What an exciting way to spring forward toward the end of the semester! The University of Tulsa has a new president who is also an old friend, so we’re focusing this month on our alumni accomplishments and on the ways new faculty and students are building on the college’s legacy and historic strengths. We also want you to build upon those strengths by joining us for Giving Day between now and April 7 at givingday.utulsa.edu.
You’ll read plenty about her elsewhere, but we are thrilled to welcome President-elect Stacy Leeds, a 1998 alumni of UTulsa’s law school who also holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tennessee. A Cherokee citizen and former Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice, she literally wrote the book on American Indian Law and will hold a joint appointment in the College of Arts & Sciences where we have ambitions to build one of the country’s most important centers for Native American Studies. It’s not lost on any of us that Kendall College started out as the Presbyterian School for Indian Girls, and we’re enthusiastic about this historic moment.
Speaking of groundbreaking figures in higher education, I’m happy that this month we’re featuring a story about my personal undergraduate mentor and UTulsa English Department alumnus, Professor Robert Graalman (Ph.D. ’78). When I was an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University, Bob took me under his wing as he did many other students over the decades in his role as director of scholar development. Under his leadership, Oklahoma State became a Truman Honors Institution and won its first Rhodes Scholarship (mine!). Bob has always spoken about how The University of Tulsa prepared him for a career as a scholar and leader, and this career was recently recognized by his induction into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of fame, an honor that he shares with President Emeriti Ben Henneke (B.A. ’35).
Appropriately then, we’re also publishing a piece on the history of TUTV, which has recently pivoted to social media. And last but not least, we’re profiling one of our newest faculty members, Sahar Abi Hassan, whose research looks at the way the Supreme Court builds its docket and who has access to it. It’s a great moment for UTulsa: Please don’t forget to join in our efforts to fuel this momentum by contributing during Giving Day on April 7.
Sincerely and Reign ’Cane!
Blaine Greteman
Dean of the Kendall College of Arts & Sciences
The University of Tulsa