CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATES!

The University of Oklahoma Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences recently celebrated the achievements of its graduating students. We appreciate all of those who attended these events and joined us online to joyfully acknowledge the work of our students. The college congratulates the class of 2023. To see more photos from our ceremonies, visit the college’s Facebook page.

FACULTY AND STAFF HONORED BY UNIVERSITY

Each year, OU celebrates the great achievements of its talented faculty through a variety of awards and recognitions. The Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost coordinates awards with other administrative offices. It was an outstanding year for the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the 2023 Norman Campus Faculty Awards and Honors ceremony. In fact, faculty from our college won 70% of the awards. In addition, OU and the Staff Senate on the Norman campus recognize dedicated and outstanding staff members through a variety of awards for outstanding performance, service anniversaries and retirements. The college congratulates all of our 2023 faculty and staff award recipients. Thank you for your commitment to serving our university's purpose and contributing to the growth of the OU Family.

In addition, several members of the college were among those recognized by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships as recipients of the 2023 VPRP Research and Creative Activity Awards during a ceremony held at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on April 18. The ceremony recognized faculty recipients of the awards for excellence in campus-wide research and creative activities, as well as 10 recipients of active early career awards, 34 project teams that earned $1 million or more in extramural funding,15 recipients of patents, and two recipients of the Award for Excellence in Research Service and Administration.

ANNUAL KALEIDOSCOPE EVENING HELD TO CELEBRATE THE COLLEGE

On April 20, the college held Kaleidoscope to celebrate and honor faculty, staff, students, alumni and distinguished service awards winners. This year, a lunch was held at the Noun Hotel, where award winners were formally recognized. An evening reception was held at the Sam Noble Museum for all members of the college community. The college appreciates all who attended the events and those who contributed to help support student scholarships. To view photos from the event on the college Facebook page, click here. For their contributions on the local, state, national and international levels, Eyang Garrison, Glen D. Johnson and William Lipe were recognized as the 2023 Distinguished Alumni of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. The college also recognized David and Judi Proctor with the Distinguished Service Award for their leadership and generosity in support of areas that reflect the values of the college, and Jerod Coker and Lucy Mahaffey as the 2023 Young Alumni Award recipients for their exemplary leadership, service and character. Coker was honored posthumously. LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR AWARD RECIPIENTS

Pictured: Eyang Garrison, DFCAS 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

FACULTY AND DEPARTMENT NEWS

The college congratulates Jizhong “Joe” Zhou, Ph.D., director of the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Environmental Genomics, who is among the nearly 270 accomplished scholars from around the world who have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Zhou is a professor of microbiology for OU’s Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology. Each year, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders to work together to help set the direction of research and analysis in science and technology policy, global security and international affairs, social policy, education, the humanities and the arts. As a George Lynn Cross Research Professor and Presidential Professor, Zhou is an international leader in genomics-enabled microbial environmental sciences. He is known for his groundbreaking advances in developing both cutting-edge experimental and computational metagenomic technologies to address frontier ecological and environmental questions. He has pioneered the elucidation and modeling of microbial feedback mechanisms in response to climate change, anthropogenic pollution and environmental gradients. READ MORE

OU professors Lucas Bessire, Ph.D., and Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Ph.D., have been named John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellows. This national award honors scholars, artists and scientists who are selected on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise. “We are incredibly honored that the prestigious Guggenheim Foundation has recognized the scholarly contributions of not one, but two of the University of Oklahoma’s exceptional faculty members,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “The work done by Dr. Bessire and Dr. Cobb-Greetham has enhanced many lives by providing a deeper understanding of their respective fields, and their research impact will be significantly amplified as Guggenheim Fellows.” Guggenheim Fellows represent a wide variety of backgrounds, fields of study and accomplishments. Bessire is a professor of anthropology and Cobb-Greetham is a professor of Native American history and culture. READ MORE

The college congratulates Loretta Bass on being selected for a Jefferson Science Fellowship by the National Academies. This is the 20th class of Fellows selected since the program was established in 2003 as an initiative of the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. The Jefferson Science Fellows Program is designed to further build the capacity for science, technology and engineering expertise within the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development. Bass is the Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, where she has served as Department Chair for the last six years. She is a social demographer who does research and publishes on stratification issues and civil and human rights in the United States, Africa and Europe. READ MORE

Georgia Kosmopoulou, associate dean for research in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, was recently asked to represent the National Science Foundation as a member of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Frontiers of Benefit-Cost Analysis. This subcommittee is convened by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and the Council of Economic Advisors to coordinate and advance efforts in harnessing the best-available science and economics to tackle the challenges in quantifying and monetizing a wide range of relevant impacts in benefit-cost analyses across Federal agencies.

Earlier this semester, the OU Department of Economics was honored to host the 2023 Chinese Economics Society North American Conference. Thanks to the diligent work of our conference program committee, chaired by professor Qihong Liu, and the local organizing committee chaired by professor Greg Burge, the conference was a huge success. Since its founding in 1985, the CES has played an important role in bringing fundamental changes in China’s economic system by influencing policy making. The society aims to maximize global security and enhance opportunities for all people in all nations across the globe. Keynote speakers at the event were Judith Chevalier (pictured at keynote lunch above) and Daniel Xu. Chevalier is the William S. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Economics at Yale University, and current chair of the American Economic Association's Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. She is former co-editor of the American Economic Review, and of the Rand Journal of Economics, and was recently elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as to the Econometric Society. Xu is a professor of Economics at Duke University and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the co-editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics; associate editor of the Rand Journal of Economics and AEJ: Applied. The event had 125 registrants and nearly 200 people participated either in person or through online lectures. Approximately 140 were in attendance for the keynote luncheon featuring Chevalier in the Fred Jones Museum of Art and the conference had nearly 160 submissions.

The college was proud to recognize our 2023 Dean's Outstanding Staff and Dean's Outstanding Advisor during the Kaleidoscope Celebration. The purpose of the awards is to recognize staff members and advisors in the departments and programs within the college for their outstanding job performance. Our Outstanding Staff members this year are Jeff Alexander in our Department of Political Science and Sarah Moran from the School of Library and Information Studies, and our Outstanding Advisor is Wora Fox.

Alexander has served as the graduate program coordinator for political science since 2013. His duties include supporting the large Ph.D. in Political Science program and the Master of Arts in Political Science program, the Master of Public Administration program (both in Norman and in Tulsa) and our four accelerated bachelor's/master's tracks. The most common note about him is that he anticipates students needs before they do. Many of our students mention him in their dissertations, which is a rarity for staff members. He is the person our graduate students often meet first when they express interest in one of our programs, and he is usually the person our graduate students work with most at the end of their program. Few people on this campus understand graduate college policies, university systems, curriculum and financial support like he does.

Moran began working as the administration and finance coordinator for the School of Library and Information Studies in 2020. In 2022, SLIS went through an extremely important national review from the American Library Association Committee on Accreditation. Moran was absolutely invaluable in our preparation for this review. She wrote pieces of the self-study that had to do with budgeting and finance and read chapters to offer comments. She also made sure a renovation of the SLIS space was completed as part of preparing for a site visit, and when the team made a last-minute switch to a virtual site visit, she and other staff members created video tours of the Norman and Tulsa physical spaces. In addition to her work in SLIS, she is active on the OU campus through Staff Senate.

Fox, who joined the college in 2020, advises students majoring in Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy and Modern Languages (specifically Linguistics and Japanese). She advises 226 students and she was selected based on her overall excellence in all areas of the academic advising role to include developing rapport with students/faculty/staff, high attention to detail and efficiency, unmatched organization skills, forward thinking with promoting her departments and majors, and proactive problem solving.

OU FACULTY RECEIVE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES FUNDING

Four University of Oklahoma projects are the only in the state to receive National Endowment from the Humanities funding awarded in April 2023. Nationwide, 258 humanities projects were awarded $35.63 million. OU faculty in the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center will also receive funding to support a project led by the University of West Virginia. The four projects are:

“Expanding Coptic Digital Online Collections,” led by Caroline T. Schroeder, Ph.D., professor of women’s and gender studies. Amir Zeldes, Georgetown University, is the co-principal investigator for the project.

“Indigenous Media Portal,” led by Amanda Minks, Ph.D., associate professor in the Honors College and affiliate faculty in the Department of Native American Studies; Amanda Cobb-Greetham (Chickasaw), professor, Department of Native American Studies; Joshua Nelson (Cherokee), associate professor of English and affiliate faculty in the Department of Native American Studies; and Lina Ortega (Sac and Fox), associate curator of the Western History Collections and Native American studies librarian for OU Libraries.

"Mother of the Waters: The Life and Death of the Glaciers of Bolivia’s Cordillera Real,” led by Sarah Hines, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of History.

Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center director and curator Michael Crespin and senior archivist J.A. Pryse are supporting "The American Congress Digital Archives Portal Project" led by Danielle Emerling at the University of West Virginia.

READ MORE ABOUT THESE PROJECTS

WHAT CAN NEMATODES' BODY SIZE TELL US ABOUT CELL GROWTH?

Assistant professor of biology Gavin Woodruff, Ph.D., has received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation to study how one particular roundworm regulates its cell size. C. inopinata is a roundworm species that is nearly twice as long in size as its highly studied close relative, C. elegans. Woodruff’s study aims to better understand why C. inopinata have such a drastically different body size and how that information could improve scientists’ understanding of cellular growth. The five-year project, “The genetic and developmental basis of body size evolution in nematodes,” is funded by an expected $964,837 grant from the National Science Foundation. READ MORE

SCIENTISTS ADVOCATE FOR INTEGRATION OF BIOGEOGRAPHY AND BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY TO RAPIDLY RESPOND TO BIODIVERSITY LOSS

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at OU has published a perspective article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences advocating for convergent research that integrates the fields of biogeography and behavioral ecology to more rapidly respond to challenges associated with climate change and biodiversity loss. While news about climate change fills headlines, the crisis of biodiversity loss has gotten less attention. In their article, the authors contend that “identifying solutions that prevent large-scale extinction requires addressing critical questions about biodiversity dynamics that – despite widespread interest – have been challenging to answer thus far.” From microorganisms that support soil health, fish that we eat, forests that clean water, to pollination, lumber and medicine, protecting ecosystems and the variety of plants and animals within them is vital to the health of the planet and for humanity to thrive.

Pictured (L to R): Researchers Ashlee Rowe, Hayley Lanier, Katharine Marske, Laura Stein and Cameron Siler authored a perspective article advocating for convergent research that integrates the fields of biogeography and behavioral ecology to more rapidly respond to challenges associated with climate change and biodiversity loss.

RICARDO BETANCUR-R. – BIOLOGY

$229,114 - NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

INVESTIGATING THE FACTORS SHAPING MARINE-DERIVED FRESHWATER FISH RADIATIONS IN TROPICAL RIVERS OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA

The vast majority of the over 30,000 species of fish in the world occur either in marine or freshwater ecosystems, not both. However, over the course of millions of years, select lineages of fishes have crossed the semi-permeable boundary between marine and freshwaters, established permanent residence, and diversified in the newly colonized environment. Even fewer groups underwent remarkable radiations upon colonizing freshwaters, diversifying into an array of different species that play different ecological roles. Australia and New Guinea are unique because their freshwater fish communities are primarily composed of lineages derived from marine ancestors, and at least seven such lineages underwent spectacular radiations. This award will explore how varying rates of evolution, age of different fish groups, and the interactions with incumbent fish communities have influenced the evolutionary outcomes of colonizing freshwaters in the Australia-New Guinea region. The study also aims to determine the genetic mechanisms underlying adaptation to freshwater environments. 

ZHIBO YANG – CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY

$41,670 - OU HEALTH SCIENCES

TAKING OVARIAN CANCER MAINTENANCE THERAPY TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Ovarian cancer accounts for more deaths than any other gynecologic cancers. Recent advances in ovarian cancer treatment have dramatically improved the lives of patients. However, these chemotherapies are limited by their unacceptable toxicities and recurrence in many patients. The team has developed a novel non-toxic drug compound, SHetA2, currently in Phase 1 trial for the treatment of advanced and recurrent gynecologic cancers. Similar to any other drug compound, the efficacy of SHetA2 is tightly related to its cellular uptake efficiency. Researchers will study the efficacy and mechanism of this novel drug compound and measure the drug uptake in multi-cellular spheroids, which are responsible for the development and metastasis of ovarian cancer, in patient ascites. Yang (Co-I) will work with Drs. Doris Benbrook (PI), Anthony Burgett (Partnering PI), Chao Xu (Co-I) and Kathleen Moore (Co-I) at OUHSC on this project.

Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences faculty members Chie Noyori-Corbett (pictured top, Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work) and June Abbas (pictured bottom, School of Library and Information Studies), along with Suchi Bhattacharjee (Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture) and Qiong Wang (Michael F. Price College of Business), recently participated in an NPR podcast interview to discuss the OU Humanitarian Innovation Research Group research with refugee communities. The group, founded in 2020, is a transdisciplinary research team, working toward the development of an effective refugee resettlement model for the benefit of both host and refugee communities in the United States, within a global framework. OU HIRG is also an affiliate of the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Community and Society Transformation. To listen to the NPR podcast, visit here and click on Episode 28. The team's portion begins about seven minutes into the podcast.

KYLIE HUTCHISON NAMED OU'S CARL ALBERT AWARD WINNER

Kylie Hutchison of Castle Rock, Colorado, who graduated with a degree in microbiology and minors in chemistry and medical humanities, has been named the recipient of the 2023 Carl Albert Award, presented each year to the outstanding senior in the OU Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. Hutchison plans to pursue a doctorate to study the relations between the gut microbiome and female reproductive diseases. Her professional goal is to work in women's health startups before starting her own. She hopes to help translate research into applicable products and services for women to reimagine how reproductive health care is approached. The Carl Albert Award, the most prestigious honor given to a student by the OU Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, is based on academic performance, moral force of character and promise of future service to the state and nation. First presented in 1966, the award was established to honor Carl Albert, the late OU alumnus and U.S. Speaker of the House, for his distinguished undergraduate career and national service. Julian Rothbaum, former state regent and longtime friend of Albert, endowed the award in 1965. READ MORE

COLLEGE NAMES OUTSTANDING SENIORS

Each year, the university presents awards of merit to the outstanding seniors of each undergraduate college as selected by the college dean. This year's winners are:

Max Bouvette earned his degree in chemical biosciences. He plans on attending the OU

College of Medicine and ultimately, he will work in medical academia, conducting research on meaningful issues and positively impacting human lives through teaching and clinical care. 

Gracie Hedgpeth earned her degrees in biology and criminology. She will continue her studies at the University of Notre Dame, joining the Biological Sciences Ph.D. program. As a doctoral student, she will study infectious disease in threatened wildlife species.

Rohit Mital graduated with a degree in biology. He will attend medical school and his goal is to work in academic medicine with underserved populations in urban areas as a psychiatrist. 

SEVERAL DODGE FAMILY COLLEGE STUDENTS HONORED AT CAMPUS AWARDS PROGRAM

The college congratulates all of our students who were honored at the 2022 Campus Awards Program. This year, the Letzeiser Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist were all from the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. The silver medalist was Saramarie Azzun. Azzun graduated with a degree in neurobiology with a minor in African studies. In the fall, she plans on attending the OU School of Community Medicine. After obtaining her M.D./M.P.H., she plans to become a family medicine physician in academia to improve access to health care for historically disadvantaged communities, while alleviating the stigma surrounding mental health treatment in her community. The bronze medalist was Lilly Amechi. Amechi graduated with a degree in legal humanities with minors in constitutional studies and international studies with the highest honors. She will begin her career as the Economic Equity Housing Fellow at The Greenlining Institute. Amechi plans to become a lawyer, advancing justice and opportunity access to those historically and presently disadvantaged. CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF THE 2023 SPRING AWARD RECIPIENTS

Five students pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Oklahoma have been selected among the 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows. Two of the students are pursuing graduate degree programs in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. Jamie Boyd earned undergraduate degrees from OU in physics and French and will pursue a graduate degree at OU in atomic, molecular and optical physics. Carly Wickizer earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in chemistry and is now pursuing a graduate degree at OU in chemical theory, models and computational methods. READ MORE

The University of Oklahoma was recently recognized in several ways by ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. OU was named one of ALL IN’s Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting, based on making intentional efforts to increase student voting. OU is also among the signatories of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s Presidents’ Commitment as the university has committed to full student voter registration and voter participation of eligible students in all elections. Additionally, Lacey Lewis, a Carl Albert Civic Engagement Fellow, was one of 175 students selected to the 2023 ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Student Voting Honor Roll. The annual ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll recognizes college students at participating campuses who are advancing nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout efforts as well as ensuring equitable access to the polls.

School of Library and Information Studies Ph.D. student Ben Wang was accepted to this year’s LIS Education and Data Science Integrated Network Group fellowship program, which will start in summer 2023. The LIS Education and Data Science Integrated Network Group fellowship is a program designed to provide financial support and training to doctoral students and professionals pursuing an education in library and information science and data science. The fellowship aims to bridge the gap between LIS and data science, and equip graduates with the skills needed to work in data-driven roles within libraries, archives and other information settings. LEADING’s model includes community hubs at the University of New Mexico College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences and UC San Diego Library, a co-educational hub at OCLC and 18 member nodes that also serve as project mentoring sites. Drexel University’s Metadata Research Center serves as the central-coordinating hub and will oversee the data science curriculum and bring together all project partners. As a 2023 LEADING fellow, Wang’s remote fellowship placement will be with University of Rochester Libraries. Wang joined the SLIS Ph.D. program in fall 2021. Working with his faculty advisor, Jiqun Liu, Wang conducts research on user modeling and bias-aware evaluation in interactive information retrieval. As a second-year Ph.D. student, Wang has already published research articles on top-tier information science venues, including ASIS&T and Information Processing & Management.

Building on work done in spring 2022, DFCAS’s Environmental Studies Program has continued its involvement with the John F. Kennedy neighborhood just east of downtown Oklahoma City. Students in the Environmental Studies Capstone, a service-learning class, collaborated with the JFK Neighborhood Association to record residents’ accounts of frequent explosions from a nearby industrial recycling facility and of air pollution hazards. The class facilitated a conversation among JFK residents about their concerns regarding environmental health, property damage and environmental justice. A video of the conversation will be included with an oral history of the area begun by the spring 2022 Environmental Studies Capstone class. The video will be archived at Oklahoma City’s Metropolitan Library System, and incorporated in an EPA Environmental Justice grant application, submitted by the JFK Neighborhood Association. The class also met with Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality personnel to discuss environmental impacts on the JFK neighborhood, and sampled soils in the neighborhood to help learn whether damage to houses in the area is due explosions at the industrial recycling facility. This year’s capstone was taught by Carrie Leslie, a doctoral candidate in DFCAS’s Sociology Department, and Tiffany Legg, a doctoral student in Geology in the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy. For further information, or to learn about opportunities for involvement with the JFK Neighborhood Association, contact Carrie Leslie.

Pictured: Carrie Leslie (left) and Tiffany Legg (right), capstone instructors, with Denyvetta Davis (center), president of the JFK Neighborhood Association

2023 GRADUATE STORIES

As the spring semester concluded, the university highlighted several students spanning multiple colleges and hailing from different places. Each student, with their own unique story and diverse background, shared one thing in common – the University of Oklahoma. Several students from the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences were selected to share their experiences:

The college mourns the passing of retired Lt. Col. Charles K. Brantley. Brantley attended the University of Oklahoma from 1969 to 1973 on a four-year Army ROTC scholarship and was a distinguished military graduate with a degree in Asian studies. He accepted a regular Army commission into the Infantry Branch in 1973. During his career, Brantley earned a plethora of distinctions including a Ranger Tab, a Special Forces Tab, Air Assault Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Expert Infantry Badge, Combat Diver Badge, Master Freefall Badge and 15 sets of foreign jump wings. His awards include two Legions of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Soldiers Medal for Bravery, which he received for staying on board a stalled aircraft to attend to an injured soldier after instructing his team to bail out during a demonstration jump with the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army’s Sport Parachute Team. Brantley was commander of the Golden Knights and a prominent member of the Golden Knights Alumni Association. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1999. After retiring, Brantley developed a passion for helping underprivileged children and distinguished himself as a child protective services officer in Tampa, Florida. 

May 31

CASFAM Staff Meeting, 9 a.m. 

June 28

CASFAM Staff Meeting, 9 a.m. 

June 30

Sabbatical leave applications for spring 2024 and fall 2024 (two-semester sabbatical) or spring 2024 only are due to the Dean’s office. 

Aug. 21

2023 fall semester classes begin