UNIVERSITY NEWS

OUHSC RECEIVES RECORD-BREAKING BIOMEDICAL GRANT: The OU Health Sciences Center has been awarded a $17.9 million five-year grant, the largest biomedical grant ever made to an Oklahoma institution.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS GET HANDS-ON TRAINING: In the past few years, OU professors and students have visited the state's northeastern corner to learn more about its ecological problems and devise ways of easing them.

STUDENT GATEWAY: OU anthropology senior Vincent Schultz created the masonry design chosen for the Choctaw Veteran's Association cemetery gate in southeastern Oklahoma.

OU STUDENTS WIN NATIONAL AWARD FROM ABA: The American Bar Association will present the Best Brief in the Nation Award to OU law students this August in Atlanta.

STUDENTS STUDY IN NEW YORK: An MBA program at OU provides students with $12,000 to attend New York University and receive hands-on instruction in Wall Street internships.

NSK NEUSTADT PRIZE WINNER CHOSEN: Brian Doyle, one of Canada's most beloved writers of fiction for young people, has been selected as the 2005 laureate of the $25,000 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature, awarded by the University of Oklahoma and its international quarterly, World Literature Today.

OU'S NEW ACCELERATED NURSING PROGRAM: OU now offers a 14-month program for students who already have undergraduate degrees but are seeking a BS in Nursing.

READY FOR FLIGHT: Erin Darcey, OU Flight School graduate, teaches aspiring aviators at the Sooner Flight Academy Aviation Camp.

OU AVIATION GETS NEW PLANES: The OU Department of Aviation will replace 13 training planes within the upcoming school year after getting the OK to do so from the OU Board of Regents. 

STUDENTS GET SQUIRRELLY: Members of Squirrels Anonymous, an unofficial student group, find entertainment by squirrel fishing.

ALUMNI NEWS

FORMER THOMAS CAREY STUDENT FINDS SUCCESS: OU alum Harvey Fort followed his dreams all the way to the Washington National Opera.

HAMILTON HOLDS HIS OWN AGAINST GOLF GREATS: Former OU standout Todd Hamilton wins at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland, the first time in Oklahoma history that a golfer with state ties has won the British Open.

OU ALUM PARTICIPATES IN BOOK CONTEST: Gail Greenberg is one of fourteen finalists in a national children's picture book contest sponsored by the American Book Cooperative. 

SPORTS NEWS

YOUNG PUNCHES TICKET TO ATHENS: OU's Guard Young wrapped up a five-day selection camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, July 15.

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY AT OU: Student-athletes at the University of Oklahoma can now turn to Dr. Nicki Webber-Moore, hired this summer as the Department of Athletics' full-time sports psychologist. AP writer Jeff Latzke reports on the trend Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione calls "cutting edge."

JASON WHITE:

On the preseason watch list for the 2004 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, given annually to the nation's top college quarterback;

Named Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year;

Nominated for Two ESPY's.

LOOKING BACK

Oklahoma's clear blue skies have beckoned young aviators at the University since 1927, when a group of students established Norman's first flying school in a small pasture. With the construction of Westheimer Field in 1940, OU continued to offer excellent flight instruction to men and women alike. This month's Looking Back on Sooner Magazine looks back to 1949, when a young alum and former WWII WASP embodied the Spirit of America on the cover of Collier's.

LINKS OF INTEREST

Jim Miller, football and basketball stadium announcer for the Sooners, has recently published a book of articles from his syndicated column Savvy Senior.

America's Junior Miss 2004, Shannon Essenpreis from Garland, Texas, won a $50,000 cash scholarship on June 26 after participating in television's first ever reality pageant. She is set to begin studying musical theatre and broadcast journalism at OU this fall.

Organized by the Association of American Indian Physicians, the Student Enrichment Academy for Reaching Careers in Health is a six-week program geared toward recruiting Native American high school seniors into health-related fields. Read more about this program at the Headlands Indian Health Careers Program at OUHSC:

In 1980, Dr. Robert Bell, Curator of Archeology at the Stovall Museum, published a book on typical Native American artifacts found in Oklahoma. The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History offers a web-based version of this book here:

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ALUMNI VOICES: This past month, we heard more memories about commencement speakers and the words of wisdom that have served alumni over the years.