professional careers, and in these pages, we celebrate their spirit of ingenuity and their TU legacy.

The college has a hoary tradition of literary creativity, and this issue of the magazine delves into the minds of authors who

YEVGENY ALEKSANDROVICH YEVTUSHENKO

have honed their writing skills while pursuing their degrees at TU. Current student Jesse Haynes has not only used his writing talents to publish three books, but also, developed a podcast with 1.5 million followers. From topics like the Tulsa Race Riot to Vietnamese refugees, authors like Rilla Askew and Vu Tran have scaled heights of excellence in portraying the human condition through their fictional narratives.

Film and theatre creatively weave stories that challenge us to see through another’s eyes. TU alumnus Wesam Keesh is cast in the new ABC drama, For the People; and Julius Tennon, star on the TU football field and stage, has established his own production company in Hollywood to increase the visibility of multiethnic culture in film and television. Broadway entertainers Ron Young and Lynette Bennet regale us with backstage stories of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland. The reach of TU alumni has no bounds.

This year, the TU curriculum is enriched by an interdisciplinary Anthropology and History department offering: “The Roots of Hamilton: Relics of Resistance in the Black Atlantic World.” As part of the course, students will travel to Saint Croix, walk the lives of urban slaves and visit the birth place of Alexander Hamilton. With inventive professors, Kendall College cultivates enthralling and unforgettable class experiences.

We look ahead to this academic year with even more enthusiasm, and of course, a dash of creativity. However, we also pause to remember and honor two luminaries and colleagues whose passing has left a deep hole in our hearts. TU President Steadman Upham, an anthropologist and accomplished artist, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a world-renowned poet, left their mark far beyond the TU community. The lives of hundreds of TU students were touched by these two towering figures, and they are an indelible part of the fond memories for these alumni. We will miss them greatly.

Kalpana Misra, Dean

2017-18 Dean’s Circle Ellen and Steve Adelson Melinda and Mitch ’79 Adwon Joanie and Tom Atkinson Olivia Belknap ’96 Elizabeth Bender ’79 Harriet ‘69 and Bill ’67, ’69 Derrevere Jean Ann ’72 and Tom Fausser Linda Feagin ’66 Marilyn Girouard ’51 Kathleen Page and Michael Graves ’67, ‘70 Kellie ’72 and Fred Harlan

Dean’s Circle members contribute $2,500 or more in unrestricted funds for the college and or departments.

Nancy and Jerry ’61 Henry Mary Ann Hille ’65 Robert Hogan Burt Holmes ’54 Shelley ’69 and Steve Jackson Jenk Jones Mary Lhevine ’82 and George Schnetzer Susan ’95 and Bob Mase Judith McCormack ’63, ’77 Teena and Paul Merrywell Paula ’61 and Malcolm Milsten Kalpana Misra and Murali Iyengar

Valerie ’86 and Brad Naifeh Melinda Noel ’72 Vicki Parry ’61 Mindy ’80 and Jesse Pearson Kay and Tim ’78 Phoenix Peggy and Ron Predl Jean Roberts ’39 James Ruddle ’57, ’61 Frank Skipworth ’67, ’70 Betty ’83 and Kelly Swindle Norma and Steve ’68 Turnbo Julia and Bill ’86 Watson Martin Wing

Herbert and Roseline Gussman Foundation Pearl M and Julia J Harmon Foundation Harlan and Virginia Krumme Trust George H. O’Dell Foundation A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Foundation Charles and Marion Weber Foundation

1933-2017

Poetry in Emotion Poetry reveals truth when all other declarations fall on intransigent ears. Within his beautiful verse, Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote calls to action on behalf of human rights and justice. The University of Tulsa was honored to have this internationally celebrated Russian poet on staff for 25 years.

This spring, Yevtushenko passed away at age 83. The TU community mourns, but his legacy is emboldened not only in his written word but also in the spirit of his students.

Yevtushenko rose to national prominence in the Soviet Union with his epic poem Babi Yar, which protested the regime’s refusal to recognize Babi Yar as a site where 33,000 Jewish people were murdered. Former TU President Robert Donaldson explained, Yevtushenko’s “courage in raising his voice against indifference, intolerance and injustice made him a world-renowned spokesman against selfish nationalism and mindless collectivism.”

Yevtushenko was also known for his quick wit. “It did not take long for this Russian Pied Piper to lure students into his world, to the point that many of them soon found themselves performing Yevtushenko’s poems with him on university stages before large audiences,” Donaldson said.

Originally, he agreed to teach one semester. Donaldson hosted Yevtushenko for lunch at Utica Square to ask him to be a permanent fixture at TU. Later, Yevtushenko shared with TU Provost, Roger Blais, “The carillon was playing ‘Lara’s Theme’

F A L L

2

n

2 0 1 7

from Doctor Zhivago, and he took it as a sign,” Blais said. From then on, Yevtushenko called Tulsa a second home.

At the mention of his name, Yevtushenko’s friends cannot help but grin. “It was not just the brilliant poetry so stirringly performed and his political significance but the magnetism of the man’s personality that drew me to him,” Donaldson explained.

His charm was commonly revealed in his storytelling. He enjoyed sharing his memory of when he first heard Dmitri Shostakovich was setting Babi Yar to music. “He was in his mother’s apartment when the phone rang, and his mother answered and said, ‘I don’t like practical jokes’ and hung up,” Blais said. Later, she explained “that was a man who claimed he was Dmitri Shostakovich.” Thankfully, Shostakovich immediately called back, and Yevtushenko was invited to his apartment to listen to the first movement.

Once again, Yevtushenko’s poetry inspires music. Noam Faingold (BA ’07) composed The Defiant Poet. “An orchestral elegy coming from Tulsa, his final home, provides our community the opportunity to make a statement in world-wide conversation about his work and the real power of art to shape society,” Faingold said. The world premier will be performed by the Tulsa Signature Symphony on November 4.

From Russia to Tulsa, Yevtushenko stirred minds to question and above all else, speak truth. In the poet’s words, “poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers.”

3

The class starts with a brief

biography of Alexander Hamilton,

but the professors will add the context of daily slave life in the Caribbean and the United States.

Revolution and Resistance Resistance inflames the rallying cry of revolution, and Alexander Hamilton was often the rousing voice above the crowd. Hamilton’s genius and seditious rhetoric is newly extolled due to the hit musical Hamilton. With hip-hop raps on the American Revolution blaring from earphones, two TU professors took notice and created a unique learning opportunity.

In spring 2018, Alicia Odewale assistant professor of anthropology and Kristen Oertel, professor of history are offering an interdisciplinary class, “The Roots of Hamilton: “Relics of Resistance in the Black Atlantic World.” Because Hamilton lived in St. Croix as a boy before migrating to America for a formal education, “Hamilton naturally came up because this one man can encapsulate the Caribbean and American world together during the time of revolution,” Odewale said.

Not only will students study archaeological and historical texts in the classroom, but also they will travel to St. Croix to visit Hamilton’s boyhood home and see different sites of enslavement and freedom in the Caribbean. The class starts with a brief biography of Alexander Hamilton, but the professors will add the context of daily enslaved life in the Caribbean and the United States. “We will compare and contrast the different ways in which slaves and masters interacted and the ways slaves resisted their masters’ desire to control them,” Oertel said.

While working on her dissertation, Odewale excavated a site of enslavement in St. Croix from the time of Danish control. Instead

4

K E N D A L L

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

of a southern plantation, this group of enslaved men and women were forced to live in an urban setting. TU students will tour the site as the professors explain the background and artifacts. “Placing students in that kind of environment where they wouldn’t normally think of enslavement but to feel and touch and look at the objects that were recovered from the ground, that’s something that students don’t normally get to see,” Odewale explained. Just as the settings for slavery were diverse, so was resistance. There were “many different forms of resistance, not just mass rebellion but more everyday activities like poisoning, setting fire to fields, breaking machinery, running away and establishing whole settlements called Maroon communities,” Odewale explained. There was no typical slave experience.

As students travel beyond the pages of a book, they can run their hands over the tools from their past. It is significant for students to know “how a physical object can connect to someone’s life, behavior, understanding and culture,” Odewale said. This course is especially significant since this year marks the centennial of transfer day, which is when the United States purchased the Danish West Indies, which changed their name to the United States Virgin Islands. Odewale hopes to stress the students’ connection to the Caribbean territories, particularly in

F A L L

2 0 1 7

relation to citizenship rights.

The intersection between Hamilton’s life and revolutionary events continue due to his formal education in New York at King’s College. By reading Gateway to Freedom by Eric Foner, the class will research the development of the Underground Railroad in New York City. Frequently, students are surprised that before the American Revolution, slavery was thriving in all thirteen colonies, and the last slave was freed in the state of New York in 1827. “Slavery was reinforced by the white power structure in New York City,” Oertel said. The students will “look at the effects of that institution which shaped political, social and cultural life for African Americans.”

By merging history and archaeology, the class is a bit revolutionary itself. “It’s historic to have two female professors team teaching in two different disciplines and working together seamlessly on this idea of resistance,” Odewale said.

Examining the historical roots of racism provides a deeper understanding of today’s racial tension. “We’re still dealing with questions of who deserves full citizenship and who is considered a human being with political rights and social rights,” Oertel said. Americans grapple with the same questions that kept Hamilton’s quill aflutter.

5

Broadway Dreamer In the dead of winter, TU alumna Lynette Bennett (BA 59’) scrolls her name on the call board at the stage door entrance for Funny Girl. Terribly cold outside, another actress leans against her sprinkling snow. “She reached around and signed her name: Barbara Streisand,” Bennett said. Unsure if she could speak, Bennett managed, “Hello Barbara, I’m Lynette Bennett, and I’m going into the cast tonight.”

From TU to Broadway, Bennett’s talent and gumption have shaped her impressive career in show business. Recently, she wrote a memoir Broadway Dreamer, a New York Actor’s Memoir and it shares her best stories from musicals and operas to how she met her husband. “I hope it’s helpful for people who want to get into the business,” Bennett said. “Some stories are funny, some are sad.

It’s show business.”

A Tulsa native, Bennett grew up in voice and dance lessons, and when she saw her brother perform in theater at TU, she determined that TU was her college destination. Bennett was TU head cheerleader, varsity queen, co-ed vice president of student council, Who’s Who and a proud Chi Omega. With the choir, she toured from Oklahoma to New York, and soon she would call New York City home.

After a stint at the St. Lewis Municipal Opera, Bennett moved to New York and was cast in her first Broadway show, The Yearling, which involved Bennett being airborne. The villains enter a country dance and grab some women and toss them above their heads. “He would grab my pinched nerve and throw me in the air,” Bennett said. Later a doctor suggested she bow out of the dance, which was not even a consideration for Bennett. “I am thrilled to be invited to do this dance.”

6

K E N D A L L

The Only Boy Who Danced

Bennett is a coloratura soprano, which means her vocal range is not only grand but also, she can perform elaborate runs and trills. Playing the tabloid reporter Mary Sunshine in Chicago, Bennett walked across the stage effortlessly belting a high C; and while in London, Bennett showcased her voice in opera.

London also provided time for her to write. “While we were over there, I said the Oklahoma centennial is about to happen, and I’m in London,” she said. “What am I going to do about it?”

Bennett wrote a one-woman show on the Will Rogers’ story from the viewpoint of Betty, his wife. “My dad had seen him perform,” Bennett said. “Will Rogers was a household name.” Bennett used period songs and Betty Rogers’ own words from her autobiography. “She tells in the preface how she received the word of Will’s plane crash,” Bennett explained. “That was very moving.”

Bennett has also been featured on “The Johnny Carson Show,” and she created an album with her well-known pianist and music director Barry Manilow. Bennett’s stories are vast and entertaining, but one sums her up perfectly. During Funny Girl, Bennett had an incredibly fast costume change involving several pairs of tights and boots. Just as she was about to dance onstage, Bennett realized she had on the wrong color tights. The stage manager warned her of the time, but she thought, “I’m Lynette Bennett, and I had to try.” The story ends with her performing “the only shoeless tap dance in Broadway history,” Bennett laughed.

From stage to stage, Bennett’s life has been ever-changing, adventurous and filled to the brim. After all, she is Lynette Bennett, and she has to try.

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

Even when he is sitting, Ron Young’s toes tap to a catchy rhythm. It’s a contagious tempo set to Young’s artistic and outgoing spirit, and when this 1962 TU alumnus recounts his Broadway career, the music never seems to fade.

At the age of three, Young watched his first musical variety show. “I stood in front of the TV set, jumping up and down saying, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” Young recalled. In his memoir, The Only Boy Who Danced: A Journey from Oklahoma to Broadway and Beyond, Young details his earlier life growing up in the farming country of Grove, Oklahoma, with only one career path in mind. “All I ever wanted to be was a song-and-dance man,” Young explained.

Although Young wasn’t a typical boy from Grove, the community encouraged his talents, and with a drum major scholarship, Young literally marched to the beat of his own drum and attended The University of Tulsa for a degree in voice and music and a master’s degree in vocal performance.

Training at TU built Young’s confidence, and professor and choreographer John Hurdle even provided ballet lessons during Young’s lunch breaks. “I was so highly trained and so motivated that at my first audition at Kansas City Starlight, it never dawned on me that I wouldn’t get it,” Young confided. With $500 in his pocket, Young left Kansas City to audition on Broadway.

Young arrived in New York City on a Friday and auditioned for Hello Dolly starring Carol Channing.

By Monday, he received his first Broadway role as a dancer.

“This old farm boy was just smart enough to do something; I wore the same outfit to the dance call that I wore to the singing call.” Because it is rare to wear a shirt and tie to a dance call, Young assured that he would be remembered. “I wanted to run

F A L L

2 0 1 7

out to Times Square screaming ‘I just got my first Broadway show,’” he said.

For 33 years, Young shared the Broadway stage with Angela Lansbury, Tommy Tune, Chita Rivera, Bernadette Peters and many more stars. From playing the Italian lover Alfredo in La Traviata to standing in for Charles Honi Coles, “one of the gods of the tap dancing world” in My One and Only, Young has filled his memoir with behind-the-scenes stories.

“It took me nine months to write this book; now what else takes nine months?”

Young joked. What started out as a project to share his journey has ended up being an inspirational tale. Readers are saying, “If he can live his dream, I can live my dream,” Young said. His memoir doesn’t end on the Broadway stage but follows Young into retirement. “You don’t retire from something. You retire to something,” Young said. The book delves into this work with Merrill Lynch and becoming a professional organizer.

At age 76, Young is living back in Grove at Monkey Island, but there are no signs of slowing down. Young has a one-man acapella show, and he started a project to sing the national anthem 100 times and is at #88. He enjoys singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” with emotion, but at some point, during the song, Young forgets about singing it perfectly and focuses on the audience. “I’ve evolved into what I would like to think is the essence of a real entertainer because it’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about me being a vehicle for the material and a vessel to put it out there for you to have it.”

Young is the consummate song-and-dance man. As for his audience, there is not a frozen toe in sight.

7

phenomenal success Jesse Haynes is a storyteller who is never short on words.

Oklahoma classrooms. This year, Haynes is a featured author Only a junior media studies student at TU, Haynes has already at the Louisiana Book Festival, which boasts 27,000 attendees. published three books and three podcasts, and with “The At TU, Haynes is using his media studies classes to learn Others” podcast receiving 1.5 million downloads, his words how to create an online brand and hone his media editing have developed a remarkable fan base. skills. Quoting his favorite professor, Ben Peters, Haynes “I am the young adult, young adult writer,” Haynes explains, “Media studies is going to open a thousand doors an joked. He infuses his teenage inch for you, and you just have experiences into stories for the to pick two or three doors and high school crowd. By fourth kick it open.” grade, he set a goal to write When creating his podcast Creativity is synonymous a book before high school “The Others,” TU supplied graduation. His novel Creepers a sound booth equipped with for independence in the world was published his senior year microphones and editing at Skiatook High School. A tools. The story opens with of fiction writing. post-apocalyptic novel, Creepers a man stranded on an island follows the journey of two struggling to maintain his sanity - Jesse Haynes brothers struggling to survive in in isolation, but the plot twist an America overrun by zombieis inhumane creatures lurking type creatures. in the trees driving him to “I want my science fiction to be more action and madness. From the chirp of seagulls to a splash of rain puddles, adventure,” Haynes explained. His second novel, Creepers 2 was Haynes layers sound effects on top of the narrative to be a published last year, but over the summer, Haynes jettisoned the “movie for your ears,” he said. creepy creatures for a drama set in the halls of high school.

Haynes does not restrict himself to fiction. His first podcast, His third book Special features a blooming friendship between a “Cryptic Creatures” is the science and myth behind legendary cheerleader and a boy with Mosaic Down syndrome. “I want to animals like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. For 12 make a point about judging others and how dangerous that can episodes, Haynes wrote a 4,000-word research paper to prep be,” Haynes said. for each podcast.

Haynes takes his show on the road with numerous His next endeavor is producing an online fiction high school speaking engagements on writing, writing workshop tailored to ages 12-14. “The goal is passion and time-management. “I took 15 hours in five weeks you’ve written the outline for a book each semester my freshman year and managed and the first chapter,” he said. to write two novels and a podcast series,” he Haynes’s limitless energy can leave his audience said. Haynes’s popularity has grown beyond the speechless, but no worries, he can fill in the words.

8

first on the scene Sirens wail as a story of trauma unfolds, but before the ambulances arrive, journalists are already on the scene. Journalists are not traditional first responders, but during a tragedy, they are the eyes and ears of the community, which means they cannot look away.

TU McFarlin Professor of Psychology Elana Newman is the research director at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. “It is mostly a journalism run organization whose goal is to improve the ethical and responsible reporting of stories about trauma,” Newman said. She and her students ask the question: How does covering trauma impact the mental health and work performance of journalists?

Journalists are unaccustomed to being observed, and discussing mental health risks is not welcome. When Newman began her research 15 years ago, she would receive notes from disgruntled reporters: “Now that women have entered the profession, we are getting all touchy feely.”

A culture of health is engrained in police academies and fire houses, but journalists are too often handling PTSD alone or undiagnosed. There is a high stigma among journalists that they don’t seek help. From war zones to car accidents, journalists prioritize the story above all else. “How do you get back in your car after you just covered a car crash?” Newman questioned.

Newman shared a story of a journalist taking pictures of a man drowning in a lake. Finally, the journalist dives in to save the man. “His face was on the picture of every paper,” Newman said. “But, he got in trouble because there was no image of him for his paper.” The rule is if no one else is around, reporters come to the rescue, but the pressure of the 24-hour news cycle is an exhausting race to be the most relevant and timely. With internet also comes comments looming at the end of every story, journalists are subject to harassment. “I do think that our public civility has gone down.

Does it lead to self-censoring? Does harassment affect freedom of the press?” Newman said.

F A L L

2 0 1 7

Telecommuting hinders the comradery in the journalism community. They communicate from screen to screen, and the days of meeting up at the bar after work are few. “Good social support is a predictor of everything good in mental health and quality of life and lack of it is bad,” Newman said. Journalists are not processing trauma within a supportive community, and PTSD preys on the isolated. Journalists often struggle with guilt too. Tragedy must be covered in the news, but that means reporters profit from someone else’s pain.

Newman and her colleagues at the Dart Center are working to dispel the myth of the tough and emotionless reporter.

Emotional awareness and literacy can be an effective tool to uncover the best story. “Journalists are trained in how to interview people in power who are withholding something,” Newman explained. Those same tactics will not work on grieving family members or witnesses in shock. By providing journalists with psychological resources and tips on how to speak to the disempowered, news will be more accurate.

Newman researches how news coverage influences reporters, interviewees and even the public. Looking to the future, Newman and her students are armed with a new question: “How do different depictions of traumatic events effect the mental health of the public?”

9

imaginary journeys Julius Tennon

has a beautiful speaking voice. In seventh grade, his English teacher discovered this during a poetry unit. The following year, Tennon memorized and performed the “I have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. With King’s brave words instilled in him, Tennon successfully pursued his own dream of an acting career. Now, this 1978 TU alumnus is president, with his wife, Viola Davis, at Juvee Productions, an artist-driven production company.

With a full football scholarship to The University of Tulsa, Tennon prepared himself to step onto the field and the stage. Switching from offense to defense, Tennon joked, “I liked hitting guys more than I liked being hit.” Unfortunately, his football career was eclipsed by knee injuries, but Tennon focused on earning his degree and cultivating his acting discipline.

At the time, Tennon was the only African American student in the theater department. “You have to have a certain amount of fearlessness to be in a department where you are the only,” he said. Tackling substantial roles in Othello, Slow Dance on the Killing Ground and The Emperor Jones, Tennon honed his craft, which elevated him to national competitions. David Cook, a retired TU theater professor said, “As an actor, Julius brought maturity and passion to very difficult roles.”

Character development breathes life into a script. At TU, Tennon landed the role of Randall, a brilliant schizophrenic kid in Slow Dance on the Killing Ground. Randall discusses places in New York City, but Tennon having never been there, needed to perform these scenes as if New York City was his stomping ground. Although New York was miles away, the library brought Central Park and Wall Street to Tulsa. “When you read and open a book to learn something, your imagination goes everywhere,” he said. “It felt more organic for me.”

Acting not only broadens cultural understanding, but it also allows Tennon to experience imaginary journeys as someone else. He easily writes 40 pages of character notes, which invent a background for his role. “I become known,” he said. “I feel like I’m embodying this person; I am going in with a history.”

For thirty years, Tennon’s screen credits have been abundant: Friday

10

K E N D A L L

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

Night Lights, Lonesome Dove, Fame, Criminal Minds, The Practice and many others including theater productions. Theater is at the heart of Tennon’s acting practice. Without a screen separating the actors from the audience, the play is a shared experienced.

“Anything can happen, and that’s the joy of theater for me,” he said. This fall, Tennon will be back on the TV screen. He is featured in the opening episode of season four on How to Get Away with Murder. “Viola and I love to work together; we relish it,” he said.

Seven years ago, it was Viola Davis’s story that led to the formation of Juvee. Hollywood lacked narratives that showcased multi-ethnic culture, and there were not enough roles for Davis.

To provide opportunity and access, Juvee produces authentic and unique stories featuring minority voices. “People of color across the globe want to see reflections of themselves,” Tennon explained. Eventually, Juvee expanded into multiple platforms: film, TV, documentaries, digital and virtual reality.

Virtual reality is not a new concept, but virtual reality storytelling is in its infancy. In partnership with Facebook and Here Be Dragons, Juvee is pioneering an entertainment and education project, Operation Othello. Shakespeare’s Othello is set in modern times with a cast of U.S. Navy Seals armed with cellphones and tablets, but the bard’s speech remains intact.

In classrooms, students can watch the performance “in the goggles, and afterward, the teacher can have a learning tool to

F A L L

2 0 1 7

talk through things the kids didn’t understand,” he explained.

Virtual reality is not a customary platform for a smaller company like Juvee, which makes it a global leader in virtual reality narratives.

As a producer, Tennon looks for stories that have an unusual entry point for the audience. Tennon explained, “Nothing is new under the sun, but how do you twist it?” In their latest project, in conjunction with EveryWhere Studios, Juvee will produce a movie based on Rachel Lloyd’s novel, Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World where Girls are not for Sale. Trapped in a sex trafficking ring, Lloyd writes about her struggle to escape. Lloyd founded the Girls Educational & Mentoring Service to support victims of sex trafficking and played an integral role in passing the Safe Harbor Act. Tennon was deeply moved by her story.

“These are teenagers who are not mentally and physically developed, but they are out there in the world wanting to survive and someone to love them,” he said.

Tennon has plenty of love to share with seven grandchildren, three children including his seven-year-old daughter Genesis. His partner in life and business, Viola Davis is “the love of my life,” and they recently celebrated 14 years of marriage. Looking forward, Tennon sees no limitations for his company, his wife and his career. Reminiscent of his TU theatre days, Tennon is ready to take the stage and “step boldly into the future.”

11

CALENDAROFEVENTS

A Defensive Policy, Ericka Walker, lithograph

Lorton Performance Center (LPC) Henry Zarrow Center for Art & Education (Zarrow Center) 124 M.B. Brady Street, Brady Arts District

OCTOBER 13-14 Homecoming. For a list of activities, visit TUAlumni.com 14 Tulsa American Film Festival, 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Gilcrease Museum 15 Tulsa American Film Festival, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Gilcrease Museum 18 TU Jazz Youth Concert, 10 a.m., Gussman Concert Hall, Lorton Performance Center (LPC) 19 TU Jazz Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 19 Rebecca Traister, 7 p.m., Adelson Auditorium, Tyrrell Hall 19-20 The Rocky Horror Show (stage version), 8 p.m., Kendall Hall 21 The Rocky Horror Show, 7 p.m. and midnight, Kendall Hall 23 TU Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 24 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 24 Nosferatu with Live Musical Score Performance, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 24 Angelique Kidjo, Presidential Lecture Series, 7:30 p.m., Reynolds Center 26 Concerts with Commentary: “Vaughn Williams’ On Wenlock Edge,” Kim Childs, Brady McElligott, Meg Kepley, Nick Bashforth, Ethan Landis and Daria Miskiewicz, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 26 “The Anglican Vigor of Jane Austen’s Satire,” with Anna Battigelli, William & Rita Bell Lecture in Anglican Studies, 7 p.m., Adelson Auditorium, Tyrrell Hall 29 Dwight Dailey Memorial Concert featuring TU Wind Ensemble and Tulsa Community Band, 3 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC

12

Name of piece, Joelle Dietrick, medium?

NOVEMBER 2 Owen Mundy & Joelle Dietrick.

Opening reception, 5 p.m., Alexandre Hogue Gallery, Phillips Hall. Exhibition through December 14, 2017.

2 Poet Ibtisam Barakat: Balcony on the Moon, 7 p.m., Adelson Auditorium, Tyrrell Hall 3 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 5 Viento Sur Trombone Quartet, National Symphony of Argentina, 3 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 5 “Can the Separation of Church and State be Sustained?” McFarlin Guest Lecturer Paul Rahe, historian and author, 7:30 p.m., Chapman Hall, Lecture Hall 7 TU Chamber Groups with HarpLorelei Kaiser Barton, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 9 “Downtown Tulsa/Mark Lewis,” 108

Contemporary Gallery, 108 M.B. Brady Street, Brady Arts District 9 Concerts with Commentary: “Torke’s Electro-Acoustic Telephone Book,” Stuart Deaver, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 10 Cappella Chamber Singers & TU Chorale Fall Concert, 7:30 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Church 10-11 WomenWorksPlaywriting competition winner.

“The End Will Hurt,” 7 p.m., Theatre II, Kendall Hall 16 High Stakes: The Life and Times of E.W. Marland, 7 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 16 Opera Theatre Performance, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 17 Concert: Opera Theatre Performance, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 27 TU Vocal Jazz Recital and Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 30 TU Jazz Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC

DECEMBER 1 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 1 D.A. Pennebaker and the 50th Anniversary of the Monterrey Pop Music Festival, through January 24. Sherman Smith Gallery, Zarrow Center 3 Lessons and Carols, Cappella Chamber Singers, 7:30 p.m., Sharp Chapel

arts@TU For the latest TU Arts and Sciences event information, go to calendar.utulsa.edu and click arts@TU. Whether you are into poetry symposiums or jazz band concerts, we have an event for you!

K E N D A L L

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

JANUARY 2018 5 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 15 Martin Luther King Day 15 Elaine Bezold, Photography, exhibition through February 8.

18 Elaine Bezold, Photography lecture & reception. Artist Lecture from 5-6 p.m., Reception from 6-7 p.m., Alexandre Hogue Gallery 18 Concerts with Commentary: Electric, Reflective, and Renovated, Mosaic Trio with Maureen O’Boyle, Pete Peterson, and Lorelei Barton, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 23 Richard Alston, pianist, J. Donald Feagin Visiting Artist, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 25 Richard Rothstein, Author of A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America

FEBRUARY 2 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 2 Ericka Walker: Printmaker, through March 28. Zarrow Center 8 Concerts with Commentary: Favorites and Finds, Songs and Cycles

by Schumann, Debussy, Delius, and Dalcroze, with Judith Raiford and Brandy McElligott, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 12 TU Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 13 Béla Rózsa Composition Competition, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 15-16 Theatre: 1984, 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., Kendall Hall 15 TU Jazz Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall 15 MFA Candidates’ Jini Kim and Michael Teal opening reception, 5-7 p.m., Alexandre Hogue Gallery 16 MFA Candidates’ Jini Kim & Michael Teal. Exhibition through March 15 17 1984, 8 p.m., Kendall Hall 18 1984, 2 p.m., Kendall Hall 19 Spring Student Film Festival, 7 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC

F A L L

2 0 1 7

22 Béla Rózsa Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 24 A collaboration with 108 Contemporary on temporary housing in conjunction with the exhibition Shelter: Patrick Dougherty and Rachel Hayes.

26 TU Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC

MARCH 8 Concerts with Commentary: A Musical Legacy, Vintage Wildflowers with Dana Maher, Scott Schmidt and Quinn Maher, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 10 TSO/Philbrook: Songs America Loves to Sing 28 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 29 50th Annual Gussman Juried Student Exhibition through April 19. Opening reception, 5-7 p.m., Hogue Gallery

APRIL 2 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 2 TU Vocal Jazz Recital and Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 2 Daniel Coburn: Photographer, through May 23. Zarrow Center 6 Opera Theatre Performance, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 10 TU Chamber Groups with Harp – Lorelei Kaiser Barton, 7:30 p.m., Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 12 TU Jazz Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC

13-14 Symposium on indigenous cooking and food sovereignty, Gilcrease Museum 12-14 Two One Act Plays by Sam Shepard: Action, and Fool for Love, 8 p.m., Kendall Hall 15 Two One Act Plays by Sam Shepard: Action, and Fool for Love, 2 p.m., Kendall Hall 16 TU Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 20 Cappella Chamber Singers and TU Chorale Spring Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 23 TU Symphony Orchestra – President’s Concert, 7:30 p.m., Gussman Concert Hall, LPC 24 Arts and Humanities Festival, all day, TU campus venues 26 Senior Show. Exhibition through May 5, Opening Reception 5-7 p.m., Alexandre Hogue Gallery

MAY 4 Cappella Chamber singers – Baccalaureate, 11 a.m., Sharp Chapel 4 First Friday Art Crawl. 6-9 p.m., Zarrow Center 4 Annual Senior Film Night, 7 p.m.

Meinig Recital Hall, LPC 5 Spring 2018 Commencement.

JUNE 1-27 Tulsa Maps, Zarrow Center 16 Bloomsday. Zarrow Center

Gear #2, Michael Teal, 2015, low fire clay, 27"x27"x14"

13

Manhart Art Show Story

THIRD 1992 graphic

FLOOR 2017 design

14

K E N D A L L

DESIGN 25 years agency

hours; 216 agencies have been served with the volunteer value of $530,513 and design value of $918,750. Often, students will be offered a full-time job right out of college due to their work with Third Floor Design.

Connie Cronley, the former executive director for Iron Gate Tulsa, a food pantry and soup kitchen, has worked with Third Floor Design for more than a decade. “Their design pieces helped raise more than a million dollars,” Cronley said.

TU students created the “Faces of Iron Gate” campaign, which was a series of photographs and written profiles of Iron Gate guests. “They aren’t just members to us. They are not just statistics. They are people whom we’ve come to know,” Cronley explained.

Madeline Crawford (BA ’12) was a leader on the Iron Gate project. She explained the power of the Faces of Iron Gate was “showing that everyone is the same. You can see yourself in the situation.” Crawford is the creative director at Langdon Publishing, and she credits her success to Third Floor Design.

“Thinking about other schools who don’t have a Third Floor Design-type agency, I don’t know how they get jobs,” Crawford said.

For 25 years, Valero established and promoted the awardwinning graphic design program. Third Floor Design is rooted in her insight and creativity. TU art students are more marketable and competitive, and when they walk into an interview, they are prepared to pitch themselves and their artwork. Once Sumner heard Valero’s concept for Third Floor Design, he said “I knew she was going to take us places that I couldn’t even imagine.”

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

Retrospective

Tom Manhart crossed the divide between functionality and art. A coffee mug could be a statement on form and design, and a woven piece of cloth could star in an art exhibition. As an art professor at TU from 1962 to 1999, Manhart not only molded ceramics but also shaped his students into critically thinking artists.

Seventeen years after his death, Manhart’s students are coming together to celebrate a man who transformed their art careers and mentored their artistic souls. October 6-26, the art exhibit Eloquent Craftsman: Thomas A. Manhart and his Students will be showcased at the Living Arts of Tulsa and The University of Tulsa’s Alexandre Hogue Gallery.

Steve Liggett (MA ’79) the former artistic director of Living Arts of Tulsa started this extensive project four years ago. “When he died, it was my feeling that he was so important that TU would pick up this great idea of having a retrospective of his work,” Liggett said. The show will feature Manhart’s work and work from 43 of his students. “It’s a combination of his work and his legacy, which are his students,” he added.

Liggett and Shirley Elliott (BA ’95, MA ’97) carefully combed through class lists to reach out to Manhart’s former students who are still creating art. The stories they collected along with Manhart’s biography are detailed in the exhibition catalogue. Memories of water gun fights in Phillips Hall and trying to cook clay-wrapped chicken in a kiln highlight Manhart’s light-hearted side, but many students remember his unforgettable critiques. One famous remark was “that looks like a fat lady on a bar stool,” Liggett laughed. “He was an exaggerator of information, and that’s the way he talked.”

Manhart’s art work was featured internationally in a famous exhibit The Eloquent Object. From glass work to clay, Manhart enjoyed all mediums. His work was rooted in research and technical expertise. Katherine Ross (MA ’80) would spend weeks researching glazes for Manhart. “If you’re making an object, the skill must be there too, or it doesn’t communicate what you want it to communicate,” Ross explained. In conjunction with the Manhart art show, Ross, chair of ceramics at School of Art Institute of Chicago will review TU student portfolios and present a lecture “The Unseen and Misremembered.”

Artwork was not to be sequestered in museums. Manhart even designed his own art tools. “He was the example of living arts,” Elliot said. “His art permeated everything about his life.”

Manhart was dedicated to promoting the arts in Tulsa. He served on the board of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa, Living Arts of Tulsa, Tulsa Designer Craftsmen and Oklahoma Designer Craftsmen. His wife was the director of Philbrook Museum, and together they helped developed the art culture in Tulsa.

Manhart enriched his students lives by encouraging them to study the objects around them. Kreg Kallenberger (BA ’72, MS ’77) said, “He impressed upon me the deification of objects.” There was nothing too insignificant to become a provocative piece of art. “It’s the things that you handle every day that you need to make the most beautiful,” Liggett said.

Third Floor Design@25

When TU graphic design students don professional dress, armed with portfolios, it must be pitch day for Third Floor Design, TU’s student-operated graphic design agency. Third Floor Design provides students with real-world experience creating promotional materials for nonprofit clientele. From the first pitch to the final presentation, students build their portfolio before graduation. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Third Floor Design.

M. Teresa Valero, director of the TU School of Art, Design and Art History, had trouble placing her students in corporate internships because they lacked experience. As a solution, Valero “created an in-house internship that would train the students prior to going to a corporate internship,” she said.

From 108 Contemporary to The Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, students design a pro-bono project for a Tulsa nonprofit. “We take the student from the beginning concept to delivery of the project,” Valero explained.

An integral part of a well-rounded education is ensuring students are prepared for a career. Students have a budget, client meetings and high expectations. Steven Sumner, former director of the TU School of Art, said “We were approaching it from two different angles. This would be a great opportunity to have, and at the same time, raise the whole level of design in the Tulsa community.”

Over the last quarter century, students not only became acquainted with the Tulsa philanthropic community, but also, nonprofits came to know TU students and the high-quality of their work. The 140 students who have participated in Third Floor Design have contributed a total of 26,250 volunteer

TOM MANHART

F A L L

2 0 1 7

15

sm it h

Creativity wants two things: the spark and the steady flame.

The spark is the fun part — the fresh idea, the singing words — but it is the low, steady flame that makes the art happen.

It requires a constant source of energy: endurance, tenacity, a willingness to keep working no matter what stands in your way.

an

As

ke

w

lew

is

Rilla Askew

tr

PAGE TURNers

College is more than text books and finals. It is a place for self-discovery. Students prepare for their future careers, they find their voices and begin writing their life narratives. Some students design a life of storytelling. TU is home to many successful authors. TU is proud to be a part of the story of the four authors profiled here.

Rill Askew (BA ’80) renders truth through fiction. From the Tulsa Race Riot to the Great Depression, the TU alumna and author peels back the layers of painful historical events.

Although it may sting, the unearthed truth is the power behind healing. “We have to own those truths in order to move forward and mature as a people spiritually, emotionally and economically,” Askew said.

While at TU, Askew studied for a life on stage and worked at Theater Tulsa. The 1970s were a time to celebrate the Tulsa sound which was a mixture of country, rock ‘n’ roll and blues.

“We’d go out into the clubs, and everyone would swear that Leon Russell would show up… every once in a while, he did,” she laughed.

Askew moved to New York City to pursue acting, but armed with a pen, she was more drawn to creating her own content.

Her writing didn’t encompass the lights of the big city. Instead, her prose returned her home to southeastern Oklahoma. “My family migrated into the Choctaw nation in the late 1800s,” she said, “The rhythm and the syntax of the voices I hear are more like my grandparents’ voices.”

Her novel Fire in Beulah reimagines the tense and horrific days during 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. Considered a staple in many Oklahoma classrooms, her words stay true to the historical records, but her fictional characters allow the reader to fathom the assault from various perspectives. Askew’s novel uses “the language of racism that was endemic in the broader culture that we don’t use anymore,” she explained. Great literature often disquiets.

In her first novel, The Mercy Seat, Askew describes her most difficult scene to write. Set in the late 1800s among the Arkansas Mountains, a 10-year-old white girl is obsessed with a black nurse maid, who is nursing her baby sister. The pejorative remarks hurled from a child’s lips leave the reader wincing. “I was getting to the fundamental understanding of white dominance and white supremacy, and we don’t even understand that we exercise it,” she said. “It becomes a part of us if we grow up inside the white culture.”

In her latest book, Most American: Notes from a Wounded Place, Askew veers from fiction to a collection of nonfiction essays, which is a mix between history and social commentary. “I always feel that I am bearing witness to the history that I am living now,” she said. This includes Tulsa’s current racial and political temperament as the city is still living out its history through the laws of disenfranchisement and a climate of violence. “It’s going to take a lot of uncovering, honest conversation and not being afraid to speak directly the truth of the past,” Askew said. “I see the seeds of that here.”

Although Askew cannot “write fiction fast enough to grapple with history as it unfolds around us,” she said. With pen to paper, Rilla Askew is certainly going to try.

F A L L

2 0 1 7

Creativity is not magic. Just push yourself to see the world in a light you hadn’t seen before, and you’ll find something worth pursuing there.

Vu Tran Within a mosaic of fragmented memories, TU alumnus Vu Tran (BA ’98) attempts to remember his refugee voyage from Vietnam to Malaysia. His identity as a Vietnamese refugee serves as a catalyst to his writing career.

At the age of five, Tran along with his mother and siblings fled Vietnam after southern Vietnam was occupied by the northern Vietnamese. His father, a captain in the South Vietnamese Air Force, was forced to leave the country. Later, it was his father, whom Tran had never met, who sponsored his family to live in Tulsa. Images of the beach and sleeping on thatch mark his early memories, but his first extended memory was his father fixing him his first meal in America — a bologna sandwich. Waiting for five years to meet his son, “I imagine for my dad, he felt like he was interrupting a family in many ways,” Tran said. “He was meeting a brand new child.”

In first grade, when students were tasked with writing a short story and reading to the class, Tran discovered not only his inclination for writing but also performing. Storytelling allowed Tran to create order in his own narratives. “You are making the world clearer to you because the world can be very confusing, but you’re also in control,” Trans said. Inevitably, as a young immigrant, Tran was making sense of his new Oklahoma surroundings.

In Dragonfish, his first novel, Tran explores the smoky backrooms of Las Vegas searching for a missing Vietnamese woman. Her ex-husband, an Oakland cop, struggles to find her, but what he uncovers is her dark, secret past. “Because of the direction of the story, I decided to dip back into their background, which involved them being refugees,” Tran said. The novel features some menacing characters, but Tran ensures they are multifaceted. “When you see people out in the world, they are giving you a very simplified version of who they are,” Tran explained. To breathe characters into life, an author must probe their complex inner life.

At TU, Tran’s writing career was shaped by his favorite English professor, James Watson, who not only served as a mentor but also introduced him to William Faulkner. He taught Tran to “approach the world with confidence and a sense of self,” he said.

As an assistant professor of English at The University of Chicago, Tran helps his students discover their voice. Tran explained “The transition from becoming an apprentice to becoming a really good writer is a process of constantly asking yourself, ‘Do I really believe this?’”

Tran found his own voice after returning to Vietnam at age 19. He met his family, who shared their stories of him as a child.

“It was an outrageously alien but at the same time deeply familiar place,” he said. In his next novel, Tran examines the road not taken.

The book depicts his life if he never left Vietnam. Tran questions, “Would I still be a writer? Would I be a duck farmer, which is what my grandfather did?” As a writer, Tran is perpetually changing his perspective. “Just push yourself to see the world in a light you hadn’t seen before, and you’ll find something worth pursuing there.”

17

Lindsay Smith Cyber security analyst by day and teen fiction author by night, TU alumna Lindsay Smith (BS ’05) has published short stories in anthologies, seven books and has an eighth book coming out this fall. From Russian spies to the paranormal, Smith’s novels provide a twist to the typical coming-of-age stories.

“I like the young adult setting because it focuses so much on identity and figuring out your place in the world,” Smith explained. Using her degrees in Russian studies and computer security, Smith’s Sekret trilogy explores how to survive in Communist Russia with a KGB that can read minds. Her tagline is “an empty mind is a safe mind.” Her books grapple with ideas of censorship and citizenship, which play into her career too.

Smith works at a private company in Washington, D.C., writing cyber security analysis pieces for corporate clients.

“My area of focus is Russian cyber security,” she said. To decompress from her job, Smith writes, and even in high school, “I was making up my own stories instead of paying attention in class.”

During her time at TU, Smith delved into Russian culture with a study abroad trip to Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Preparing to write with a Russian backdrop, Smith immersed herself in Russian music, history books, TV shows and movies.

“I try to get into their voice,” Smith said.

Active in a new project with Serial Box Publishing, Smith is the lead writer for The Witch Who Came In From The Cold, which is a Cold War spy thriller combined with witchcraft. “They are trying to get a TV feel;” Every week, audiences can tune in for the next chapter, she said.

Smith’s novels are action-packed, but “It’s those connective tissue scenes where you are piecing things together or building tension up” that are the trickiest, she said. Her advice to aspiring writers is to read everything and study the various writing styles of authors. “It’s like going to the gym, you have to keep reading to keep up the muscle in your brain,” she explained.

Smith never forgets her Tulsa roots. With both parents teaching at TU, “I have TU in my blood,” she said. She got a chance to celebrate her Oklahoma roots with her short story “A Tyranny of Petticoats.” The anthology showcases stories about women throughout American history making a name for themselves. Smith’s character is a dreamer from Oklahoma who wants to be a screenwriter in Hollywood during World War II. “It’s kind of a home-front story romance about figuring out her identity,” Smith said.

A dreamer herself, Smith’s creative writing allows her to look beyond the status quo and write thrilling prose that steps out of reality. “We don’t have to accept the way things are,” Smith cautioned. “We can make something more of it, and better stories build a better world.”

18

K E N D A L L

Every line means something

You can’t pin down the muse. But I keep regular office hours in case she wants to drop by.

Trudy Lewis Trudy Lewis (BA ’83) wrote a story every week while at TU. What started as a hobby transformed into an award-winning career dedicated to thoughtful prose. Based on a random weekly topic, Lewis and a friend devised intricate stories. “We would read it and critique it, and then, we went out dancing,” Lewis said.

“We had a great ritual.”

As a professor of creative writing at The University of Missouri, Lewis may have kicked off her dancing shoes, but her writing persevered. Her short stories collection, The Bones of Garbo won the Sandstone Prize in short fiction and her novel Private Correspondences won the William Goyen Prize.

As soon as Lewis learned to read, she became a writer. “I cracked that code, and decided ‘wow that’s the most amazing thing. I want to produce that code,’” she said. From science fiction to mid-western novels, Lewis’s talent spans across multiple writing genres, but there are always believable and engaging characters trumpeting her quick-witted dialogue.

In her novel, The Empire Rolls, Lewis’s roller derby loving, park ranger pulls a gun on polluters, which is broadcast on the internet. From there, readers strap on their skates for a winding tale of a crumbling economy, a Bible-toting mother and difficult relationships. The novel is also an homage to the beauty in Missouri. “A lot of it is living in Missouri — the nature here. It’s incredibly lush, and several ecosystems meet here,” she explained.

Although Lewis teaches creative writing, she warns that “the impulse to write a story gets buried under a lot of academic discourse sophistication.” Writing class is not about imposing selfproclaimed literary values on students. Instead, Lewis focuses on plot and structure. For her own writing practice, she meditates to prepare herself to get behind the characters’ eyes. “It’s an immersive experience of being somewhere else but also being totally in the flow,” Lewis said.

After graduating from TU, Lewis went on to receive two master’s degrees from Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Her doctorate degree came from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Lewis maintains that attending TU was the best decision of her life because she was well-prepared for her graduate degrees. The individual attention she received at TU influenced her academic career. “I would write articles for the newspaper, and Dean Thomas Dailey would start talking to me about the article. Where does that happen?” she said.

Her next endeavor is a science fiction story about jellyfish and immortality. Jellyfish reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they can rest in a polyp state indefinitely. With that idea, Lewis creates a world where a corporation can sell immortality.

Ethical questions such as when does life begin and end and how humankind is defined foster a sci-fi novel with a philosophical bent.

Lewis keeps an open mind when it comes to her writing. “You can’t pin down the muse, but I keep regular office hours in case she wants to drop by,” she said.

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

Photo by Benjo Arwas

Creativity is an opportunity to step beyond what we already know and imagine a better way of doing things.

When the cameras are rolling, Wesam Keesh answers to another name, Jay Simmons. Landing a lead role in the new ABC network Shondaland drama, For the People, Keesh (BA ’09) delves into his new role as a public defender in the southern district court of New York City. “It’s about six brand new law school graduates in the most prestigious court in the United States,” Keesh said.

Three are prosecutors for the state, and three are public defenders.

Keesh’s character Jay Simmons plays a laid back public defender, but his appearance of slacking off can be deceiving. “There’s a lot of me in Jay Simmons,” Keesh explained. “When I am passionate about something, I am willing to fight tooth and nail for it.”

Keesh began his TU career in international business, but what was merely a theatre hobby quickly transformed into his greatest passion. Under the direction of Lisa Wilson, professor of theatre, Keesh was cast as Hamlet. “Wesam was able to do the sword fights, make decisions regarding the madness, handle the verse and bring that very special humor and physical life to the character,” Wilson said.

During his time as Hamlet, Keesh experienced an aha moment when as Wilson explained, “every line has to mean something.”

There is profound depth to acting, and as Hamlet, he personified that gravity. “This is so cheesy, but I felt like I was glowing. There was this golden light coming from me, and I was really in the moment,” Keesh said.

Keesh perpetually hones his acting discipline, and character development research is how he embodies Jay Simmons. While shadowing a real public defender, Keesh was surprised by some harsh realities. From simple bicycle theft to violent crimes, public defenders handle a range of cases in one day. All too often, “they have to defend the worst of humans,” Keesh said. After observing the exhausting and frequently disheartening world of public defenders, Keesh was haunted with the question: Why would someone choose to be a public defender? When he finished shadowing, Keesh knew the answer.

“Everyone deserves a voice in the courtroom,” he said.

After Keesh switched his major to theatre, his family wholeheartedly supported him, and his father cautioned, “If this is something you want to do, then make sure you’re the best at it.”

There is no role for lazy actors, and although Keesh cannot control what roles he is offered, he can remain competitive by daily practicing his craftsmanship. Wilson said Keesh has a “thrilling combination of heart, imagination, physicality and immersion he brings to his work.”

For the People will air January 2018, and until then, TU’s famous Hamlet will follow his own advice. “The most important thing for any actor is to just make it real.”

“Creativity is the artist’s signature. His or Her’s most intimate voice that stems from their true self. The more connected you are with your true self, nature, and the divine, the more your creativity can flourish.”

places we call home Home is more than a zip code or four walls. Home is an integral and often complicated part of self-identity. This year, the Oklahoma Center for Humanities chose the theme homelands for its programming. Director of Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, Sean Latham said, “The homelands theme emerged in the early stages of the Syrian refugee crisis, when the shocking images of drowned children . . . made us think about the importance and fragility of places we call home.”

Homelands has a special resonance in Oklahoma because of the large number of Native Americans. America is a country founded on immigrants violently displacing indigenous people, and the Trail of Tears led directly to the plains of Oklahoma.

People raced to claim homes in the land run, and years later, the dust bowl displaced thousands of Oklahomans. Homeland is at the heart of deeply rooted societal wounds.

“Our aim is to help us all better understand the complexity of the human experience: its beauty and its contradiction, its history and its promise,” Latham said. Homelands is a theme

rich in the arts. The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra will present a concert on “Songs America Loves to Sing,” and Ibtisam Barakat author of the memoir Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine will speak on childhood and adolescence in Palestine.

The homelands theme invites attendees to reimagine home in different contexts. “Only by first understanding just how dense this concept is can we then begin to make good arguments about things like immigration, identity and development,” Latham explained.

Home is an everyday word, but it is anything but commonplace. When home is far away, humanity seeks out ruby slippers or at least mother’s macaroni and cheese. “Home is an impossibility, a dream, an idea we chase but never quite capture,” Latham said. The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities may not capture home, but it will analyze, discuss and share what makes homelands a universal topic.

Simply put, it hits home.

And the Award Goes To Joseph Rivers, J. Donald Feagin Professor of Music and Professor of Film Studies, was nominated for an Emmy in the Best Documentary-Historical category.

He composed original music for the documentary film, High Stakes: The Life and Times of E.W. Marland. “We did not win, but it was an honor to be nominated,” Rivers said. The documentary will be screened at TU on November 16 for the 110th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood.

Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature is the first journal devoted solely to women’s literature.

For 36 years, it has published groundbreaking articles and reviews of literary, historicist and theoretical work by both established and emerging scholars in the field of women’s literature and feminist theory. In 2016, it won the Council of Editors of Learned Journals Voyager Award for its 2015 Special Topics issue, “New Directions on Mary Leapor and Ann Yearsley,” guest edited by Kerri Andrews.

Musical Notes The TU Jazz Band has been invited to perform as an Honor Group at the 2018 Annual Convention of the Oklahoma Music Educators Association on January 17. The jazz ensemble was selected through

Memoriam

KEIJA PARSSINEN

Oklahoma Center for 20 Humanities Fellow

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities annually selects eight research fellows, and this year, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Keija Parssinen was chosen for her project, a novel: I Sing of You. Parssinen was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up there for 12 years. She delves back into her roots for a storyline revolving around three characters and the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), where her grandfather worked. I Sing of You is a novel about the strong human desire to connect across cultures and what happens when that desire threatens cultural norms,” Parssinen said.

She also focuses on America’s relationship in the Gulf. Given the heated political climate and fear of terrorism, this topic is timely. Congress may pass a law allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government. “The Saudi-American relationship that defined much of American policy in the Middle East is in jeopardy,” she said.

This project involves research into Aramco historical materials and Arabic poetry tradition, which will be interwoven into her novel. “It is my most daring novelistic undertaking, in style and content, and its publication would mark a major step forward in my career,” Parssinen K E N D A Lsaid.

L C O L L E G E O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S M A G A Z I N E

Dwight Dailey was a faculty member for 37 years. He was made a professor of instrumental music in 1971 and appointed emeritus professor of music in 1991.

He received the prestigious Mr. Homecoming award in 1987.

Warren Hipsher taught for 47 years in the college of education and was the department chairman for several years. He served as assistant to the president from 1965-1970.

Steadman Upham was the president of TU for 12 years.

Among his many accomplishments, he founded the Center for Global Education, which encourages and

F A L L

2 0 1 7

collegenews

{ 2017 OKLAHOMA CENTER FOR HUMANITIES }

a competitive audition process adjudicated by a panel of outstanding regional jazz educators.

The TU Wind Ensemble has been invited to perform at the College Band Directors National Association Southwestern Division Conference at the University of Houston in the spring of 2018. The invitation was earned after a rigorous peer review selection process. The performance is scheduled for 2 p.m., March 23 at the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston.

The TU band and the Tulsa Community Band will present a memorial band concert to honor Professor Emeritus Dwight Dailey who passed away last spring. Dailey, who joined the TU faculty in 1952 served as director of bands for the marching and concert bands. After retiring from TU, Dailey remained active in Tulsa’s music scene as director of the Tulsa Community Band for 25 years. The memorial concert will be Sunday, October 29 at 3 p.m. in the Gussman Auditorium, Lorton Performance Center. The concert is free and open to the public.

New Hires enables students to travel and study abroad. TU’s True Blue Neighbors volunteer clearing agency was also his initiative. A well-respected anthropologist, he was prepared to teach an anthropology class this fall before his untimely death. Upham’s passion and dedication to TU were influential in making it a world-class institution of higher learning.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko was an internationally acclaimed poet whose defiant verse inspired a generation of young Russians in their fight against Stalinism during the Cold War. TU was honored to have him teaching literature for 25 years.

Alicia Odewale, assistant professor of anthropology Sheila Sonzzini Ferreira, department assistant for history and political science

Farewells Jane Hittinger, associate professor of philosophy and religion retired.

Toy Kelley, department assistant for history and political science retired after 26 years of service.

Mike Whalen, professor of anthropology, retired.

21

studentnews

Hannah Cole was selected to be a William C. Dement Fellow with the Sleep and Chronobiology Summer Behavioral Sciences Research Apprenticeship program at Brown University.

Meagan Collins, a senior English major, has written and edited for The Collegian, PennWell Publishing, WishDish, Nimrod International Journal of Prose & Poetry, Stylus, VSolvit, Tulsa People and Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers.

Comparative Literature Association’s conference. Her paper was nominated for the conference’s Frenz Prize.

Clinical psychology graduate students Lily Lau, Dan Guzmah and Brad Reynolds received blue ribbon prizes for the best research submissions for the American Psychological Association’s Annual Convention.

Mark Rideout (PhD ’17) published an article “’With what’s unreal thou coactive art’: Gender and the Forces of Illusion in The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest,” in The Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference. As a Bellwether fellow for 2016-17, he delivered a presentation to the Bellwether Fellow Research Panel: “From ‘fairy toys’ to ‘fairy time’: Machiavelli’s Prince in Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Seungho Lee was named a Humanities Research Fellow at the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.

Bryant Loney, a junior creative writing major, published his second novel, Take Me to the Cat.

The Department of Political Science selected this year’s Rising Juniors: Bryan Corbaz, Tristan Loveless and Andrew Noland.

Abbey Marino, sociology major, completed a research internship with the Early Emotional Development Program at Washington University School of Medicine.

Roxanne Eddington, psychology major, interned with the education department at Domestic Violence Intervention Services.

Margaret Mealy, sociology major, interned with the Children’s Advocacy Center in Sherman, Texas.

Megan Gibson, Ph.D. student, delivered a paper titled “Fandom: Enthusiastic Devotion, Religious and Theatrical Celebrity” at the annual meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Kaitlyn Graham, sociology major, studied abroad during spring 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cheyenne Green, a sophomore English major, interned for the Tulsa Boys’ Home Centennial Team.

Stewart Habig, English Ph.D. degree student, presented a paper, “Politicizing the Prologue: Ralph Ellison in the pages of Partisan Review,” for the Ralph Ellison Society at the 2017 American Literary Association Conference. He also attended the 2017 Dartmouth Futures of American Studies Institute and presented a paper titled “Curating Melvin Tolson’s Jazz Aesthetics in Harlem Gallery.”

22

Maureen Haynes, sociology major, interned at Tulsa Metropolitan Environmental Trust.

The Department of Political Science selected this year’s Rising Seniors: Hayley Miller, Alexander Reinert and Peter Simmons.

[Confused: selected them for what?]

Chelsea Mullins (BA ’16) a master’s student, served on the panel, “Rethinking Rowson: A Roundtable on Just Teach One Edition of Susanna Rowson’s Sincerity,” at the Society of Early Americanists’ 10th biennial conference.

Mikayla Pevac finished a twoyear Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge project at Oklahoma Center for Humanities and will start an M.A. in communication at the University of Denver.

O F

Hannah Vissers, sociology major, presented a sociological study of “Experiences of International Students at The University of Tulsa” at the TU Student Research Colloquium. She also worked as a coordinator for a Youth Leadership Development Program for foster children in Canada.

Jack Wood, sociology major, studied abroad in South Africa in a program focused on community health.

Amy Pezzelle (MA ’14), Ph.D. student, gave a paper, “’Some of those monsters are humans’: Constructs of Monstrosity in Joseph Bruchac’s Killer of Enemies,” at the American

C O L L E G E

Lauren Rogers, a sophomore English and media studies major, interned at the Tulsa-area United Way as a marketing assistant.

Liisa Salomaa, sociology major, volunteered at the Tulsa Public Defender’s office, and after a few months, she was hired for a part-time job there.

Political Science majors Hayley Miller and Peter Simmons were selected to join Phi Beta Kappa.

K E N D A L L

Dayne Riley attended the College English Association conference where he presented his paper “Islands of Masculine Friendship: The Eighteenth-Century Tavern.”

Colleen Yoder, sociology major, had an internship at a private law firm in St. Louis.

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

Unmarked: Social Politics of Fin-desiècle Periodicals and Digital Humanities Markup Practices.”

Karen Dutoi, managing editor of Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, was invited to join the Project MUSE Journal Publisher Group.

Jennifer Airey, associate professor of English, was elected executive president of the Aphra Behn Society for Women in the Arts, 1660-1830, a national scholarly society dedicated to the study of women’s literature.

Jean Blocker, Henry Kendall Associate Professor of Sociology, was named a Top 10 Faculty Member by Kappa Alpha Theta.

Assistant Professors of Anthropology, Briggs Buchanan and Danielle Macdonald received 2017 National Science Fellowships.

Susan E. Chase, professor of sociology, published “Narrative inquiry: Toward Theoretical and Methodological Maturity” in The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research.

Co-founder and Co-Director of The University of Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Injustice, Joanne Davis has been awarded three years of funding from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology for her project focused on sleep problems and suicidal ideation and behaviors.

Dennis Denisoff, McFarlin Professor of English, co-directs the internationally recognized digital humanities project, “Visualizing the

F A L L

2 0 1 7

Matt Hindman, assistant professor of political science, published “Promiscuity of the Past: Neoliberalism and Gay Sexuality Pre- and Post-AIDS” in Politics, Groups, & Identities and “Reinventing Pluralism: Consensus, Hegemony, and the Politics of Affirmation” in New Political Science.

Brian Hosmer, H.G. Barnard Associate Professor of Western American History, spoke at the 38th annual American Indian Workshop, a European-based organization.

Jennie Ikuta, assistant professor of political science published “Nothing is Really Equal: On the Compatibility of Nietzsche’s Egalitarian Ethics and AntiDemocratic Politics” in Constellations.

She also received a nationally competitive faculty fellowship from the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy.

Gaurav Kampani, assistant professor of political science, along with Bharath Gopalaswamy, the deputy director at Atlantic Council, published “Mainstreaming Nuclear Pakistan” in Foreign Affairs.

Travis Scott Lowe, assistant professor of sociology, has a forthcoming article in Sociological Spectrum entitled, “Occupational Race Segregation, Globalization, and White Advantage: WhiteBlack Earnings Inequality in U.S.

Metropolitan Areas.”

facultynews

Taylor Chukwu won the prestigious Television Academy internship and interned at CBS television network in Los Angeles.

Department of Psychology Chair John McNulty is the new presidentelect of the Society for Personality Assessment.

Katie Miller, graduate assistant, was awarded the Writing Program Consultant of the Year Award by the TU writing program.

Elana Newman, the McFarlin Professor of Psychology, was awarded additional funding from the George Kaiser Family Foundation for her Women in Recovery project.

Amy Pezzelle was named book review editor at Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature.

Director of Psychophysiology Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, Jamie Rhudy has been awarded additional funding from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology for his Biofeedback Training in Conditioned Pain Regulation (BT-CPR) project.

Marie Sartain was named book review editor for the James Joyce Quarterly.

Ryan Saylor, associate professor of political science, published “Paying for War and Building States: The Coalitional Politics of Debt Servicing and Tax Institutions” in World Politics and “Ethnic Entrepreneurs and Movements for New Administrative Units: Lessons from Nigeria” in Publius: The Journal of Federalism.

Laura Thomas, graduate assistant, was awarded the Writing Program Teacher of the Year Award by the TU writing program.

Andrew Wood, Stanley Rutland Professor of American History, organized the 2017 Latin American Studies Association conference and chaired a panel on “Tourism Histories,” in Peru.

23

alumninews

Richard O’Brien’s

Front& Center Phil Keeter sits in the front row. From his economic classes at The University of Tulsa to his pew at Boston Avenue Methodist Church, Keeter is front and center. Keeter (BA ’59) has maintained his front-and-center attention on the success of TU. From serving as president of the Golden Hurricane Club to his heavy involvement in the TU Alumni Association, “I always wanted TU to be as successful as OU and OSU,” he said. “I had it in the back of my mind that my participation might help to get us there.”

As a TU flag waves from his front porch, Keeter’s neighbors have no question where he and his wife, Marilyn (BA ’58), went to college; and upstairs, there is an entire room decked floor to ceiling in TU memorabilia. From his first-row classroom seat, Keeter noticed Marilyn, and his professor had a suggestion to his future wife; “Miss Carter, you’re going to have to move up here to the front row, or Mr. Keeter is going to have to move back there with you because I can’t teach with him looking back all the time.”

TU helped prepare Keeter for his successful career in the retail boating industry, and he learned time management by balancing a TU class load with a job. “I learned a lot of maturity lessons,” he said. “If I didn’t do my studying in between my noon class and work, I would get behind.”

After graduation, Keeter joined his father-in-law in running Romer Marine, a retail boating company. Soon his boat knowledge caught up to his gregarious personality, and Keeter made an excellent boat salesman.

In 1960, Keeter along with six area marine retailers established the Tulsa Boat Sport and Travel Show in order to bring recreational boating to the forefront in Oklahoma.

The TBSTS has grown to be one of the largest boat shows in the United States, ranking in the top five in square footage of exhibit space and in the top ten in total attendance. Keeter remains president of the show today.

In 1972, Keeter helped establish the Marine Retailers Association of America. “We decided the retail part of the boating industry was not getting represented in Congress.”

What started as 12 members flourished into 3,000 members in three years, and when Keeter retired in 2012, the association included nearly 6,000 members.

In 1986, Keeter closed Romer Marine and became the 24

K E N D A L L

BOOK, MUSIC AND LYRICS

BY RICHARD O’BRIEN president of the association. He often walked the halls of Congress explaining to representatives that, “The boating industry is always pictured as people who are affluent, but 80 percent of boats are owned by middle-class people.” Keeter worked toward lowering fees and regulations, but his crowning business achievement was defeating the federal luxury tax in early 2000, which in one year cost the recreational boating industry 40 percent of its business nationwide.

President George H. W. Bush appointed Keeter to the Boating Safety Advisory Council, and he served for two consecutive three-year terms. The council proposed policy and legislation to the U.S. Coast Guard which lobbied Congress to make it law. The council also allowed the Keeters to travel: “We met all over the country,” he said.

Although Keeter’s association job kept him in Chicago Monday through Thursday, he and Marilyn would return to Tulsa every weekend. “It never entered my mind to leave Tulsa,” he said. His heart was always with his family and his TU family in Tulsa, but Keeter had another significant family: his church community. “I’m 80 years old, and I have been a member of Boston Avenue Methodist Church since birth,” he said. His grandmother, mother, children and grandchildren have all sat in the front row.

When he is not cheering at a TU sporting event or in the office, Keeter and his family are at the lake. He and Marilyn like being with their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and teaching them about nature and — no surprise — proper boat maintenance. “Every evening at the lake, we always have a big family dinner,” he said.

Those same loving faces will be seated in the front row when Keeter receives the TU Distinguished Alumni Award. He considers the award an incredible and surprising honor. “I’ve never dreamed in my life that I would be a TU Distinguished Alumnus,” he said, but his family found it perfectly suited for him. After all, he is a “front row kind of person.”

C O L L E G E

O F

A R T S

A N D

S C I E N C E S

M A G A Z I N E

OCT. 19-21 • TU ALUMNI TICKETS — BUY ONE GET ONE FREE! • 918-631-2566

the university of

NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

TULSA, OK PERMIT NO. 147

800 South Tucker Drive Tulsa, OK 74104-9700 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

HURRICANE TRACKER The forecast for the next generation of alumni The Alumni Association and Office of Admission would like you to share the name and contact information of a student you feel would make a great member of the TU family. The Office of Admission will then contact the student directly to give him/her the option of registering as a prospective student, and, because of your referral, waive the $50 application fee.

We also urge you to contact the prospective student to share your TU experience and express your encouragement and excitement at the possibility of him/her joining the TU family. After all, there are no better advocates for TU than enthusiastic alumni and friends.

If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Admission at 918-631-2307 or admission@utulsa.edu.