Petree College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Mark Y.A. Davies, Dean

The college of arts and sciences offers a broad array of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and provides the liberal education core of the undergraduate general education curriculum. Our outstanding faculty, who are experts in their academic fields, challenge students intellectually in the classroom and laboratory, while also serving as their mentors and advisors. The college is housed in three facilities: the Walker Center for Arts and Sciences, The Dawson-Loeffler Science and Mathematics Center, and the Norick Art Center and Nona Jean Hulsey Art Gallery. Planning is underway to fund and construct a new state-of-the-art science and mathematics center and for an environmental education center to be located at the G amble-Buchanan Outdoor Laboratory located in south Oklahoma City. The college also supports numerous co-curricular activities, organizations, and offices, which enrich the lives of students, faculty, and staff. This includes the national Alpha Chapter of Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society, The University Honors Program, the Learning Enhancement Center, and the Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film and Literature. Examples of student successes abound and include education department alumni having the state’s highest pass rate on the Oklahoma Teacher Certification Exam; the student newspaper, The Campus, produced by the mass communications department, has placed first several times in recent competitions, besting publications from the state’s large, public universities; and the many alumni of the biology and chemistry departments who have been accepted into medical and dental programs, and to doctoral studies at prestigious universities across the country.

Meinders School of Business
Dr. Vincent F. Orza, Jr., Dean

The Meinders School of Business prides itself on providing an outstanding mix of “real world” business experiences and a strong theoretical academic education. Our faculty and staff are committed to offering a quality graduate and undergraduate business education with a broad-based view of management, marketing, international business, ethics, entrepreneurship, human resources, not-for-profit management, finance, economics, accounting, and information technology with a strong emphasis on best business practices.

The Meinders School is actively engaged with the Oklahoma City metropolitan business community. The Steven C. Agee Economic Research and Economic Policy Institute selects outstanding students to assist in local and regional research for the private business and industry as well as governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. Internships are available with area companies, governmental agencies, and civic and charitable organizations. Love’s Entrepreneurship Center provides small business consulting services and offers students additional academic experiences. Students participate in various clubs and organizations including an investment club that manages a $200,000 portfolio of stocks selected by graduate and undergraduate teams. We pride ourselves on being a resource for the business community by providing outstanding business and economic conferences that feature noted business professionals addressing important issues of the day. Meinders students often participate in these symposia, often working directly with members of the companies they hope to work for in the future.

Meinders School has also pioneered international M.B.A. programs in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, and other locales around the globe. This is made possible as a result of an outstanding faculty. Virtually 90 percent of the full-time faculty members hold the highest degree in their teaching fields. Although our faculty is engaged in academic research, their first priority is teaching.

The Meinders School of Business building is also an asset, benefiting students and the business community. The 83,000-square-foot facility offers state-of-the-art technology in what can best be described as a Fortune 500 atmosphere. The Meinders School of Business is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs. In 2007 the Meinders faculty voted unanimously to further enhance its academic credentials. Over the next several years, our objective is to be accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business which will rank the Meinders School among the finest business schools in the world.

School of Law
Lawrence Hellman, Dean

Oklahoma City University School of Law has been a part of OCU since 1953, although its history can be traced back to predecessor institutions operating since 1907. Its student body of approximately 600 represents more than forty states, and its 6,000 alumni practice in every U.S. state and several foreign countries. Law school alumni are well represented in positions of leadership and influence in the legal profession, the judiciary, government, business, and education administration—in Oklahoma and throughout the nation. The school’s curriculum is based on the values of the liberal arts tradition, blending theory with practical experience to prepare graduates for a wide variety of careers including law, business, government, and education. The curriculum and programming focus on issues of national and international significance as well as attending to matters of local and regional concern. The school offers juris doctor (J.D.) degree programs on a full-time day or part-time evening basis (the only evening program in Oklahoma), and in conjunction with Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business, it also offers a J.D./M.B.A. degree program. The law school offers summer study abroad opportunities in Argentina, China, Germany, and Spain. The law school has been fully approved by the American Bar Association since 1964 and was admitted into membership in the Association of American Law Schools in 2003.

Kramer School of Nursing
Dr. Marvel Williamson, Dean

Kramer School of Nursing (KSN) provides the education today’s world needs. Graduates pass the licensure examination (NCLEX-RN) on the first attempt at a rate that far surpasses the national average. All graduates are highly marketable, quickly finding jobs in the current nursing shortage environment.

KSN offers the following programs: the traditional four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a Part Time BSN that meets on evenings and Saturdays, the RN-to-BSN for RNs seeking to finish a BSN, the accelerated Bachelor’s-to-BSN for people who already have bachelor’s degrees in other fields wanting to switch careers to nursing, the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with tracks in Nursing Education (for nurses beginning careers in academia) and Nursing Administration (for careers in health care management), the state’s only MSN/MBA option in partnership with the Meinders School of Business, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) for advanced clinical practitioners, and a PhD for nurses seeking advanced academic and research careers.

Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management
John Bedford, Dean

The Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management enjoys national and international stature, provides career-oriented programs for students interested in working in the entertainment and performing arts industries as creative talent, dancer, dance teachers, choreographers, or managers. The school, which consists of the dance department (one of the largest in higher education) and the arts management department, is committed to producing graduates who are prepared to work in all aspects of the entertainment industry. Students receive training in arts management, the business of entertainment, and performance as well as a strong liberal arts education. The school was the first in the nation to emphasize the American dance forms of tap, jazz, and musical theater dance, and the first to include instruction in rhythm tap. It was also the first to combine dance and arts management to create a unique dance management degree program. In 2003, the editor of Dance magazine called ours “the best preparatory dance program in the nation.” Graduates perform on Broadway, in touring musicals, at theme parks, as Rockettes, in videos and films, and in entertainment extravaganzas in major entertainment centers around the world. Graduates in the arts management programs are managers for symphony orchestras, dance companies, talent and casting agencies, record companies, community centers, theme parks, musical theater production companies and touring companies. The school collaborates with the Bass School of Music on Oklahoma Opera and Musical Theater performances and provides professional dance instruction to over 400 dance, music, and theatre students each semester. Annually in October, senior dance majors present the Student Choreography Show with fresh, diverse, and original choreography. Each December, the school presents the critically acclaimed American Spirit Home for the Holidays, and the school’s annual American Spirit Dance Company spring show is not to be missed. The school’s American Spirit Dance Company routinely tours nationally and internationally. Past tours have taken students to Malaysia, Singapore, Beijing, and Taipei as well as to cities across the U.S. Arts management tours to study business practices and issues in the entertainment industry have taken entertainment business and dance management majors to Branson, Las Vegas, Austin, Kansas City, and Orlando. Dean’s Invitation Arts Management tours provide advanced students with opportunities to meet with top entertainment and arts executives in other countries, including executives of the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, China National Children’s Theater, China National Ballet, China Ministry of Culture, and many more. The school offers a Master of Fine Arts in Dance uniquely focusing on tap, jazz, and musical theater dance.

Wanda L. Bass School of Music
Mark Parker, Dean

For more than eighty years, our music school’s alumni have been in demand as singers, conductors, composers, instrumentalists, educators, critics, and commentators. Former students include Grammy®, Tony® and Emmy® award-winners. Ours is the only school in the world to be both an All-Steinway school and a member of the National Alliance for Music Theater. Since 1944, the school has been a full member of the National Association of Schools of Music. In 2005, we were named the nation’s first Conn-Selmer School and became a leader in new technology with a partnership with Apple Computer. Over the past decade, students have enrolled from forty-eight states and countries on five continents. The school’s versatile faculty features nationally known performers, composers, and clinicians who excel at teaching. Twelve professors also play in professional orchestras. Top guest artists give frequent performances and master classes. Students are well schooled in the classics and involved in the creation and exploration of new works. In 2006, the $38.5 million, 113,000-square-foot Wanda L. Bass Music Center more than doubled the size of the School of Music. The state-of-the-art addition features high-tech music labs for composition and sound recording, sixty practice rooms, thirty-eight teaching studios, and six rehearsal spaces. Each year, the OCU Opera and Music Theater Company presents a season of professional quality shows ranging from new or original works to opera classics (sung in the original languages with English supertitles) to Broadway favorites. In addition, there are multiple concerts and recitals by choral and instrumental ensembles and individuals each academic year.

Wimberly School of Religion and Graduate Theological Center
Dr. Mark Y.A. Davies, Dean

The school of religion plays the dual role of preparing students for service in the church, while engaging the total student body in the serious study of religion through the university’s general education curriculum. The school offers religious studies that explore questions of ultimate concern for the lives of all human beings. Courses are designed to have meaning and value for anyone wishing to understand religion in its many dimensions, and the influences of particular religious ideas, feelings, and symbols on life experience. The curriculum focuses primarily on basic studies of faith, religious life, and values that have guided Western Civilization. The Owen Wimberly Center for Continuing Education offers workshops, lectures, and other courses for religious professionals and laypersons. The Vivian Wimberly Center for Ethics and Servant Leadership has pioneered the university’s work to include service learning across the curriculum. Ours is one of four schools in the country to offer a United Methodist youth ministry degree program.

The School of Theatre
Mark Parker, Dean

2009 is the inaugural year of Oklahoma City University’s newest school: The School of Theatre. This vibrant program has been on the rise for the past five years; its 550% growth made it the fastest growing program in the nation. And we just graduated our first class of BFA Acting and BFA Design and Production students in the Spring of 2009

Our success is no accident; it is but based on solid traditional (and high-quality) degree tracts: BFA Acting, BFA Theatre Design & Production, and BA Theatre Performance; in addition to an active and varied performance schedule. The School of Theatre has been able to fulfill its objective of producing professional, working graduates.

As recent enrollment indicates, the promise of a great education and superb performance prospects attracts a superior student. The School of Theatre boasts a diverse, intelligent, and joyously opinionated Freshmen class of 63 individuals - with students from 13 different states, with an average ACT of 26+, that includes 2 National Merit Scholars.

All our theatre students are instructed by the School’s ten very talented full-time faculty members, all of whom have terminal degrees in their field of expertise. In addition to their academic acumen, the faculty has significant professional performance credits and associations such as: Actor’s Equity, American Federation of Television and Radio Actors. and the Screen Actor’s Guild. The professional model and commitment to professional standards, as well as the OCU mission for community outreach, is evidenced in TheatreOCU’s significant associations with Oklahoma City’s profession theatre troupes. Our work with these organizations is essential, not only to the aforementioned university mission, but to the pedagogical structure of the School. Our associates are:

Oklahoma Children’s Theatre (OCT) – Oklahoma’s premiere children’s theatre is in residence at OCU. OCT and TheatreOCU join in co-production each semester. OCT provides jobs for OCU theatre students in their touring shows, summer theatre camps, and a multitude of character performance functions throughout the city, throughout the year.

City Rep – is Oklahoma City’s premiere Equity Theatre Company founded and run by Oklahoma City University Alumni. City Rep also joins TheatreOCU in several co-productions each year. Students get to work with professional actors brought in by the company; design and production student get to work on, and design for a professional production. All these student participants gain valuable hours towards their equity memberships.

Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park (OSP) – Oklahoma’s Shakespeare company has been a staple of the Oklahoma community for years. The company rehearses and works out of Oklahoma City University. It performs its season in the summer months, mounting productions at the Myriad Garden’s Water Stage. Oklahoma City Theatre students work on every production aspect with this professional company and perform many of the significant roles in all the Shakespeare works produced there.

Let’s Pretend Players (LPP) – is the School of Theatre’s traveling student theatre group. These traveling groups of student performers educate and entertain young audiences throughout Oklahoma. Though it gives service to all school demographics, LLP gives particular attention to those schools needing school lunch support – schools that have a significant number of students needing aid. These specific tours are underwritten by a grant from the Priddy foundation overseen by the University itself.

Core to the theatre education at OCU are our educational productions. These range from the invaluable studio shows, produced under the title of Stage II; or small cast plays or musicals performed on the thrust stage of Burg Auditorium to the large spectacle driven productions in the 1,100 seat Kirkpatrick Auditorium. The School is constantly abuzz with audition, production, or performance activity every day, all year.

Education, our ultimate focus, is “Doing” in the School of Theatre – wherein classroom theory is practically applied to our many (48 in 2008!) educational productions, mentored by the talented faculty and professionals of our Oklahoma City performance partners. All of this is constructed, tried and true, to graduate students proven to be prepared (in skill and temperament) for the professional world of theatre and beyond.