To develop creative programs through film and literature that will engage individuals on the intuitive and experiential levels to understand themselves and others across time and space.

Begun in 1997, through the generosity and creativity of Jeanne Hoffman Smith, MSSW, the Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film and Literature brings a distinguished creative person to the campus each year. Poets Robert Pinsky, Jane Hirshfield, Michael Ondaatje, Mark Doty, Naomi Shihab Nye, Li-Young Lee, Billy Collins, Lucille Clifton, Ted Kooser, Joy Harjo, Jimmy Santiago Baca, and Charles Simic have come thus far. Pulitzer Prize winning Natasha Trethewey, who has written so eloquently on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, will be our featured poet on April 7, 2010. In addition, the Center develops an annual documentary film series each spring, continues to build for the university and community an archive collection of quality videos and DVDs for borrowing, conducts field trips to OCU for teachers and students from upper elementary through high school to view and discuss distinguished films, submits grants each semester to hold a Humanities book discussion series for the university and Oklahoma City community, collaborates with other campus and metropolitan organizations to support and encourage different groups to work together on creative projects, and contributes to the support of the OCU Film Institute. The director is a Professor of English and teaches courses in literature, film, and writing as well as other university courses related to the mission of the Center. The Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund and an advisory committee support the development of the Center. The Center also enriches the English Department as well as the Moving Image Arts Program, both kernel parts of the Petree College of Arts and Sciences.