Crimson and Cream of the Crop
Crimson and Cream of the Crop
Pride of Oklahoma members had a little extra strut in their step this fall when the OU marching band took Owen Field with brand-new uniforms for the first time in a dozen years. The uniforms are 30 percent lighter in weight – keeping even America’s hottest marching band cooler – and are made by Fruhauf Uniforms, the Pride’s official outfitter since 1932.
To see those new uniforms in action, click here.
Hey, Neighbor!
Two “supermassive” black holes have been discovered in Markarian 231, the quasar closest to Earth, by astrophysicist Xinyu Dai from OU’s Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy and Youjun Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories of China. Quasars are active galaxies with an illuminated center. Dai used observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to detect the holes, which are different sizes and together known as a “binary black hole.”
Wong Honored
Kathleen Wong, director of OU’s Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, has been selected as a national Top 25 Women in Higher Education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Wong was chosen for making a difference in the world by tackling some of higher education’s toughest challenges and exhibiting extraordinary leadership skills. In addition to her duties as director of the Southwest Center, Wong teaches a graduate course in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education on Diversity Issues in Higher Education and directs the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education.
Honors College Makes the Grade
The OU Honors College has been named one of the top 25 in the nation by A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs. OU was given a 4.5 out of 5 ranking next to the Echols Scholars Program at the University of Virginia and Science and the Arts Honors Program at the University of Michigan. The Review ranks honors colleges in the nation based on honors graduation requirements, range and type of honors courses, honors class size, honors graduation rates, ratio of honors staff to students, honors residence halls, prestigious awards and priority registration for classes.
Brains and Brawn
During the past academic year University of Oklahoma student-athletes achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 or higher for an unprecedented seventh consecutive semester. And, for two years in row, the College Gymnastics Association named nine members of the OU men's gymnastics team to its yearly list of All-America Scholar-Athletes. While they weren’t studying, members of the 2014-2015 gymnastics team also managed a perfect 26-0 season ending with its ninth NCAA Championship, more than any sports program in OU history. Now that’s something to cheer about.