USAO Welcomes 229 Freshmen, Fall Classes Begin Aug. 25
Published:
August-22-2008
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Freshman Charlie Beach of Handcross, England, accepts a Class of 2012 Medallion from USAO President John Feaver in Thursday's ceremony welcoming the new fall class of freshman to the University of Science and Arts. Beach was elected freshman president during last week's freshman orientation program. He joins new freshmen from across Oklahoma, three other states and Austria, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Classes begin Monday at USAO. New students were welcomed into the campus family in the formal Freshman Matriculation Convocation on Thursday.
CHICKASHA - Unexpected August rains have "greened up" the campus for returning students as 229 freshmen were officially welcomed to the campus family in a ceremony Thursday at the University of Science and Arts. Fall classes begin Monday at Oklahoma's public liberal arts college.
In addition to offering more than 300 classes in 23 fields of study, USAO's fall calendar is filled with a number of musical and theatrical events. Scheduled events include the fall production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," in November. The famous play is being performed as a tribute to the centennial of the university: it"s the most produced Shakespeare play in the history of the school.
Concerts by each of the university's ensembles continue through October and November. A special festival celebrating the life and music of composer Bela Bartok is scheduled Oct. 20-24 which features live music, guest speakers and more.
The ever-popular Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series hits the stage Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. with R&B band Ball in the House, a high energy a cappella vocal band from Boston.
Drover soccer kicks into high gear with three home games in August. Both teams are coming off have high expectations for the 2008 season. Scores, stats and stories from Drover soccer games are available online at www.usao.edu/usao-sports.
A fall class schedule is available from the USAO Admissions Office by phone at (405) 574-1357 or on the Internet at www.usao.edu/schedules.
USAO's newly designed website also offers a full course catalog, events calendars, sports news and sections on art shows and fine arts events. Persons who wish to get e-mail updates about USAO news, events and sports can sign up for the Alumni News Hotline at www.usao.edu/alumni/getmorenews.htm.
The USAO Art Gallery continues its display of selections from the permanent collection through the end of August. The gallery is free and open to public weekdays 8:30-4:30. Other scheduled exhibitions for the fall include works by Mary Nickell, an exhibition for kindergarten through fifth grade children and works by Narciso Arguelles and Stuart Asprey. A full schedule of art shows is available at www.usao.edu/gallery.
Moving to the top of the exclusive "Great Schools, Great Prices" list in U.S.News & World Report's America's Best Colleges guide, USAO took the No. 1 spot last year among all baccalaureate colleges in the western United States ranked for both academic quality and reasonable cost.
Under its ambitious Mission Enhancement Plan, USAO has aggressively raised academic standards while keeping costs much lower than national competitors. For the seventh year in a row, USAO remains the highest-ranked public college in Oklahoma in the annual rankings by America's Best Colleges.
USAO offers courses in 23 fields of study and seven non-degree, pre-professional fields to choose from. Fields of study available at USAO are American Indian studies, art, biology, business (with concentrations in accounting, business administration and management), chemistry, communication, computer science, deaf education, drama, early child-hood education, economics, elementary education, English, history, mathematics, music, natural science, physical education, physics, political science, psychology, sociology and speech pathology.
The University welcomes new students and non-traditional, older students who wish to continue or finish their degrees. The enrollment process takes about an hour, according to the admissions office.
