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CHICKASHA – The University of Science and Arts is sponsoring a six day, five night art and theatre tour to New York City that is planned for May 22 through May 27, 2012. The tour will be led by emeritus faculty member Roger Drummond and Jacquelyn Knapp, associate professor of art.

Mark Owens, 63, a visionary entrepreneur and designer of the Owens Flag Plaza at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, died Nov. 1, at his home in Castle Rock, Colo.

He will be remembered for generations by alumni and friends of USAO as the “imagineer” behind the Owens Flag Plaza, which he designed as three interlocking circles to harmonize its unique three-part history.

A quiet change happened in the national rankings this year, a change that could easily go unnoticed since Oklahoma’s usually highest ranked public university has disappeared from its familiar spot on the “Baccalaureate Colleges” list in U.S.News & World Report.

For decades, Sharon Brickman would issue the same challenge to each new set of potential teachers who came under her care:

“If you don’t believe that you can effect change in your students’ lives, change your major.”

Mary Rios, a student at the University of Science and Arts, has been awarded the title of Miss Deaf Oklahoma Ambassador at the recent Oklahoma Association of the Deaf Conference.

Though it took a winding series of hard decisions to bring him to the campus, Dr. Shawyi Kao taught mathematics at the University of Science and Arts for more than 29 years. He retired this spring.

Kao (pronounced “gow”) never planned to teach in Oklahoma for three decades, but he encountered friendly people here who won him over.

Dr. John Miller didn’t just teach history. He lived it.

With near-perfect spring weather, more than 2,000 people flocked to the USAO campus for the Spring Triad on April 7. Students from more than 75 high schools across Oklahoma visited Chickasha.

Responding to painful budget cuts with characteristic ingenuity, USAO staff and faculty are imagining new ways to harness available dollars.  The school shaved $350,000 a year off its energy bills by creating Oklahoma’s first energy performance contract in higher education back in 2001, but now more state budget cuts are requiring even more imagination.

He's been an athletic official for five decades, a lifetime resident of the Chickasha area and a friend to the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma for many years. And this year, the Oklahoma Officials Association honored Jim Ruff for meritorious service as an athletic official.