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Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, is an institution of higher learning founded in 1890 as a land-grant university, known as Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Oklahoma A&M). The name was changed in 1957 to reflect the broadening scope of curriculum offered. The campus has a total enrollment of 20,834 students for the 2005-06 academic year, 18,909 of which are undergraduates.

Colleges

  • Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
  • Arts and Sciences
  • Education
  • Engineering, Architecture, and Technology
  • Human Environmental Sciences
  • William S. Spears School of Business
  • Veterinary Health Sciences In addition to these, the Graduate College oversees the graduate degree programs of all colleges, and the Honors College provides further opportunities for students to study, conduct research, and exchange ideas in a challenging and supportive academic environment.

    Awards and distinctions

    Oklahoma State has garnered many awards and distinctions. As a land-grant university, historically renowned programs include its College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the College of Veterinary Medicine. The College of Engineering is internationally renowned, particularly in the fields of architecture and mechanical engineering.
    • The Occupational Education program is consistently ranked in the top 10 programs nation wide by US News and World Report.
    • The Student Guide to America's 100 Best College Buys named Oklahoma State as America's Best College Buy in 1998.
    • It has been named a Truman Honor Institution for its success in producing Truman scholars.
    • OSU is one of five U.S. universities where Sun Grant Research Initiative programs have been established by the U.S. Congress in the Sun Grant Research Initiative Act of 2003 for the purposes of researching and developing sustainable and environmentally-friendly bio-based energy alternatives.
    • Oklahoma State has graduated more Native Americans than any other university in the nation.
    • The Math Department has been recognized by the American Mathematics Association as one of four innovative programs in the nation and has produced five Sloan Fellows, which is equal to that of MIT.
    • The U.S. National Security Agency has chosen OSU as its newest
      National Center of Academic Excellence for Information Assurance Education.
    • OSU's architecture students have won more national and international competitions than any school in the nation except the University of Illinois.
    • OSU chemical engineering students won first-place for the third time in the 10-year history of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' National Team Plant Design Competition.
    • Aerospace engineering designed, built, and flew multiple winning RPV aircraft in the annual international DBF, competitions sponsored by the American Institute for Astronautics and Aeronautics, Office of Naval Research, and Cessna Aircraft Company.
    • The Oklahoma Mesonet, a state-of-the-art network of environmental monitoring stations that is an OSU-OU partnership, won a special award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the nation's leading professional society for those in the atmospheric and related sciences.
    • OSU is headquarters for the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association, which has members from as far away as Sweden, Japan, Australia, England and South Africa.
    • According to U.S. News & World Report rankings, OSU's medical school is among the nation's best. OSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa climbed in national rankings for the fifth straight year as one of the nation's top medical schools for rural medicine, family medicine and primary care.

    • The library was ranked among the top 70 in the nation by the Association of Research Libraries, in 2003-2004.
    • KOSU, the campus radio station, recently won its fifth Edward R. Murrow Award, one of the most prestigious broadcast journalism awards in the country.
    • Both the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press recognize OSU's Daily O'Collegian as one of the top collegiate newspapers in the country.
    • Oklahoma State is home of the Orange Peel, the nation's largest student run event. The students put on a concert/pep rally event which provides the OSU family with national and local headlining entertainment. Past entertainment includes Bill Cosby, Faith Hill, Sinbad, Incubus and Jeff Foxworthy.
    • The famous Asian-American poet Ai is a member of the English faculty
    • OSU’s Colvin Center has been named one of the top six collegiate sports facilities in the nation, by the The National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association. *
    • Gallagher-Iba Arena was named the best college gymnasium by CBS Sportsline in August 2001, and was ranked #1 by ESPNU in their countdown of America's top college basketball arenas.

    Student life

    Student demographics

    For the 2004-2005 academic year, the student body was 48.16% female and 51.84% male. By ethnicity, it was 75.95% White, 3.89% African-American, 8.03% Native American, 1.89% Hispanic, 1.65% Asian, and 8.6% of the population were international students. The average age of a student was 24.115 with 76.76% of the student body claiming Oklahoma as their state of residency.

    Housing

    On-campus housing at OSU is undergoing a major transformation. Student living was dominated by dormitories just a few short years ago; however, apartment-style buildings now comprise approximately half of the living quarters. Recently, the high-rise Willham North and South residential halls that used to dominate the Stillwater skyline with Kerr and Drummond Halls was demolished and replaced with more apartments being built on its site. Bennett Hall on Hall of Fame Avenue still offers suite-style accommodations.

    Student organizations

    Virtually every imaginable association of students is present on the OSU campus. Groups exist that cater to a student of every race, religion, and sexual orientation. Almost every major has its own club, and most majors have their own honor societies that are affiliated with national organizations. The National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi also has a chapter on campus that extends invitations to join to students in any discipline based on their academic success.

    Greek life

    Social fraternities and sororities at Oklahoma State are divided among four councils: Panhellenic, Interfraternity, National Pan-Hellenic and Multicultural.

    Eleven national Panhellenic sororities have chapters at OSU. They are: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Zeta, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Mu, Pi Beta Phi and Zeta Tau Alpha.

    Eighteen fraternities make up the Interfraternity Council. Member fraternities include: Alpha Gamma Rho, Alpha Tau Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Phi, Delta Tau Delta, FarmHouse, Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Kappa Tau, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Tau Kappa Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau.

    NPHC member organizations are historically black fraternities and sororities. Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Zeta Phi Beta, Phi Beta Sigma, Delta Sigma Theta, Omega Psi Phi, Sigma Gamma Rho and Kappa Alpha Psi.

    The Multicultural Greek Council is the umbrella organization for additional minority greek letter groups. Member organizations include Alpha Pi Omega, the nation's first American Indian sorority, Delta Epsilon Psi, a southeast Asian fraternity, and Phi Sigma Nu, an American Indian fraternity.

    Other greek letter organizations not affiliated with a governing council include Beta Upsilon Chi, a Christian fraternity, Omega Phi Alpha, a service-based sorority and a colony of Sigma Phi Lambda, a Christian sorority.

    Athletics

    Stats:

    NCAA Division I-A
    Conference: Big 12 (South)
    Major Rivalries: University of Oklahoma
    "The Bedlam Series"
    Minor Rivalries: University of Kansas (basketball), University of Iowa (wrestling)
    NCAA Championships: 48
    Wrestling: 34
    Golf: 10
    Basketball: 2
    Baseball: 1
    Cross Country: 1
    Athletic Director: Mike Holder

    OSU has one of the richest histories of any athletic program in the nation, and hosts the largest homecoming in the country. At 48 total national titles, OSU has the fourth most team national championships in the country. OSU has one of the highest athlete graduation rates in the country. In the Sears Cup standings, OSU has finished among the top 30 programs six times since the award's inception in 1994. The award is designed to recognize the best all-around athletic programs.

    The Cowboy wrestling team is among the most storied programs in all of college sports. The Pokes brought home their 33rd NCAA championship in spring 2005, scoring the most points ever by an Oklahoma State wrestling team in the NCAAs. OSU won their 34th overall (and 4th consecutive) title in 2006. OSU's 34 team titles are the most ever collected by a school in one sport. The Cowboys have also produced 126 individual national champions, including the sport's first-ever four-time champion, Pat Smith.

    Football and men's basketball also have superior traditions at Oklahoma State. In Football, O-State is sometimes referred to as Tailback U., being the alma matter of Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, Tatum Bell, and Vernand Morency. OSU is also one of the country's premier men's basketball programs. It has been the home of coaches such as Henry Iba and Eddie Sutton. In 2004, they progressed to the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio only to lose to national runner-up Georgia Tech.

    Oklahoma State University has had a longstanding and celebrated rivalry with the Oklahoma Sooners called the Bedlam Series, a rivalry that encompasses all the athletic contests between the two universities.

    Since the 1924 Olympics, 55 Oklahoma State University Olympians have won a total of 24 medals, 21 gold, two silver, and one bronze.

    People

    The current president of Oklahoma State University is David J. Schmidly, who took over in November 25, 2002.

    Today, there are over 190,000 living OSU alumni worldwide. Famous OSU alumni involved in politics include US Senator Tom Coburn, who has heavily pushed for federal budget restraints, and former acting Surgeon General of the United States, Robert A. Whitney. Promininent alumni include oil tycoon and billionaire philanthropist T. Boone Pickens, legal scholar Anita Hill and actor James Marsden. Alumns coaching include OSU wrestling head coach John Smith, OSU football head coach Mike Gundy, and OSU basketball head coach Sean Sutton. The Cowboys have had several NBA stars in the 21st century including current Oklahoma City Hornets player Desmond Mason.

    Campus buildings

    This currently an incomplete list. An interactive mapis available to locate buildings on campus.

    Academic buildings

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Oklahoma State University - Stillwater".

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