The University of Tulsa is pleased to announce that Blaine Greteman, dean of the Kendall College of Arts & Sciences, has agreed to also serve as dean of UTulsa’s Honors College, beginning Aug. 15.
A staunch advocate for the liberal arts, Greteman has dedicated his career to sharing his love of literature and teaching works in the great books tradition to bright minds. With a mission for facilitating meaningful discourse among students about what it means to be a free citizen, he is committed to the culture and values of the Honors College, including the small seminars students expect.
“In my own sophomore year of college, I fell in love with one of history’s great books – Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ – because it welcomed me into a conversation that still isn’t finished,” Greteman said. “It’s a conversation about the biggest questions: what it means to be human, why it sometimes seems so difficult for humans to pursue good and avoid evil, and how we can learn to be better.
“This is the great books tradition at the heart of UTulsa’s Honors College. We pursue it in small seminars where professors share their own wisdom, not as experts lecturing, but as guides to a conversation initiated by the students. We also pursue it outside the classroom, through a community of students from all majors who have the opportunity to live together, serve the community together, and enrich their academic experience.”
Greteman has served as dean of Kendall College since 2024 and previously was chair of the University of Iowa’s English Department. He earned his doctorate in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley. A Rhodes Scholar, Blaine received his master of philosophy from Oxford after receiving his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University.
“Serving as Honors dean is a wonderful complement to my role as Arts & Sciences dean, because the colleges offer two essential approaches to the liberal arts. We need them both for a University of Tulsa education to serve as the foundation of a free and democratic society,” he said. “Honors introduces students to great conversations and great traditions; Arts & Sciences develops the skills to historicize, critique, and innovate on those conversations through artistic self-expression and practical problem solving.”