Simply Healthy: It’s in the Bag
School bells will soon be ringing again, changing parents’ thoughts from what the kids do all day to what they will eat for lunch. While fewer kids are taking their lunches to school, there are definite advantages to it
By packing a lunch, you can better control what your child is eating and the cost. Coming up with creative lunches may be quite a challenge though, especially if you have a picky eater.
Also, since most schools only allow a short time to eat, children need foods that are appealing, filling and easy to handle.
One key to getting kids to eat their lunch instead of trashing it is to involve them in the process. If it seems there’s no time to do that, make time. It’s a fact that kids are more likely to eat what they help prepare. Talking to them about their preferences and providing healthy options can make them feel involved and more likely to actually eat and enjoy their lunch.
Make lunch interesting by presenting their favorite foods in a new way. For example, instead of sending an ordinary peanut butter and jelly sandwich, wrap it up in a tortilla and then slice to make pinwheels. Another idea is to make quesadillas or even crepes with favorite fillings.
One last tip is that kids eat with their eyes first, just like adults. If food is colorful and attractive, they are much more likely to give it a try.
DIY Pasta Salad
Makes 4-6 servings
1 lb. pasta, cooked and drained
2 c. diced meat
2 c. diced cheese
2 c. diced veggies
1 c. low-fat salad dressing (Italian, Ranch, etc.) or more, if needed
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh or dried herbs (optional)
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients; toss to coat everything well.
Faves: Villa Ravenna
The dining room is cool and pleasant, its wood-paneled walls a soft, aquatic green reminiscent of the sea that washes the shores of the owners’ home town of Ravenna, Italy. Look toward the ceiling and you’ll see a row of splashy exotic glass vases hand-blown in Murano, small islands near Venice. Each is one of a kind, the product of many hours of painstaking labor, made by skilled artisans using techniques handed down from generation to generation. Every dish served at Villa Ravenna is like that, too. “My grandparents owned a restaurant near Ravenna,” says Sergio Orioli, “and so we have been in business for three generations. We do the same thing the same way as many years ago.” The food here is not Italian-American, but Italian. The Fettucine al Nero di Seppia could be served in a beachside trattoria in Ravenna’s sun-kissed marina. Homemade pasta made with squid ink imported from Spain accents a vibrant mix of seafood and spice. For the less adventurous, the menu offers zesty versions of familiar dishes found throughout Italy: chicken cacciatore, spaghetti carbonara. But Villa Ravenna also, Orioli says with pride, “has items no one else in Oklahoma has.” These aren’t on the menu. They are seasonal. Fresh figs topped with gorgonzola and prosciutto. Irresistibly tender osso buco made from wild boar. Aged venison filet in Grand Marnier sauce. Enormous grilled shrimp, each one half a pound. 6526 A E. 51st St., Tulsa. www.villaravenna.com
The Digital Classroom
For decades, the intersection of achieving a college education and taking care of other priorities was murky at best. Young undergraduates who attended college full-time were expected to devote the majority of their waking hours to pursuing their degrees and were lucky to find part-time work that also would fit schedules for lectures and accompanying classwork. For working adults, pursuing a college degree was often the stuff of dreams, with precious few classes available that would not interfere with the responsibilities of full-time careers and family life.
The recent revolution in online learning has changed that for aspiring students. From liberal arts to nursing, criminal justice to freshman history and political science, the scope and flexibility of online education has expanded quickly with the technological sea change, and Oklahoma’s students are reaping the rewards.
A Growing Trend
Recent studies show that over the past 10 years, online course enrollment has outpaced overall higher education enrollment by nearly 20-fold – a trend closely reflected in Oklahoma’s institutions of higher education. The flexibility and accessibility of a quality online education have opened new avenues of opportunity for traditional and non-traditional students alike, and changing the way Oklahoma’s colleges and universities approach their methods of academic delivery.
“At MACU, we have experienced unprecedented growth in our online learning programs – a 295 percent growth in just the last six years alone,” says Kathaleen Reid-Martinez, university provost for Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City. “We anticipate continued growth of student enrollment and expansion of the degree programs people need to keep moving ahead personally and professionally.”
Larry Rice, president of Rogers State University in Claremore, says his institution was the first in the state, and one of the earliest in the nation, to offer online bachelor’s and associate’s degrees. RSU’s online bachelor’s degree programs were ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report and have earned other national accolades for digital education initiatives.
“Over the years, we’ve seen online classes grow to become an integral part of our academic offerings,” Rice says. “Today, about 30 percent of all RSU students are enrolled at any one time in an online class as part of their studies, whether they are exclusively online or are using online courses to supplement traditional ‘on-ground’ classes to complete their degree program. Approximately one-in-five RSU courses last year were offered online.”
Other Oklahoma colleges and universities – including Tulsa Community College, Northeastern State University and Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City – now offer as many as 25 percent of their courses online, and the numbers continue to increase.
The Online Learner
Initially, many of the online course offerings at Oklahoma’s colleges and universities were developed with the non-traditional learner in mind. When MACU first began providing online classes in 2000, Reid-Martinez says the university’s courses were developed specifically for working adults in the Oklahoma City area who were looking for two crucial factors in their education: flexible scheduling and point of access.
With an eye toward helping this demographic, MACU developed a program that now serves not only non-traditional students in the Oklahoma City area, but also across the nation as well. The secret to success? Every single class in the MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies is offered online.
“One can easily imagine the challenges a single mother or father would face when attempting a return to traditional classes two or three times a week for a few years,” Reid-Martinez says. “Online education changes everything. An advanced degree that can be pursued anywhere, anytime truly opens the door of possibilities to these moms and dads, as well as to others who have equally challenging demands on their time.”
Ric N. Baser, vice president and chief academic officer at Tulsa Community College, agrees about the benefits of a digital education. “Flexibility and access are the two key components of online classes over traditional classes,” he says.
“The biggest benefit of online courses is the flexibility of being able to fit the course work into your schedule,” says Susan Tolbart, director of recruitment and student development for OSU-Tulsa. You can work on it early in the morning, during your lunch hour, or after you put the kids to bed. Additionally, you save travel cost and time. With the use of technology and networking tools, students are better able to connect with classmates or be more interactive with their instructors.”
While the impetus for many of Oklahoma’s online education programs might have been prompted by the needs of non-traditional learners, it’s not just the strapped-for-time who are taking advantage of digital academics.
“We see a variety of students on our campus involved in online learning,” Tolbart says. “Younger and older students as well as undergraduate and graduate students participate in online classes. Some students enjoy that particular learning format, so they may choose online over a campus-based course.”
“Today, both blended and online courses are taken by students of all types, including traditional-aged students, working adults, those who are place-bound and unable to reach campus, as well as those who live on campus in dorms,” says Pamela Fly, assistant vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. “There is no typical age or major or demographic group that characterizes online learners – only the desire to achieve and progress toward a degree.”
In addition, online classes can offer a more comfortable experience for some students – an experience not always available in traditional lectures.
“Online learning provides for a more personalized learning experience for students,” says Fly. “Some students might hesitate to participate in class discussions or other activities because they are shy and do not want to call attention to themselves. In an online environment, students are on a level playing field and more likely to participate fully in discussions and offer differing points of view. A well-designed course in an online environment requires that students participate and engage with the instructor and one another since they cannot rely on a vocal classmate to monopolize or direct the discussion. Faculty can monitor that participation through discussion threads and wiki tools.”
Digital Divides
For some potential students, online learning can initially be intimidating, especially for older students with limited technical capabilities. For these individuals, the amount of tech know-how needed to succeed in today’s digital education environment can be daunting. In addition, students who come from lower-income or rural households may not have access to computer equipment, software or internet access at home.
To mitigate these issues, Oklahoma’s colleges and universities all provide on-campus computer labs with extended hours for students who are unable to connect at home, as well as resources for locating places in students’ communities where they can access equipment and the internet. But Bill Pink, vice president of academic affairs at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, says the roadblocks to online education can include more than simple issues of connectivity.
“Online learning isn’t for everyone,” Pink says. “Some students need, and desire, the face-to-face contact that traditional classrooms provide … Again, students who decide to enroll in online courses must be aware that a high level of self-discipline is a must. Without it, online courses can be much tougher than traditional courses.”
According to Pink, OSU-OKC has taken steps to assist online students in assessing and fine-tuning their digital educational abilities. “This is still a developing process that I hope will prove helpful to our students and our faculty who teach online courses,” Pink says.
MACU also is providing hands-on guidance for online students who might feel lost in the rapidly changing digital education environment. “While many students benefit from the flexibility of online learning, they may not have the natural ability of being autonomous learners,” says Reid-Martinez. For those who are motivated to learn, MACU becomes an educational partner and provides a strategic network of support to help keep the adult learner moving toward his or her goals. Each adult student is assigned a Student Success Coach who helps them navigate the college experience and to grow more familiar with the digital learning environment.”
Baser feels that with the rapid advances in connectivity and the ubiquity of mobile technology, digital divides in education will shortly be neutralized. “The divide is narrowing considerably due to the plethora of internet-enabled smart phones, tablets and low cost PCs,” he says. “Many younger students now have tablets and smart phones before owning their first computer. Mobile access to online classes is becoming more and more popular and the software and technology are beginning to mature to meet those needs.”
A Future for Face-to-Face?
With the dizzying growth in online enrollment and avenues of technological access, some have claimed that the traditional on-campus lecture will go the way of the landline. Officials at Oklahoma’s colleges and universities, however, disagree.
Pink believes that the growth of one form of education does not mandate the extinction of the other. “I firmly believe that for the immediate future, face-to-face courses will be needed by many students who do not feel comfortable with online learning,” he says. “If common education (K-12) continues to be mostly delivered in a face-to-face format, many of those students will want to continue with that form of delivery. We’re seeing more and more online high schools popping up, and if that continues to be the trend, we may see a shift across the board, but for now, there is room for multiple modes of delivering high quality education to our students.”
“Face-to-face courses will continue to play an important role on our campus. Not everyone experiences success in online learning,” says Tolbart of OSU-Tulsa’s curriculum. “Some students find the structure and regularity of campus-based courses beneficial to their success as a student. Plus, the social interaction and spontaneity that is a part of a dynamic learning environment is more difficult to achieve in an online environment. For most of the public universities in Oklahoma, students will still find more programs offered through on-site or a combination of on-site and online.”
Baser also believes that more and more classes will be offered in a combination of digital and on-campus modes. “Many [face-to-face courses] will use online course technologies to expand their flexibility and strengthen content delivery,” he says. “We currently call these ‘blended courses’ since they are blending a significant portion of the class online but still require on-campus lectures and discussions. While there are many technologies that permit engaging discussions online, live face-to-face discussions are still an engaging part of academia and one which should be experienced by all college level students.”
On the Horizon
While administrators agree that in-person lectures will remain a touchstone of the higher education experience, the growth in online education shows no sign of slowing down and plenty more changes will likely take place in the near future.
“I think it has matured to a point where the student consumer is becoming more savvy with the learning modality of online classes,” says Baser. “They are beginning to demand better instructional design, interactivity and quality learning components that address each individual’s learning style, such as video/audio/animation and not just text-only-based classes.”
Pink says that regardless of the current changes, it’s important not to get hung up on the method, and instead focus on the needs of Oklahoma’s students.
“Those of us in higher education must never get comfortable with how we service our students,” he says. “We must be constantly examining the needs of our state, which includes students as well as business and industry. If we get stuck in doing the same old thing without keeping an eye on the changing needs of the state, including alternate forms of delivering education and training, we will find ourselves irrelevant to arguably the most important function of state government – educating our population.”
The Master Plan
Most of us have a picture of how it will work. First, determine your life’s passion, then get accepted to the perfect college, graduate in four years and finally, score that perfect job and live happily ever after.
That ideal scenario is often unrealistic and creates massive amounts of pressure, leaving high school students totally overwhelmed, says Marty O’Connell, executive director of Colleges that Change Lives, a nonprofit group dedicated to the advancement and support of a student-centered college search process.
The true goal of your college years is to gain the skills needed to succeed in today’s jobs and those in future industries.
“We are no longer in a society where you get a degree, get a job and then retire in that job,” says Andy Roop, executive director of recruitment services with the University of Oklahoma. “You want a degree that can move with you.”
Successful college graduates come from a diverse background. They must be creative, critical thinkers and excellent communicators, shares O’Connell.
“This idea that you have to find the right college couldn’t be further from the truth,” says O’Connell. “There are probably several colleges that can help you achieve your goals.”
Focus instead on finding a good fit, a place where you can succeed, says Bruce Perkins, dean of enrollment management at Oklahoma Baptist University.
“Motivation is a very strong factor in a student’s success,” explains Perkins. “If a student is in a place they want to be and where they feel they belong academically, economically, socially and spiritually it is quite conducive for success.”
Many students and their parents base their college search on national rankings. Yet, these rankings provide a limited picture, say Roop and O’Connell.
“Rankings shouldn’t be the only thing making your decision,” says Roop. “Use them as a guide.”
“Instead, rank colleges based on you and your needs,” advises O’Connell.
Another common misnomer is that size matters.
“Students think they have to go to a college bigger than their high school,” shares O’Connell. “Colleges tend to be very diverse with students from all around the world. A small school can feel very different than the numbers might seem.”
It’s also important to have a realistic and accurate view of your financial situation and the out of pocket costs involved.
“Be real about what you can do financially,” shares O’Connell. “Use real time financial information to help you accurately plan.”
“Take a hard look at those expenses you are responsible for and the payment plan options available so there are no surprises later,” offers Perkins. “
The federal Department of Education website offers a school-to-school comparison worksheet to help you fully understand the varying costs.
“This guide helps you compare apples to apples,” says Roop.
Once you have narrowed down your search to a few good options, take the time to visit the campus.
“There is only so much you can understand from a website or publication,” explains Perkins. “How many of us would buy a house sight unseen? It’s going to be for home for a few years so you need to get a true feel. You need to interact with the campus, the students and the teachers.”
Private Matters
Private schools offer a variety of environments, methodologies and philosophies. How do you choose which school will best meet your needs?
“We call it the gut response. You immediately feel at home, and you should honor that response,” says Liz Anderson, communications director at Tulsa’s Holland Hall School.
A few things that play into that gut response include a school’s particular mission, areas of emphasis, culture and the way a school fits a child’s individualized needs, goals and talents.
The Child
Some find that one benefit of private school is a holistic approach to the development of a child guided by a philosophy that not all ability can be measured by tests.
“There are different types of intelligence,” says Anderson.
Considering the needs of an individual child is key in selecting a private school where he will thrive.
“Get the fit right, and your child will be happy,” says Robert Kennedy of Private School Review. “Other considerations are secondary.”
Some children need a very structured environment, while others students do best where they are given a lot of opportunity for independent study.
“They need to be around kids who have that same level or style of learning,” says Matt Vereecke, school director at Monte Cassino in Tulsa.
Capitalizing on a child’s gifts and passions is another component of private education. It is important to find a school that will tease these out of a child.
“Does the school’s curriculum inspire your child?” is a critical question, says Anderson.
Kennedy says some of the top reasons for choosing to pursue private education are to find particular academic programs not available at a local public school or a strong sports program that will push a child’s talents.
“Some schools are labeled the art school or the athletic school,” Anderson says.
Other schools, like Holland Hall, require students to participate in a number of activities including sports, arts, theater and social service.
Mission And Philosophy
Private schools often tout a comprehensive approach to education that goes beyond academics.
In addition to academic development, you are evaluating a social development program and moral development program says Vereecke.
“It’s very values-based education even if you aren’t at a religious school,” he says.
Anderson says it is important that the mission and philosophies of the school align with a family’s values. That is not to say that you should not go to a Catholic school if you are not Catholic.
Monte Cassino is founded on Benedictine values such as balance, simplicity of life, community and service. The core ideas, he says, are concepts that many people agree with and want, including the students from Jewish, Hindu and non-Christian backgrounds who attend his school.
Community and Culture
“Education at its root is social,” says Vereecke.
Private schools are not made up of children who live in the same neighborhood. The community is built around academic, social and moral goals and priorities. It is important the community and culture are a good fit for the child and for the family.
In this atmosphere people have instant and natural connections, says Vereecke. Get to know some parents and students, he says. “They should really be able to tell you what the life of the school is.”
Scoring Success
They are some of the indelible images of youth for generations of Americans educated in public schools: sharpened-but-not-too-sharp No. 2 pencils, “bubbling” score cards and long, mysterious booklets filled with daunting questions. Standardized tests are as much a part of the school experience as Homecoming and mystery-meat lunches. Oklahoma is no different, and in recent years the Sooner State has adopted an evolving program of standardized testing aimed at measuring student proficiency and progress. However, testing today is different than in decades past – and it is continuing to evolve.
“There is no national testing like there used to be,” says Dr. Maridyth McBee, Oklahoma’s assistant superintendent for Accountability and Assessment. She adds that although some school districts might utilize standardized tests available nationwide, they are individual district decisions. “The companies still sell those tests; they just aren’t used statewide.”
Instead of old-time standbys like the Stanford Achievement Test, Oklahoma employs the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests (OCCT) for students in elementary and middle school.
For the OCCT, Reading and Math tests are administered in Grades 3-8; Science, Social Studies, and Writing are given in Grade 5; Geography is given in Grade 7; and Science, U.S. History and Writing are given in Grade 8.
“An education reform bill in the mid-1990s established the testing requirements,” McBee says.
According to the Oklahoma State Testing Program (OSTP), two variations of the test are available for students that meet certain requirements and criteria.
High school students’ progress is measured in the other primary round of standardized testing in Oklahoma. ACE English II, ACE English III, ACE Algebra I, ACE Algebra II, ACE Geometry, ACE Biology I, and ACE U.S. History are given as End-of-Instruction (EOI) tests in high school.
“There are also comparable tests for students in special education,” McBee says.
Available evidence demonstrates that student achievement is improving, according to McBee. “Every time we give the tests, a certain number of students score proficient or advanced and that number goes up every year except for those years when the standards are changed. You can’t compare some of the original tests with those today because the standards have been raised,” she says.
McBee also cites results from the ACT, the most common test in Oklahoma for students seeking college admission.
“We’ve been looking at ACT scores and they are trending upward,” McBee adds. “The improvement isn’t dramatic in all subgroups. Native American student scores are up quite a lot, for example. We think we can validate the testing because of these scores.”
While McBee says that there is no movement to adopt additional tests, change is coming in the evaluation of student progress and their classroom experiences. In the near future, student scores will be contextualized through a process still in development, to reflect the fact that, as McBee says, “Not all students come to school as prepared as others.”
Additionally, teacher/leader evaluations are on the horizon, in addition to test-score based evaluation.
“Down the road, Oklahoma is going to have teacher/leader evaluations made by various criteria,” McBee says. “This will include personal evaluations by their supervisors. Test scores will be looked at, too; not the raw scores, but rather the value-added scores that take other factors into consideration.”
The coming new evaluation process is dictated by legislative requirement – and McBee points out that other states are also moving in the same direction. Implementing the process remains underway as education leaders identify ways to quantify factors that can impact test scores. “We requested a delay of full implementation until we are able to find ways to include all academic measures,” McBee says.
Classroom and teacher evaluation is one of the several controversial aspects related to monitoring the effectiveness of Oklahoma schools. Generally, labor unions representing educators push back against using standardized test data to evaluate individual or groups of teachers. McBee says she is aware of this and that she tries to communicate with teachers so that they understand test scores will be evaluated in context and not in a uniform fashion.
Still, McBee says, “Until everyone is able to internalize how we are going to progress, I think there will be some consternation.”
Another controversial aspect of mandatory standardized testing is many educators’ claims that it forces teachers to “teach to the test,” instead of a broader, more nuanced approach. McBee, however, says that perspective does not reflect what the state’s testing program actually requires of students.
“’Teaching to the test’ is just not the case,” she says. “The tests don’t just ask for facts. Students are asked to evaluate facts and to come to conclusions. They are application based. They don’t require students to just know a lot of straight facts.”
McBee believes overall that standardized testing helps ensure that students in all regions, in often very different communities and from different economic backgrounds are provided the same opportunities.
“Having been in education for quite a while, I was around when there was no testing,” McBee says. “I saw disparity in classrooms. Schools with a great deal of poverty were vastly inferior to those that did not. Being able to test all students, to see where they start off at, where we need to work and perform better, is progress. It concerned me that not every student was having the same experience and opportunity.
“I strongly believe that standardized testing in Oklahoma serves a very good purpose,” McBee adds.
For more information on standardized tests in Oklahoma, visit the state Department of Education website, www.ok.gov/sde.
Ed. note: Oklahoma Magazine requested comment from the Oklahoma Education Association, Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Broken Arrow Public Schools representatives. At press time, officials were unavailable for comment.
Global Leaders
Academia can be every bit as competitive as Wall Street or pro sports. To stay competitive, some universities have shored up and radically retooled existing programs. Others are spinning up new, best-in-class programs that can’t be found anywhere else.
Meteorology
With its broad curriculum, the University of Oklahoma’s meteorology program reaches into every corner of weather science, from tropical and urban meteorology to cloud physics and lightning. With more than 300 undergraduates and 100 graduate students, it’s the largest program of its kind in America. The Chronicles of Higher Education regularly places it in the top 10 around the nation.
The School of Meteorology popped up on Oklahoma’s academic landscape in the 1950s. Two Texas A&M meteorologists, Walter Saucier and Yoshi Sasaki, needed a better lab. They looked north to Oklahoma and saw the best available natural lab in the nation. For hotshot meteorologists, Oklahoma was – and still is – the best place to be. They made the move to OU and spun up a world-class program within two decades, in the process securing important academic partnerships with institutions such as the National Severe Storms Laboratory. From there, the school expanded into every arena touchable by its professors, researchers and students.
It takes Susan Postawko, the Associate Director for the School of Meteorology and the first female professor to join the school’s ranks, less than 10 seconds to call up four reasons why the school lands in the top 10 every year.
“The program is academically rigorous,” she says, “Our students graduate with a terrifically strong foundation in the fundamentals of meteorology. Our faculty is constantly on the forefront of cutting edge research. The presence of the National Weather Consortium and the exchange of ideas it brings between university and federal government researchers makes us all stronger.”
The program stretches far beyond classroom work. Students have unprecedented opportunities to participate in research programs with the world’s best weather scientists. Membership in student organizations that plan professional events year round comes with the price of admission.
Student computer labs and classrooms are state-of-the-art and no expense is spared to keep them that way. And, being on the cutting edge, the school is home to some of the coolest toys and gadgets to ever make a meteorologist’s Christmas list. And students are free to lay hands on them.
Many graduates go on to be broadcast meteorologists, researchers and academics. The field of meteorology offers numerous solid career paths. Some also go on to be forensic meteorologists, performing severe weather risk analysis for insurance companies. NASA is always looking for good meteorologists that can forecast launching and landing conditions. Not to mention, it’s Oklahoma, and energy is king. The industry needs good weather scientists because weather has everything to do with energy consumption.
Cyber Corps
“Working at the National Security Agency isn’t sexy,” reports an anonymous source. Graduates of The University of Tulsa’s Cyber Corps who work at the NSA disagree. They love their jobs and they’re very good at them. Other graduates have joined the CIA, FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
In 2001, the NSA awarded a grant to TU. It was accompanied by a short statement, something along the lines of “Go train some cyber warriors.” TU did. Since 2003, TU has placed more than 150 graduates at the NSA. Fifteen students are interning there this summer.
“Ours is the largest and most intense program of its kind,” says Dr. Sujeet Shenoi, the program’s director. “We do a lot more hands-on stuff in a lot more areas, including offense. The nature of the business requires that almost all of what we teach be immediately applicable. I like to tell students you can’t be a surgeon unless you practice surgery. The same is true for a cyber warrior.”
The curriculum covers heady stuff. Hacking. Computer viruses. Digital forensics. But the field work reflects the day-to-day efforts of cyber-ops. Planting bugs. Cyberstalking. Even rifling trash where needed.
The program, the best of four like it in the nation, admits roughly 25 students a year out of about a thousand applicants. Shenoi likes students with science and engineering backgrounds, but they’re not necessary. Students from all sorts of academic backgrounds are eligible.
The most unusual prerequisite: be an upstanding U.S. citizen with the ability to obtain a Top Secret clearance. The most important prerequisite: a fearless and relentless drive to learn.
Dream internships are available. Students don’t make the cut if they’re not willing to train side by side with experienced agents in the intelligence biz. The United States Secret Service probably looks pretty good on a resume. A group of students recently scored national headlines after working with Tulsa police to crack a triple homicide.
It’s an incredibly demanding program, but graduates don’t have to worry about future employment. There’s a line of intelligence agencies waiting to recruit them. And intelligence skills will never go out of vogue.
Most of all, they are helping keep America safe and secure.
Energy Management
Oklahoma City University’s Master of Science in Energy Management is so new it’s still only a proof of concept. Launched in 2012, the program grew organically out of conversations between Steve Agee, Dean of the Meinders School of Business, and Oklahoma City’s leaders in the energy industry. A large pool of specialized talents to draw from is a necessity for success in the field. But competitive companies want to see business acumen showing up in the skill sets of more employees, regardless of their specialties.
“Over the years, energy companies approached me and explained that they’ve got professionals such as engineers and geologists on hand that are great at what they do but need to shore up their business skills. That kind of knowledge just isn’t available in the programs they typically graduate from,” says Agee.
He and his and colleagues answered the problem with an intense, two-year program explicitly geared toward educating scientists and other specialists on the ins and outs of running an energy business. Custom-made for working students, courses are offered one night a week in nine-week cycles. It’s is the only program of its kind in the nation offered at a business school and the only one of its kind accredited by the American Association of Professional Landmen.
“My world changed when I was promoted from senior landman to supervisor last year. My responsibilities as a supervisor demanded an entirely different skill set, and thankfully, I’d been cultivating it every Tuesday night in classroom 117,” says Linsey Miles, a professional landman at Devon Energy, “What could have otherwise been an overwhelming and difficult transition was quite smooth. My successful transition is more than partially attributable to the program.”
The school smartly leverages one quality no other school can offer: location. With its tight concentration of leading energy companies, Oklahoma City is home to one of the largest collection of energy experts in the United States. Agee pulls from that collection for instructors with a laser-like focus on application. The professorial bullpen also holds academics with an average of more than a decade of real-world experience. Agee and his colleagues are no slouches, either. Before going into academics, he accumulated 24 years in the business as the president and CEO of a local oil and gas company.
Students can look forward to an impressive lineup of guest speakers including top government and regulatory officials, industry professionals, veteran executives and business owners. Devon Energy’s CEO, John Richels. Access Midstream Partners’ J. Mike Stice. They’ve all stopped by the school with more than a few tips for students, and they’ll be making more appearances in the future.
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Oklahoma State University’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering offers the only graduate program in the nation with a program specific to unmanned aerial systems (UAS) – also known as drones. The program, spun up in 2011, is too new to be ranked, but it has several features that put it far in front of its competitors.
“Our purpose here has always been hands-on. This works to our strengths because with unmanned aircraft there’s only one question that needs answering: can you do something nobody’s done before? It’s not good enough to do something on paper. It’s got to fly,” says Dr. Jamey Jacobs, professor of Aerospace and Engineering. “Our students have the chance to create, design, build and test their vehicles from scratch. That’s not found in a lot of other programs.”
Almost all of the program’s competitors focus on pilot training. UAS pilots get trained at OSU, but they’re expected to know more than just how to fly a drone. They’re expected to know how to make the drone work – regardless of its end function.
The program was a natural outgrowth of the research done by professors and students over the last two decades. Unmanned drones were on the school’s radar long before they became widely deployed in combat. In the 1990s, professors started teaching students how to use drones to test larger aircraft designs. It’s less expensive, more convenient and far less dangerous.
About 30 students enter the program each year. After graduation, their opportunities aren’t limited to combat applications. The agricultural sector is looking at drones for cost-effective crop-dusting. Their miniature scale makes them ideal for geological surveys. If something needs to be airborne, drones are always the better way to do it. Weight’s the only limit. Most students find themselves in the Air Force or at aerospace companies such as Boeing. A few take positions with smaller companies where it’s convention for engineers to construct drones from scratch.
It’s engineering. Students will spend a lot of time in classrooms. But they’re also frequently found out in the field, testing their inventions at OSU’s UAS airfield or at the school’s University Multispectral Laboratories in Fort Sill.
Aviation Flight
Oklahoma and flight go together like peanut butter and jelly. Tulsa’s Spartan College of Aeronautics & Technology offers an Associate Degree of Applied Science in Aviation Flight that puts pilots in the cockpit faster than any other program in Oklahoma. It also employs an unconventional but highly successful teaching approach that removes the traditional separation of the classroom and the cockpit.
“Traditionally, a student in a flight program takes a flight class that’s associated with, for instance, a three-hour theory class. One is taught in the aircraft and the other in the classroom using a traditional, instructor-led approach. There’s very little tie between the flight instructor and the theory instructor,” says Ryan Goertzen, vice president of Education at Spartan.
To bridge the gap between theory and practice, Spartan uses 12 different teaching modalities, including online lessons and a variety of simulations. The average student spends only one hour in the classroom each day. What they learn there is translated directly into a flight plan for use later in the day. Instructors closely monitor flight performance to make sure the lessons make it directly from the classroom to the cockpit. For the student, this means less failure, less repeat training and a higher first-time pass rate for Federal Aviation Administration testing.
The curriculum includes all the fundamentals of pilot training and more. Potential pilots learn how to take the stick, but not before they learn the ins and outs of FAA regulations, meteorology, navigation, communication and aerodynamics. With these topics under their belts, students take to the air three times a week to earn the minimum 350 flight hours needed for graduation.
Students train on dual runways owned by the schools. It also maintains a fleet of 50 aircraft, something that can’t be found in other programs. Spartan keeps single and multi engine planes fueled and parked on the runway. Before training with planes, students rack up time in two cutting-edge simulators.
Spartan’s been training pilots since 1928. More than 100,000 pilots have graduated from the program. At the time of its founding, it was also an aircraft manufacturer. It was the birth place of the first side-by-side flight trainer, as well. Those innovations are expressions of the school’s desire to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate the challenges future pilots will face.
Spartan’s pilot training program is the most comprehensive in the industry. With its large fleet, pilots can train on the widest available array of planes. The school is certified by everybody and anybody that matters, meaning pilots won’t have to go through additional training right after graduation.
Keeping A Legacy
Osiyo.
Ha’-We.
Chokma.
Of the 38 federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma, these are three – Cherokee, Osage, Chickasaw – of their indigenous greetings. To ensure future generations won’t ever have to say goodbye to their history, culture and language, many tribes have launched meticulous preservation efforts.
These efforts include teaching, archaeology, archiving, renovation – and a lot of persistence. Currently, 566 federally recognized tribes exist in the United States, though full-blooded Native Americans (and Alaska Natives) compose only 1.2 percent of the population, per 2012 Census Bureau estimates. In the wake of conventional American society, instructing new generations about their distinctive heritage and culture is more important than ever.
Text me in Cherokee
The Cherokee Nation, spread out like a blanket among 14 counties in northeast Oklahoma, comprises the largest tribe in the U.S.
Cherokee is a word that has been spelled many ways and has been infused with many possible meanings and origins. Currently, Cherokees call themselves Aniyvwiya, which translates to the “Real People.”
These Native Americans never lived in teepees; instead, Cherokee dwellings were historically houses created of mud and clay with roofs of brush and river cane. By the 1700s, many Cherokees lived in log cabins and even clapboard houses.
In the early 1800s, Cherokee statesman Sequoyah developed the first written language of any Native American tribe. The Cherokees “come from a rich tradition of innovators,” says Principal Chief Bill John Baker.
“We published a newspaper, written in both Cherokee and English,” Baker says. “We created a legislature and a strong sense of self-governance that persists today.”
To protect the Cherokee language, the tribe has kept pace with new technology. “We have worked with Apple to incorporate our language into the operating systems for Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads,” Baker says. In the past year, Cherokee also was integrated into Windows 8 and Gmail.
“Our Cherokee children can text faster than they can speak oftentimes, and entirely in Cherokee,” says Baker. “To watch them use their native language on modern devices is really something to see.”
The nation created the Cherokee Language Immersion School to teach children how to speak this well-developed tongue. “Beginning in kindergarten and advancing through the sixth grade, children speak, read and write their lessons, only in Cherokee,” Baker says. “It’s amazing to watch our young people grow up bilingual.”
In addition to preserving its language, the tribe has preserved its historic buildings. One such is the 1844 Cherokee Nation Supreme Court building, the oldest government building in Oklahoma.
Back then, the building housed the tribe’s Supreme and District courts; it also held the printing press for the Cherokee Advocate (now called the Phoenix), the official publication of the tribe and the first newspaper in Oklahoma. The historic building is now a museum that educates future generations about the Cherokee judicial system, language and newspapers.
The tribe’s most recent projects include renovation of the Cherokee National Capital, which currently houses the judicial branch of government, and the Cherokee National Prison, according to Baker.
Four themed tours – Cherokee History Tour, Cherokee Old Settler Tour, Civil War History Tour and Will Rogers History Tour – help people explore their cultural heritage at historic sites. In the program’s first year, 1,700 people took these tours, says Baker.
Tours are offered every Saturday to the general public.
Imparting The Arts
The Osage Nation, composed of Wah-Zha-Zhi people originally known as “Children of the Middle Waters,” is headquartered in Pawhuska, the heart of Oklahoma’s largest county – Osage. During historic times of war, the Osage were feared as tall, fierce warriors by neighboring tribes. They were highly ranked among the old hunting tribes of the Great Plains. However, as hunter-farmers, the Osage people did not conform exactly to the lifeways of either woodland or plains tribes.
The Osage Nation became the only (at the time) American Indian nation to purchase its reservation in 1870. Today, the Osage is preserving its customs and art forms through the Osage Cultural Center, which opened in 2004. Vann Bighorse, who became the Pawhuska center’s director in 2007, says he is proud of his tribe for being able to assert its sovereignty in 2006. At that time, the tribe established a constitution with a three-branch form of government, which is in place today.
The 2006 Osage constitution “opened the door” for culture and language preservation, says Bighorse. “They created a language and cultural department with the vision to teach Osage people and the community about our tribal ways of life,” he says. “Since then, that’s what we’ve been doing.”
From fall through spring, the cultural center holds free cultural art and traditions workshops and lectures. Here, Osages can learn how to create “our clothing and other intricate art forms that were getting to be very much endangered,” says Bighorse.
Fingerweaving classes teach the tricky but beautiful art of hand-weaving more than a hundred strands of dyed yarn (buffalo hair was used in “the old days on the prairie,” says Bighorse) into a patterned belt. Some classes teach the history and ceremony of the Osage woven baby board. Still others teach the art of ribbon work, where ribbons in “traditional Osage colors” of turquoise, purple, green and red are cut and folded into patterns.
Workshops also instruct people on how to make Osage moccasins and headdresses. The center has generated a lot of interest and classes fill up fast, Bighorse says. All the materials are provided by the center, and participants are able to keep their finished products.
For the past four years, the Osage Nation has also held an annual cultural walk, which commemorates the tribe’s movement from Kansas to Oklahoma, “to the reservation here,” Bighorse says.
This year, the Osage Nation Tribal Museum Library and Archives celebrated its 75th anniversary. Established in May 1938, it is the oldest tribe-owned museum.
Though the center slows its schedule during the summer months – to focus on Osage ceremonial dances – they’ll gear up again in fall to keep their tribe’s art forms and lifeways alive for generations to come.
Archiving And Thriving
The Chickasaw, one of the last tribes to move during the “Great Removal,” have called south-central Oklahoma its homeland since the mid-1800s. Historically, the Chickasaw people – one of the Five Civilized Tribes – were revered as “Spartans of the Lower Mississippi Valley.”
This tribe of “unconquered and unconquerable” warriors lived an agrarian lifestyle in sophisticated towns with a highly developed ruling system, laws and religion. Chickasaws built some of the first schools, banks and businesses in Indian Territory.
Chickasaw people have relied on oral storytelling to pass down their history, culture, beliefs and traditions through generations. Their legends explain natural phenomena, describe one’s place in the universe and encourage virtues. Chickasaw elders believe passing on ancient knowledge was and is a sacred obligation.
One important legend tells about the beginning of the Chickasaw people, and how they found homelands in the Mississippi River Valley with the help of a big white dog and a sacred pole. Another tale, called No Lost Children, speaks of the Chickasaw children’s knowledge and surefootedness in the wilderness.
The Chickasaw Nation Archives is where these stories and other documentary materials are collected and maintained to preserve tribal history. The archives keeps – and accepts – a vast array of photographs, film, slides, negatives, microfiche, video and other documents related to Chickasaw research, achievements, arts and language. Some of the archives are kept in the Chickasaw Nation Library in Ada; other archives are stored at Holisso: the Center for Study of Chickasaw History and Culture.
This new research center is on the sprawling campus of the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur. The center focuses on the study, scholarship and research of Chickasaw and southeastern tribal cultures and histories. The Holisso Center features state-of-the-art artifacts storage, a library reading room and a rare book collection. The center also hosts genealogy and oral history workshops, educational spotlights, digitization events, lecture series, conferences and book signings.
One Chickasaw artist and historian, Jeannie Barbour, recently completed the final drawings for a three-book series about the history and stories of the tribe.
The first book is called Chickasha Stories, Volume One: Shared Spirit; the second is Chickasha Stories: Shared Voices; the third installment, Chickasha Stories: Shared Wisdom, was sent to the printer in early July.
The stories were compiled by Chickasaw storyteller and tribal elder Glenda Galvan, who graciously agreed to write down the vital tales. “Normally, oral tradition – particularly for traditionalists like Glenda – requires that (stories) be spoken orally,” Barbour says. “You don’t ever write them down. Most tribes sort of hold to that rule.”
When a tribe loses an elder, “you lose a lot,” Barbour says. “Especially if they were language speakers. There was a concern we were losing too many of these stories. So it was decided maybe we should write them down.”
These ancient stories are important teaching tools for new generations of Chickasaws. “I believe the stories are just as meaningful today as what they were 200, 300 or 500 years ago,” Barbour says. “They are very old and they’ve been passed down all this time with a purpose.”
Barbour has studied the tribe’s history and culture for the past 25 years.
Protecting The Sacred
Most Oklahoma tribes have made cultural preservation a priority. Due to their history of forced removals by the U.S. government, many tribes have diligently focused on retracing their movements across America, while marking, honoring (or repatriating) their cemeteries, funerary objects and other sacred sites. One of the most unique and valuable parts of each tribe’s culture is its language. Not all tribes have language programs as advanced as the Cherokee Nation’s, but most tribes strive to sustain their native tongue. Every tribe has an intricate universe of beliefs and beauty and ideas about life. And that’s worth holding onto.
