Alumni: CAS prepared us to succeed at Harvard Law School

Wed, Aug 29, 2018

A few common threads run among three members of the College of Arts and Sciences family: They all love OSU, attended Harvard Law School, and remember professors who helped them get there.  Craig Grounds (English 2014), Travis Leverett (political science ’14) and Jeffrey Roderick (political science/economics ’13) all graduated from Oklahoma State University with their sights set on law school.

College of Arts and Sciences

CAS advisor of the year believes in students

Wed, Aug 22, 2018

The “Student First Aid Station” in Dana Hatter’s office in Life Sciences East is stocked not only with band-aids and ibuprofen, but also with boxes marked “Popcorn” and “Hot Chocolate.”  “I call all of the students I advise my kids,” Hatter joked, “and I basically am a mom 24/7, both at home and here.” 

College of Arts and Sciences

OSU hosting national geology workshop

Tue, Aug 21, 2018

A Boone Pickens School of Geology faculty member is hosting a national workshop at OSU this weekend. Priyank Jaiswal is hosting A Forum on Infrastructure, sponsored by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the National Science Foundation. The forum will concentrate on unique challenges to geotechnical and civil engineering and geoscience and geophysics in the Central USA. 

College of Arts and Sciences

Teaching math to help students follow their dreams

Wed, Aug 15, 2018

Josh Cox followed in his father’s footsteps in choosing Oklahoma State University, and it was his mother’s example that led to his choice of major and future career. Cox is from Saginaw, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth. His mother, Angela, is a primary-school intervention specialist there, focusing mainly on children with dyslexia. She has also taught fifth grade, specializing in mathematics and science.

College of Arts and Sciences

Mendez, Belmonte, Baum assume new roles in dean's office

Wed, Aug 15, 2018

Changes abound among the leadership in Oklahoma State University’s College of Arts and Sciences.  Jeanette Mendez was named interim dean in June, following the departure of Bret Danilowicz after six years to become provost at Florida Atlantic University. A nationwide search for the new dean is underway, and the goal is to have that person in place by July 2019.

College of Arts and Sciences

A Life-Changing Text

Wed, Aug 08, 2018

Abigail Ferrell was in her Edmond North High School government class when a life-changing text message arrived. It linked to a video of OSU President Burns and First Cowgirl Ann Hargis congratulating her. She had to watch it 10 times until she comprehended the message: She was named a fellow of the Oklahoma State Scholars Society, the university’s premier scholar-development program for the best in-state students. Ferrell is one of four recipients in its inaugural year.

College of Arts and Sciences

Community Engagement flying high

Thu, Aug 02, 2018

The skate park might not be the first place you think of when you hear terms like physics and STEM learning. Thanks to a CAS community engagement project, the Stillwater Skate Park on Main Street became a place of informal science learning and elevated skate athletes into flying physicists. Dr. Nicole Colston, assistant research faculty in the School of Teaching, Learning and Educational Sciences, and Dr. Bobbi Kay Lewis, assistant dean of outreach and communications for the College of Arts and Sciences, hosted Push Forward, a one-day event and skate contest for Stillwater youth aged 13-25 at Strickland Park.

College of Arts and Sciences

Finding Home: ASL helps recent graduate pursue a better future

Wed, Aug 01, 2018

School wasn’t always a welcoming, homelike place for Logan Evans. The recent OSU graduate was born deaf, and grew up learning oralism, a process which involves lip reading. Oralism was difficult for Evans, and he didn’t have an interpreter until ninth grade. His grades suffered before he started learning American Sign Language. “I fell in love with ASL. There were deaf people in my high school, and they taught me about their culture, and that helped me pick it up quickly.”

College of Arts and Sciences

STEM in the Parks

Wed, Jul 25, 2018

Dr. Nicole Colston, assistant research faculty in the School of Teaching, Learning and Educational Sciences, led two successful community engagement projects promoting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning in Stillwater’s local parks and recreation areas this summer.

College of Arts and SciencesEducationScience and Mathematics EducationCommunitySTEMService and Civic EngagementCollege of Education and Human SciencesTeaching Learning and Educational Sciences

Jalalzai sees 'huge opportunity' for growing department

Wed, Jul 25, 2018

Farida Jalalzai had chaired the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Department of Political Science for two years when she came to Oklahoma State University for a non-administrative position in August 2015. Thanks to a recent promotion, she is now head of OSU’s Department of Political Science. Jalalzai served as interim department head from July 2017 to July 2018, when she accepted the promotion. She is excited to utilize her experience at both universities to oversee what she calls a “moment of reflection” for the Department.

College of Arts and Sciences

Greiner: Geography is more than just countries and capitals

Wed, Jul 18, 2018

Many people oversimplify the concept of geography, thinking of it as memorizing maps. Speak with Alyson Greiner, head of the Department of Geography, and she will explain how much more interesting it is than that. For example, as a cultural historical geographer, she specializes in the similarities and differences between America and Australia. She is fascinated by the ways Oklahoma’s landscape changed as a part of the New Deal projects during the Great Depression, including eradicating malaria. She even explains the northward migration of the sweet-tea line – the prevalence of that drink has historically been one way to differentiate the South from its neighboring regions, but that boundary is moving, or at least blurring, of late.

College of Arts and SciencesGeography

Touching lives and impacting futures

Wed, Jul 11, 2018

As a young undergraduate student, Dr. Ramesh Kaipa had a very different plan for his life. “I had intended on becoming a medical doctor,” Kaipa said, “but I’m glad that I chose this profession.” According to Kaipa, one of the great challenges in speech/language pathology and audiology is that it is largely seen as a female-oriented profession. His graduating class, he explains, was nearly 90-percent female.

College of Arts and Sciences