The Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences recognized three Hall of Fame honorees at a private banquet on Friday, Sept. 22 inside the Wes Watkins Center. Tom Daxon, the youngest person ever to win statewide office in Oklahoma, Anita Hill, who is widely respected for her professional and civic contributions to civil rights issues, and Gaute Vik, executive chairman of the world’s largest telecom consultancy company, make up the 2017 Hall of Fame Class.
One of Oklahoma State University’s primary traits is the cultivation of a friendly campus that helps students feel as if they are part of a family. For many, family includes pets. Through a cross-campus, collaborative effort, Pete’s Pet Posse (P3, for short) was established in Fall 2013 to introduce pet therapy dogs in hopes of making the OSU campus feel even more like home.
Oklahoma native Tom Daxon earned a B.A. degree in economics in 1970 and a M.S. degree in geography in 1978 from OSU. Daxon also earned his C.P.A. certificate between the two degrees. With these tools, Daxon became a nationally recognized expert in state and local government finance.
The youngest of 13 children from a farm in Oklahoma, Anita Hill received her juris doctor degree from Yale Law School in 1980. She began her career at a private law practice in Washington, D.C. There she also worked at the U.S. Education Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1989, Hill became the first African American to be tenured at the University of Oklahoma, College of Law, where she taught contracts and commercial law. Currently, at Brandeis University, she teaches courses on gender, race, social policy and legal history. As counsel to Cohen Milstein, she advises on class action workplace discrimination cases.
Gaute Vik graduated as candidatus realium in applied mathematics from University of Bergen, Norway, in 1978. He was employed by the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, providing studies as basis for the Norwegian Parliament to decide on Defense Structure and long-term budgets. In 1982, he was awarded a fellowship from the Norwegian Government to study at OSU. Dr. Vik Graduated in 1984 with a Ph.D in Statistics. He was inducted to the National dean’s list.
Natural disasters and emergencies emit powerful responses from communities and households alike. With those responses, there also comes decision-making processes that take place even before the disaster occurs.
About 2,500 miles west of Hawaii lies the Tarawa Atoll, one of 33 coral atolls constituting the island nation of Kiribati. In World War II, Tarawa was on the outer fringe of the Japanese Empire before United States Marines attacked the island and took control of its airfield. It was not without cost, as around 1,100 U.S. casualties occurred during the 76-hour Battle of Tarawa. Yet after the war ended, only 300 or so of these men were located and brought home. It wasn’t until History Flight, Inc., a private, non-profit organization dedicated to recovering WWII MIA personnel, set out to find them that so many have been located and returned to the United States in coordination with the U.S. government’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
2017 Oklahoma State University graduate Corinne Simpson is a Seattle Seahawk media relations/ Communications intern.
School of Media & Strategic Communications alumnae Dani Welniak talks about living her dream as a sports reporter, and offers advice to those who think they would like to do something similar.
