CAS News

Jason Wallace was in kindergarten when he won his first art contest. Since then, his artistic journey has led him through a variety of majors, media and careers, leading to his current position as a graphic designer at the College of Arts and Sciences.

“We moved around a lot when I was a child, so I don’t feel like I’m from any one place,” Wallace said. “Art and photography stayed with me through every move. When I was a child, my mother sent me and my brothers to keep my father, a high school teacher, company in the high school darkroom. At seven years old, I watched a photo come to life on a blank page. That’s magic, and it stuck with me forever.”

Shanley Wells-Rau, a non-traditional student in the Oklahoma State University master of fine arts poetry program, applied to graduate school after a 20-year corporate career.

“This is the degree I have always wanted,” she said. “When I was younger, I could not figure out a pathway to poetry. It did not fit with a viable career plan.” 

Wells-Rau has always been a poet, and writing has been an integral part of her life.

For students who struggle in math, it doesn’t matter which of the 27 public institutions governed by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education they attend. With the help of a team of mathematicians from Oklahoma State University, all of the colleges are working together to improve student success in entry-level math courses, and the pilot results have been astounding.

Jeanette Mendez fondly remembers voting in mock elections while she was in elementary school. In 2011, when she was head of the OSU Department of Political Science, she was disappointed to learn that her children, Gwendolyn and Elias, would not have that experience at Stillwater’s Sangre Ridge Elementary School. So, she decided to do something about it.

She reached out to the school, which gladly granted permission for one of Mendez’s classes to teach the children about elections, including facilitating a mock vote.

Three College of Arts and Sciences students combined to earn $1,400 between the CAS and Oklahoma State University Three Minute Thesis competitions over the past few weeks.

It was a cool, quiet day across Paris on July 15, 2018, as Ana Solis sat on the edge of her seat staring at the TV. The whole city was silent even with the windows open. Then, France scored the final goal to win the 2018 World Cup. The city erupted.

When Danya Brewer started as a freshman, she never saw herself becoming president of the College of Arts and Sciences Student Council. Yet three years into her journey at Oklahoma State University, she is leading CAS in a new direction and leaving a legacy.

On Monday, November 5, Dr. Charles I. Abramson of the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University will be inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. This honor comes on the heels of his induction into the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame on Sept. 29. These are only the latest accolades of Abramson’s distinguished 25-year career at OSU. Prior to coming here, Abramson was tenured at the State University of New York Health Science Center.

Frank Wicks came to Oklahoma State University in 1971 to work toward his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. Instead, the Ponca City native discovered a passion for chemistry, which led to more than 30 years with a global leader in research chemicals. Over his career, he fulfilled six positions with "president" in the title for Sigma-Aldrich Corporation.

Wicks (1975 microbiology, '78 biochemistry Ph.D.) and Linda Young ('81 statistics Ph.D.) were both inducted into the College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame during the 2018 ceremony on Sept. 21 in the Wes Watkins Center for International Trade & Development.