2018 Honorees

Brant Adams received a bachelor of music degree in piano performance from Capital University, a master of music degree in music theory from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D. in music theory from The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied composition with Donald Grantham. He taught at...

Lucy Bailey is associate professor of Social Foundations and Qualitative Inquire, and the director of Gender and Women’s Studies, at Oklahoma State University. Her research and teaching interests include qualitative methodologies and contemporary and historical study of diversity issues in education. She has served as a qualitative methodologist on multiple grant teams designed to retain members of underrepresented groups in the fields of science, technology...

Kyle Boren has always had a passion for storytelling. From the countless influences in the world of entertainment, history, and life itself, Kyle strives to break the mold. As an Oklahoma State graduate in May of 2016, Kyle uses his degree as a double major in Marketing and International Business to make a difference. Currently...

Errick Braggs started his career in 1995 after graduating OSU-IT with an associate degree in graphic design. He worked in the advertising agency industry for several years until after the birth of his first child, when he transitioned his career path to corporate, in-house design jobs. In 2008...

Ben Brock is a Senior Graphic Designer with Fire Protection Publications at Oklahoma State University. He has been with Fire Protection Publications for twenty years, three of which as an intern while a student at Oklahoma State. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. He has collaborated on numerous educational publications, research journals and...

Cristina Colquhoun is the Instructional Designer for the Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University. She is an experienced teacher, curriculum specialist, trainer and instructional designer and currently uses her skill set to design information literacy instruction and tutorials for undergraduate students, as well as provide training for...

Bret Danilowicz is in his sixth year as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University. Previously, he served as dean of Science and Technology at Georgia Southern University and associate dean at Georgia Southern and University College Dublin, Ireland. After receiving his Ph.D. in zoology from Duke University, he received an M.A. in Education Leadership & Management from Open University and an MBA from...

Lindsey Dugan started as a student worker at Fire Protection Publications in 2014. She became a full-time instructional developer in 2016. She has a Bachelor's degree in English from East Central University and is working on a Master’s degree in Professional Writing from OSU. Because of these choices in universities, she is very...

Roy Escoubas is the Director of Oklahoma State University's Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center, a part of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Escoubas was raised in southwest Louisiana and received his B.S. degree in Animal Science from McNeese State University. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science at Oklahoma State University, received his commission as an officer in the United States Army from Oklahoma State University and served on both active and reserve duty. He earned...

Jose Fulgencio is a Chicago native with a B.A. in Political Science from Northeastern Illinois University, M.A. in Political Science and M.S. in Entrepreneurship from Oklahoma State University. He is currently working on his Ph.D. in Higher Education with a focus on Educational Technology. His work experience includes startup founder of two companies, teaching political science, management for a private bank, and Job Club Coordinator for...

Perry Gethner is Regents Professor and Norris Professor of French. He has taught at OSU since 1984 and served for 16 years as department head of Foreign Languages. He has published numerous critical editions and translations of French literary works from the early modern period. He is a member of international teams of scholars...

Duane A. Gill is an Environmental Sociologist with a focus of technological hazards and disasters. Dr. Gill was part of a research team that investigated sociocultural and psychosocial impacts of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill through a series of longitudinal studies spanning 24 years. He led a National Science Foundation research project to document impacts of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in coastal Alabama. Dr. Gill has collaborated on several studies of Hurricane Katrina and organized and led a Katrina Summit that brought together...

Aaron D. Hill is an Associate Professor of Management and Spears Chair in Business Administration. His research interests include the personal characteristics, compensation, and job mobility of executives. Aaron’s research has been published in the Academy of Management Journal...

Dr. Rodney Holcomb is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Charles B. Browning Endowed Professor of Food Studies with the Food & Agricultural Products Center (FAPC) at Oklahoma State University. His research interests lie in the areas of value-added manufacturing economics and market evaluations. His goals are to identify economically feasible processing alternatives and business structures for adding value to regional agricultural commodities, along with determining the impacts of...

Growing up on a black sheep farm in south central Kansas with Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now OSU)-graduate parents, Lynn began teaching adults hand spinning and natural dyeing at the age of five. Education has been her lifelong career: Master’s Degree in Adult and Occupational Education from Kansas State University, teaching grades 7-12 Home Economics at USD #378 Riley County, KS; working as an...

Janine Joseph was born and raised in the Philippines and Southern California. She is the author of “Driving without a License” (Alice James Books, 2016), winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize and a finalist for the 2017 Oklahoma Book Award. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in World Literature Today, The Poem’s Country: Place & Poetic Practice, Kenyon Review Online...

Professor Jason Lavery is a professor of history at Oklahoma State University and permanent adjunct professor (docent) in the church history of Finland and Scandinavia at Helsinki University. He has published widely on the history of Finland, Scandinavia, Germany and the Baltic Sea region, including "The History of Finland."

Dr. Li Maria Ma is an Associate Professor in Food Microbiology at the National Institute of Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity of Oklahoma State University. She received her B.S. in Food Engineering from Dalian Polytechnic University, P. R. China, and Ph.D degree in Food Microbiology from Purdue University. Currently, Dr. Ma teaches several graduate-level courses including Advanced Biotechnology Methods, Forensic Microbiology, Emerging Issues in Food Safety & Biosecurity, and Career Skills & Professionalisms.

Leslie Anne Martin is an artist and educator. Born and raised in rural Oklahoma, Martin's works explore social structure and perception in her region, as well as weather phenomena and its relation to landscape and culture. Martin earned her MFA in sculpture from the University of New Mexico and her BFA in sculpture and BS in design from Oklahoma State University. Martin has an impressive exhibition history and has experience in the design field...

Andy Mattern is an Assistant Professor of Photography & Digital Media at Oklahoma State University and he is represented by Elizabeth Houston Gallery in New York. His work has been exhibited at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh, Photo Center NW in Seattle, the Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Candela Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, and the Photographic Centre Peri in Turku, Finland...

Leslie A. Miller was born and raised in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English with Honors from Oklahoma State University. An editor with Fire Protection Publications since 2002, she has written and edited a variety of fire service training manuals. She serves...

Dr. Tamara L. Mix is the Laurence L. and Georgia Ina Dresser Professor in the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University with research interests in environmental justice, social movements, and race, class and gender inequality. A community engaged scholar, she has worked on projects involving a diverse range of stakeholders to address issues of community contamination, water access and...

Dr. Haley Murphy is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. She primarily teaches public administration courses to both Fire and Emergency Management graduate students and Political Science majors. Her research focuses on collaboration between nonprofit organizations, religious organizations, and government agencies, particularly after disasters...

Angel Muzik has been an Instructional Developer at Fire Protection Publications since 2014. Before that, she worked as an educator for Stillwater Public Schools and the OSU College of Education. She earned both her bachelor's in Elementary Education and a masters' in Educational Technology from OSU, so she’s orange and black, through and through...

Karen Neurohr is professor, research and outreach in the Oklahoma oral history research program for the OSU Library. Employed at the OSU Library for 12 years, her work has included oral history interviews, numerous collaborative community programs and formal and informal assessment activities. In 2012, she initiated Science Cafe OSU in partnership with the vice president for Research and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. Since then...

Dr. Ochsner is a native of Chattanooga, Oklahoma. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Science at OSU in 1998. He then studied Soil Science and Water Resources at Iowa State University earning a M.S. in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2003. From 2003 through 2008, he worked as a soil scientist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in St. Paul, Minnesota. The mission of Dr. Ochsner’s...

Clint Parker joined Fire Protection Publications in 2003 as a senior graphic designer. In 1999, he graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts. He has done the design for more than 50 fire service training manuals, including “Essentials of Fire Fighting” and “Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting. In addition to graphic design...

Aimee Parkison is the author of “Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman,” winner of the Fiction Collective Two Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize, published in 2017 by FC2/University of Alabama Press. Her other works include “Woman with Dark Horses,” “The Innocent Party” and “The Petals of Your Eyes.” Parkison's fiction has won numerous awards and fellowships, including...

Tim Prasil (aka Tim Prchal) teaches English at Oklahoma State University. He has written articles printed in many academic journals. He edits anthologies of supernatural fiction from the 1800s and early 1900s. His composite novel, "Help for the Haunted: A Decade of Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries," was...

Dakota is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on examination of social problems, issues of inequality and social movements that emerge to demand and work toward a more just and equitable society. Dakota’s dissertation...

Eric Reitan, a Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University, specializes in philosophy of religion and ethics. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters as well as three books...

Dr. Liesel Ritchie is Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Disasters and Extreme Events at Oklahoma State University and an Associate Professor in OSU’s Department of Sociology. During her career, Ritchie has studied a range of disaster events, including the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil spills; the Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash release; Hurricane Katrina...

Simone Rowe joined Fire Protection Publications as a Lead Instructional Developer in 2014. She has been a technical writer and editor for more than 15 years, and has...

Tom A. Royer is a Professor, Extension Entomologist and Integrated Pest Management Coordinator at Oklahoma State University with the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and has statewide Extension and research responsibilities for insect management in cereal grains and field crops. Tom is also...

Gregory Deon Samuel II, born and raised in Oklahoma City on Jan. 2, 1999, is a man with unquenching, unattainable potential. In high school, he presided as founder and president of the first Black Student Association. He was also heavily involved in speech and debate. Most notably, he was named Regional Champion of the Cross Examination Debate in 2015...

David Schaap is a part-time curriculum developer with Fire Protection Publications. He is originally from Iowa and came to Stillwater to attend OSU. He received at Master’s in Professional Writing in 2013 and has since been working in the Curriculum Department at FPP. After attending fire academy with OSU-Fire Service Training, he began...

Mike Schuster joined the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University as an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in 2015. Professor Schuster’s research focuses on intellectual property, with an emphasis how self-interested private parties influence the public domain.

Tonia Sharlach is a professor of Ancient History at Oklahoma State University. An author of two books and numerous articles and reviews, Dr. Sharlach's work has covered a range of topics based on cuneiform tablets in the Sumerian language dating from about 2050 B.C. from southern Iraq. Starting with work on taxation and touching on matters such as calendars and diplomacy, Dr. Sharlach's...

Peter Shull is an associate professor of physics and director of OSU's H.S. Mendenhall Observatory, which is home to Oklahoma's largest optical telescope. He holds degrees in astrophysics from Rice (Ph.D) and Princeton. On campus, he teaches large introductory courses on the solar system, and on stars and galaxies, as well as advising research students working at the observatory. His research...

Veronica Smith started working for the International Fire Service Training Association as a senior editor in April, 2012. Her first IFSTA manual was “Orientation and Terminology, Sixth Edition.” She completed “Vehicle Extrication, Fourth Edition” in 2017. Since being with IFSTA, she has completed the Fire Instructor 1 certification. She has a bachelor’s and a master’s...

Libby Snyder has been a Senior Editor at Fire Protection Publications for nearly ten years. Her favorite part of her day job is sussing out the differences between need-to-know and nice-to-know information. She has lived in Stillwater since August 2000, having never left after completing an English degree at Oklahoma State University. Libby enjoys...

Tom Spector has been a professor at the School of Architecture since 2001 where he teaches the architectural management course sequence, comprehensive design studio and design ethics. How Architects Write is his third book. It follows The Ethical Architect and The Guide to the Architecture of Georgia. Tom received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a Life Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University.

Susan Stansberry serves the College of Education, Health and Aviation as head of the School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Aviation; associate professor of Educational Technology; director of the Emerging Technologies and Creativity Research Lab; and co-PI of the NASA...

Dr. Ramanjulu Sunkar is Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University. Stillwater, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Botany from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, India. He was a recipient of DAAD fellowship, Alexander Von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship, Feinberg Postdoctoral fellowship and Sir Charles Clore Postdoctoral fellowship. He pursued his post-doctoral research under the supervision of Dr. Hillel Fromm (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), Dr. Dorothea Bartels...

Penny Thompson received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University, and has been an assistant professor of educational technology in the College of Education, Health and Aviation since 2012. Her research...

Matt Upson is the Director of Undergraduate Instruction and Outreach Services at Oklahoma State University’s Edmon Low Library. He enjoys finding opportunities for innovative instruction and interaction with students, especially conversing about and...

Martin Wallen has been in the English Department for more than 30 years. “Whose Dog Are You: The Technology of Dog Breeds and The Aesthetics of Modern Human-Canine Relations” is his fourth book, but the first one on dogs. Research for this book...

Rebecca Weber is an Assistant Professor and the Education and Teaching Librarian at Oklahoma State University. She holds a Bachelors in English Education from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from the University of Oklahoma. She has spent her career...