To sum up the mood on campus these days, I’m turning to the 17th-century poet Thomas Carew:
“The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the long’d-for May.
Now all things smile…”
Smiling seniors are awaiting their big day, smiling freshmen are proud that they’ve almost crossed the finish line of their first year, and this dean is smiling broadly because our community came together like never before to support the college on our annual giving day on April 7. Thanks to many of the people reading this newsletter, we had an absolutely historic giving day, raising $247,818. That was a 156% increase over 2025, which was a 167% increase over 2024! Or if you are more of a poet than a mathematician … this year, we raised almost $213,000 more on giving day than in 2024, enabling us to provide opportunities for hundreds more students to achieve their dreams at UTulsa.
The impact is everywhere you look on campus: students engaging with faculty in their labs, gaining access to hands-on learning through TUTV and our media operations and working with real-world clients through our in-house graphic design studio, Third Floor Design. This month, I’m pleased that we’re publishing stories about how this kind of work is impacting the community, our alumni and the broader world beyond campus.
We’re publishing a piece about Justin Hathaway (B.A. ’98), the most recent inductee into UTulsa’s Communication Hall of Fame, who discusses his career with the Chicago Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network and how it all started doing student media right here. We’re also including a piece about how our students and faculty are collaborating on groundbreaking work to help children deal with nightmares – research that has been covered in U.S. News & World Report and the London Independent. And finally, we delve into the recent work of Third Floor Design, which provides professional-quality services to nonprofits across the Tulsa region (including a refreshed graphic for the Kendall College of Arts & Sciences that you can find soon on a T-shirt near you).
Sincerely,
Blaine Greteman
Dean of the Kendall College of Arts & Sciences
The University of Tulsa