Press Release
October 7, 2014
Contact: Marvanna Perry
Executive Secretary, Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society
Office: 405-522-0778
mperry@okhistory.org
www.okhistory.org
Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society to Hold Twenty-First Annual Hall of Fame Dinner and Ceremony
Oklahoma City – The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society, established in 1991 as a nonprofit to support awareness of higher education's vital role in Oklahoma history, will induct the class of 2014 into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. Since 1994 more than 220 persons have been inducted. Those being inducted for 2014 are:
Jo Lynn Autry Digranes (Cookson, Okla.)—Connors State College/Oklahoma City University
Sivaramakrishnan Lakshmivarahan (Norman, Okla.)—University of Oklahoma
Michael D. Lorenz (Stillwater, Okla.)—Oklahoma State University
Phillip K. Moss (Norman, Okla.)—Western Oklahoma State College/Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
John W. Parrish (Shawnee, Okla.)—Oklahoma Baptist University
Edmund F. Rybicki (Tulsa, Okla.)—University of Tulsa
Joan K. Smith (Norman, Okla.)—University of Oklahoma
Bloomer Don Sullivan (Lawton, Okla.)—Cameron University
Melvin B. Tolson Jr. (Norman, Okla.)—University of Oklahoma (posthumous award)
Mary Jo Watson (Norman, Okla.)—University of Oklahoma
Sue E. Williams (Stillwater, Okla.)—Oklahoma State University
Jeanne Hoffman Smith (Oklahoma City, Okla.)—Special Award of Merit
The Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognize and honor individuals, living and deceased, for outstanding, meritorious service to higher education in Oklahoma. To be eligible for induction, an individual must have been employed by one or more institutions of public or private higher education in Oklahoma on a full-time basis for a minimum of ten years. Individuals not so employed, but who have performed outstanding service to higher education in the state, or organizations or institutions, are also eligible for consideration for such service above and beyond financial contributions. Each year the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society may elect to give a Special Award of Merit for distinguished contributions to higher education to an individual, organization or institution deemed worthy of recognition.
The formal induction ceremony and banquet will be held on October 14, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. at the Jim Thorpe Museum in Oklahoma City. Biographical sketches and photos of all Higher Education Hall of Fame inductees, past and present, are displayed in the higher education exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center.
For more information about the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame or the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society, please visit www.ohehs.org or call 405-522-0778.
