Timothy D. DeGiusti is a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma. Born in 1962 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, DeGiusti received a bachelor's degree, with distinction, from the University of Oklahoma in 1985. He is a 1988 graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law.   DeGiusti practiced with the firm Andrews, Davis, Legg, Bixler, Milsten & Price in Oklahoma City from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 2000. He was a founding partner of the Oklahoma City firm Holladay, Chilton & DeGiusti PLLC, where he practiced from 2000 to 2007. He was appointed to the federal bench in 2007. 

From 1990 to 1993, DeGiusti was a prosecutor in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and in 2003 he retired from the Oklahoma Army National Guard after 22 years of combined active and reserve service. DeGiusti was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law from 1998 to 2003, where he taught courses in military law and trial techniques, and was the Distinguished Jurist in Residence for the University of Oklahoma College of Law Oxford Program in 2014. DeGiusti was appointed by Governor Brad Henry as a Commissioner with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and served from 2003 to 2007. DeGiusti is an emeritus member and past president of the Luther Bohanon American Inn of Court, and is a director and past president of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. He is a past director of the Oklahoma County Bar Association. DeGiusti is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. In 2012 he received the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation Wall of Fame Award. He and his wife, Elaine, have four children.

Governor Brad Henry serves Of Counsel to the national business law firm of Spencer Fane LLP and is a founding member of Henry-Adams Companies, LLC, a general and business development consulting firm.

Henry was a President's Leadership Scholar at the University of Oklahoma, where he received the Gold Letseizer Medal as the Top Senior Graduate and earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1985. In 1988, Henry was awarded his law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Law Review.

Henry served as Oklahoma's 26th governor. He was elected governor in 2002 and served two terms through January 10, 2011. Only the third governor to serve two consecutive terms, Henry was re-elected in 2006 by the largest vote margin in modern times and the second largest margin in state history.

Henry took office in the midst of one of the worst budget crises in state history but forged a historic bipartisan agreement among legislative leaders that shielded education and health care from massive cuts. Under his leadership, Oklahoma experienced an economic revival, with record budget shortfalls becoming record budget surpluses.

His greatest emphasis was on the improvement of public education. The governor’s initiatives raised teacher salaries and benefits to historic levels, put more resources into the classroom and set higher academic standards for students. The governor also expanded Oklahoma’s early childhood education programs, which are now rated among the best in the country, and dramatically increased funding for college scholarship programs.

In 2010, Henry was appointed by President Barack Obama to the six-member Council of Governors. The Council, created by an Executive Order of President George W. Bush, works closely with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and other defense and national security advisors to exchange views, information and advice on matters of mutual interest pertaining to the National Guard, homeland defense, and synchronization and integration of state and federal military activities.

Before his election as governor, Henry practiced law with his father, Charles, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and served ten years in the Oklahoma State Senate, chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee and serving as vice-chair of the Senate Economic Development Committee. A third generation Oklahoman, Henry was born in Shawnee and is married to the former Kimberley Blain. They have three daughters, Leah, Laynie and Baylee.

Emily Remmel is the 2017 Outstanding Young Alumna for the OU College of Arts and Sciences.

Remmel was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. She received bachelor and master degrees in zoology from the University of Oklahoma. While at OU, she had many opportunities, including working as an undergraduate and later as a graduate research assistant in David Hambright’s Plankton Ecology and Limnology Lab. She spent summers studying at the OU Biological Station at Lake Texoma and found her aquatic ecology niche researching Daphniid zooplankton and the toxic invasive algae, Prymnesium parvum.

During her tenure at OU, Remmel accepted the Mark Coleman Fellowship on the Environment through the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment program (now Environmental Studies). This fellowship pivoted on an issue central to many Oklahomans―water. Oklahoma and Texas were involved in a highly contentious legal battle over the Red River Compact and rights to future freshwater supplies. Remmel travelled throughout Oklahoma to dissect what this archaic compact was and what decreased supplies meant to professional stakeholders and concerned citizens. This experience truly inspired Remmel to embark on a new adventure in law school to gain a better understanding of environmental law and policy.

In 2014, Remmel graduated from Vermont Law School, which is recognized as the top environmental law school in the country. She received the school’s first Certificate of Water Resources Law and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. She had the opportunity to work with top water attorney, Jack Tuholske, in Vermont Law School’s Water and Justice Program. She assisted in drafting legal actions to protect Lake Erie from devastating blue green algal blooms caused by significant nonpoint source nutrient runoff. She also interned with the Sierra Club and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Remmel recently joined the National Association of Clean Water Agencies as the Director of Regulatory Affairs. NACWA is a nationally-recognized leader in all aspects of water quality protection. The close working relationship NACWA maintains with Congress and the EPA allows the association to effectively represent the interests and priorities of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants.

In her free time, Remmel enjoys teaching and inspiring curious undergraduates the complexities of water law and policy throughout the country. She is an adjunct instructor in the Environmental Studies program at OU. Her courses taught include Introduction to Water Resources Law and Water Resources Advocacy.

Remmel lives with her husband, Jeff, in Washington D.C. with their two cats, Tonka and Griffey, as well as a few mason jars of zooplankton pet friends.

Terri White, commissioner for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, is an advocate for individuals experiencing mental illness and addiction. During her tenure, ODMHSAS is recognized nationally for its children’s behavioral health services; community-based treatment programs; technological innovations such as “telepsychiatry;” and the integration of behavioral health care into primary healthcare settings.

White, appointed commissioner in May 2007, also was the first woman to serve as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Health, holding that post under then-Governor Brad Henry from 2009 to 2011.

Before becoming commissioner, White held numerous positions within the department, including Deputy Commissioner for Communications and Prevention; Director of Communications and Public Policy; Management Analyst; and, executive director of two state-operated facilities.

In addition to her career endeavors, White has been recognized by numerous civic organizations for her outstanding leadership abilities and tireless efforts to improve the quality of life for Oklahomans living with mental or addictive disorders.

She received a national Henry Toll Fellowship with the Council of State Governments in 2015. In 2014, White received the “Kate Barnard Award” from the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women, created to honor outstanding women who have made a difference in Oklahoma through public service. In 2012, she was recognized by The Journal Record newspaper as one of Oklahoma’s top “Achievers Under 40.” She is a three-time honoree of The Journal Record's “50 Women Making a Difference” program and was named to its “Circle of Excellence” in 2011.

She was inducted into OU’s Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work Hall of Fame in 2011, and is a volunteer faculty member with the OU School of Medicine.

A native of Edmond, White received both her bachelor and master of social work from OU.

Benton C. Clark is chief scientist, flight systems, at Lockheed Martin Astronautics. He received his B.S. in astrophysics from the University of Oklahoma in 1959 and his Ph.D. in biophysics from Columbia University in 1968. He conceived and developed the x-ray fluorescence spectrometers used for geochemical analyses of Martian soil samples on board the Viking landers. He was Co-I for development of the lightflash detector and sunshade for the Particle Impact Analyzer experiment, flown successfully on the Giotto Mission, studying comet Halley. He introduced the concept of key roles for cometary particulates and formation of comet ponds as an enabling step for the abiotic origin of life.

He chairs the External Advisory Committee for the NASA Center for Research and Training in Exobiology at the University of California San Diego and Salk Institute. He received the NASA Public Service Medal, Wright Brothers Award, Air Force Service Medal, and was selected as Inventor of the Year and Author of the Year for Martin Marietta Corporation.

Stacey Dales serves as a studio host and reporter for NFL Media Programming. She joined the NFL Network in fall 2009 as a host and reporter and was seen regularly this season filing reports on “Around the League,” “NFL Total Access” and “NFL GameDay Morning.”

Prior to the NFL Network, Dales spent seven years as an analyst and reporter for ESPN and ABC, where she covered NCAA football, men’s and women’s basketball and the NBA. Dales also contributed columns and written features on NCAA women’s basketball for ESPN.com. From 2003 to 2009, Dales served as an NCAA women’s basketball analyst for CBS Westwood One radio, the Sooner Sports Network and CBS’ NCAA women’s basketball championship special.

As a two-time Kodak First-Team All-American and four-year letter winner at OU, Dales is the first player in Oklahoma women’s basketball history to record 1,700 points, 600 rebounds and 700 assists. Following her college basketball career, Dales was the third overall pick by the Washington Mystics in the 2002 WNBA draft. She went on to play seven seasons in the WNBA and was a member of the Canadian Olympic Basketball Team of 2000.

A native of Ontario, Canada, Dales also is involved heavily in various community outreach programs such as Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society of the United States and the Laura Bush Foundation for American’s Libraries.

N. Bird Runningwater was born of the Cheyenne and Mescalero Apache peoples. Runningwater was raised on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico before attending OU, where he was the first graduate in the college’s in Native American Studies program. He also received a degree in journalism and mass communication at that time. Runningwater went on to earn his master’s in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas Austin. He oversaw the Native Lab at the Sundance Institute, which launched projects such as “Four Sheets to the Wind” written and directed by OU’s Sterlin Harjo; and “Drunktown’s Finest,” produced by Oklahoma’s Chad Burris. Runningwater now is the director of the Native American and Indigenous Program at Sundance.

Before joining the Sundance Institute, Runningwater served as executive director of the Fund for Four Directions, the private philanthropy organization established by Ann Rockefeller Roberts. He also served as program associate in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture Program, where he built and managed domestic and global funding initiatives. Runningwater also is a patron to the imagiNATIVE Indigenous Film Festival in Toronto.

Elizabeth Ellison is the CEO of the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation. She is a life-long Oklahoman and graduated from OU with a bachelor’s degree in political science before earning her juris doctorate from the OU College of Law. While at OU, Ellison was the inaugural recipient of the David L. Boren Commitment to Service Award and a recipient of the Bass Memorial Scholarship, given to students demonstrating a promising career in public service.

Prior to law school, Ellison worked as a legislative assistant for Congressman Dan Boren in Washington, D.C., handling a variety of domestic issues, including education, healthcare and small businesses. At the OU College of Law, she was class president and was chosen to deliver the commencement address for the 2009 graduation.

In 2013, Ellison was elected to serve as a member of the school board for Tulsa Technology Center, the oldest and largest technical school in the state. She is the board clerk there and chairs the ad hoc strategic planning committee.

Ellison serves on the nonprofit boards of the Tulsa Area United Way, Global Gardens and the University of Tulsa Law School Dean’s Advisory Board. She also works on i2E, a nationally recognized, private, not-for-profit corporation focused on growing innovative small businesses in Oklahoma and making a positive impact on the state’s economy.

David Goodspeed, ’94 BA Law Enforcement Administration, is the assistant vice president for Digital Innovation at OU. In addition to leading both the OU IT Store and the One University Store and Technology Playground, Goodspeed also plays a key role in the campus digital initiative, which focuses on technology and innovation to enhance the student experience and lower the cost of education.

Goodspeed came to OU in 2008 to open the first campus technology store. He left briefly in 2011 to work for Apple in its higher education division, engaging more than 115 colleges and universities in 16 states to further the integration of technology and education.

Truly Sooner born and Sooner bred, Goodspeed prides himself on his passion for OU and his family history on campus. His grandmother and both his parents are Sooner alums. His father was an acclaimed trumpet player in the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band, and his mother graduated from the OU School of Music. Additionally, his wife, uncle and sister are also OU graduates. His son currently is a student, and part of the RUF/NEK group. His middle school daughter will be the next Sooner in the family as a freshman in 2020.

Goodspeed serves on the Norman Public Schools Foundation Board and is highly involved on the OU campus. He is always contributing in-kind gift items for all CAS staff, faculty and student celebrations, not to mention all the work he and his team have done to showcase CAS at One U. From iPad textbooks to building the digital sandbox, he always thinks about how he can enhance the education of our students in the college through technology.

Ina Javellas is known in Oklahoma as a pioneer in social work and mental health services. She has worked effectively with community groups, professional organizations, legislative and political bodies, and voluntary and public agencies to improve the health of the citizens of Oklahoma.

Javellas graduated with a master’s in social work in 1958. Following graduation, she became a staff psychiatric social worker at Central State Memorial Hospital in Norman, Okla. Later, she was assigned to develop social service programs in another state hospital and an institution for the mentally retarded.

In 1965, she joined the state office as administrator of the Community Mental Health Clinic Program. From 1978 to 1980, Javellas served as deputy director for the Community Mental Health Program in the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health. In this position, she was responsible for coordinating state development with federal community mental health mandates and the Oklahoma State Advisory Council for Mental Health Services.

She is a charter member of the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work Board of Visitors. The college is honored to be able to recognize the contributions of Javellas to the state and citizens of Oklahoma.

Wm. Roger Louis is the Kerr Chair in English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the editor in chief of the Oxford History of the British Empire and his books include Imperialism at Bay, The British Empire in the Middle East and Ends of British Imperialism. He is the founding director of the National History Center and in 2010, held the Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress. He holds the honorary title of Commander of the British Empire.

Louis grew up on Oklahoma City and attended Classen High School. He received the Classen Music Award and was the YMCA state handball champion. He attended the University of Oklahoma 1954 to 1959 with a major in letters. He spent an extra junior year studying at the University of Freiburg in Germany and at the Sorbonne in Paris. After OU, he studied at Harvard, receiving a master’s in history in 1960. He then received a Marshall Scholarship to Oxford, where he earned his doctorate of philosophy in 1962. After teaching at Yale for eight years, in 1970 he moved to the University of Texas, where he is the Kerr Professor of English History and Culture. An Honorary Fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford, he is a past president of the American Historical Association.

In 2010 he held the Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress, and in 2013 he received the Benson Medal of the Royal Society for Literature. He holds the honorary title of Commander of the British Empire (appointed by the Queen for professional service). At the University of Texas he teaches two classes a semester, an undergraduate course on British history, literature, and politics, and a graduate seminar on the history of the British Empire. He was recently chosen by the 50,000 UT students as Professor of the Year. 

Ramez B. Maluf is chairperson of the department of mass communication at the University of Balamand in north Lebanon. Until recently, he held a similar appointment at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, retiring in 2012. Maluf has a bachelor’s in philosophy from Duke University and a doctoral degree in the History of Science from OU.

In 1982, while still working on his dissertation, Maluf returned to Lebanon, then a country in the midst of civil war, and took on a position as an assistant professor at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. Previous professional experience in Brazil, where he was the managing editor of Rio de Janeiro’s Brazil Herald, and the international media interest in the Lebanese civil war, encouraged him to pursue his own interest in journalism and media studies. In 1983 he was appointed chief editor of Lebanon’s The Daily Star, while still maintaining his position at the university. He would later be named chief editor of the Athens-based political weekly The Middle East Times, and of the Middle East Broadcasters Journal. He has contributed extensively to numerous publications, including the International Herald Tribune, the Daily Telegraph, Foreign Policy and the Irish Times. For a number of years, he was a regular contributor to NPR.

Maluf is the author of a dozen scholarly articles on Arab media, and the co-author of the award-winning Beirut Reborn, a John Wiley publication detailing the development of the master plan for the reconstruction of the war-torn Beirut city center.

He has been married to Nabila Sater since 1984. They have two sons.

Presiding Justice of the Third District Court of Appeal, Vance W. Raye was born in Oklahoma and educated in the public schools of Muskogee, Okla., before receiving undergraduate degree in political science and law degrees from OU. He was a recipient of the President’s Leadership Award and was selected for membership in the Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society .

Raye worked in private practice briefly in Oklahoma City following law school before entering the United States Air Force in 1970 as an assistant judge advocate at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville, Cali., where he served for four years in various positions including chief of civil law and as chief prosecutor.

Following the completion of his military service, he began a career with the California Attorney General’s Office, serving first as a deputy attorney general and later as a senior assistant attorney general in charge of legislative affairs. With the election of Governor George Deukmejian, he was appointed to serve as the Governor’s Deputy Legislative Secretary and later as the Governor’s Legal Affairs Secretary.

Deukmejian appointed Raye to the Sacramento Superior Court in 1989. He was nominated to serve on the Third District Court of Appeal in 1991. In December 2010, he was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the court’s Presiding Justice.

He is married to Sandra Raye, a retired social worker, and has an adult daughter.

Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Programs and Director of Athletics

When Joe Castiglione came to Oklahoma, he inherited one of the most storied programs in college athletics, and he set about the business of making it better.

Some who would argue that the past 15 years represent the best of the best. With eight national championships and 60 conference titles, including seven in the 2012-13 academic year, during his tenure, Castiglione’s record is certainly one of great merit. An all-time best finish of seventh in the annual Director’s Cup standings following the 2012-13 academic year adds to the Sooner story. So does the kind of academic performance that produced a combined grade point average of more than 3.00 among the nearly 600 OU student-athletes and a record 151 graduates in 2013.

Since arriving at OU, Castiglione has insisted that daily and long-term decisions be made in a financially responsible manner. The department has closed the books in the black in each of the last 15 years, making it one of the few Division I programs which remain totally self-sustaining. His understanding of how the department fits into the University’s academic mission led to a decision to increase the direct support provided by the department on an annual basis. The most recent demonstration of that commitment led to a partnership with President Boren’s office that eliminated the admission fee at OU’s internationally known Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Through direct and indirect support, OU Athletics provides more than $8 million annually to OU’s academics budget.

In recognition of the many achievements of his tenure, Castiglione was named National Athletic Director of the Year in May 2009 by the Sports Business Journal. In June, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame named him the 2013 recipient of the John L. Toner Award, presented annually by the NFF to an athletic director who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football.

His peers have honored him as well. In November 2012, the United States Sports Academy named him the winner of the Carl Maddox Sports Management Award. In October 2004, the Bobby Dodd Foundation named him Athletics Director of the Year. In 2003, he was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators Hall of Fame. In June 2001, he received the General Robert R. Neyland Athletic Director Award for lifetime achievement from the All-American Football Foundation. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) named him Central Region AD of the Year in 2000.

The department received the 2007 PRISM Award, presented by the School of Sports Management at the University of Massachusetts. OU was just the second Division I winner and all of the programs recognized by the selection panel were started under Castiglione’s leadership with the full support of university administration.

The achievement that may bring him the most pride came in May 2007 when he completed a master’s of education degree from OU. Subsequently, he became an adjunct professor in the College of Education, teaching graduate classes in Marketing, Development and Leadership in Higher Education. He was recently named to the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education Board of Advocates.

Hired on April 30, 1998, Castiglione joined the Sooner family after serving as athletics director at Missouri. In his 17-year career with the Tigers, Castiglione, who was named director of athletics at Missouri on Dec. 15, 1993, was credited with rebuilding sports programs, hiring outstanding coaches, implementing an innovative master plan for facilities, inspiring record-setting increases in fund-raising and balancing the budget in each of his five years as athletics director.

A 1979 Maryland graduate, Castiglione received the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in April 2007. He began his career as the sports promotions director at Rice. He then worked a year as director of athletic fund-raising at Georgetown before being hired in 1981 at Missouri as director of communications and marketing.

A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Castiglione is married to the former Kristen Bartel, a 1990 graduate of the University of Missouri. They are the parents of two sons, Joseph Robert, Jr. and Jonathan Edmund. 

Bates is the senior researcher for Survey Methodology at the U.S. Census Bureau. She graduated from OU with a bachelor’s degree in public administration in 1985 and with a master’s degree in sociology in 1987. Bates joined the U.S. Census Bureau in 1988 as a survey statistician and has spent the past 25 years in a variety of positions across four different directorates at the agency. She conducts research to reduce survey measurement error, improve coverage and response to censuses and surveys, and facilitate the bureau’s transition toward adaptive survey design.

Bates serves on the Executive Council for the American Association for Public Opinion research where she is secretary-treasurer elect. She currently is the president-elect of the Washington Statistical Society and publications officer and past program chair of the Government Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association. Bates recently served as co-chair of the 2012 American Statistical Association International Conference on Hard to Reach Populations. She also is a member of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology and, in 2011-2012, she served as a member of the Committee on National Statistics, National Academy of Sciences panel: Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda.

Bates has coauthored book chapters and published in a variety of social science journals including Public Opinion Quarterly, Contexts, Survey Methodology, Survey Practice, Journal of Economic and Social Measurement and Journal of Official Statistics. Bates also is an associate editor of the Journal of Official Statistics published by Statistics Sweden.

Her Distinguished Alumna presentation, "An insider view: social science research methods and the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of the 2010 U.S. Census," was presented beginning at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21, in the Regents Room, Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Gage is the chief of the Flea-Borne Diseases Activity in the Bacterial Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Wichita State University in 1980. He pursued his master’s degree in aquatic entomology in 1983 under the direction of Harley Brown and went on to attain his doctoral degree in 1987 in medical entomology and disease ecology under the mentorship of Cluff Hopla.

Gage received postdoctoral fellowships on tick-borne diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas and the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. In 1992 he accepted a position in the Plague Section at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. He later became chief of this section and in his current role as chief of CDC’s Flea-Borne Diseases Activity, Gage continues to supervise many of CDC’s efforts to monitor, prevent and control plague, as well as other vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.

In addition to his disease prevention and research activities in the United States, Gage often has served as a short-term consultant on plague and other rodent-borne diseases for the World Health Organization and its regional affiliates in many countries. His work has been recognized with several Special Service Awards from the Department of Health and Human Services, including those for responses to the 1993 hantavirus outbreak in the American Southwest, the 1994 plague outbreak in India, a 2002 tularemia outbreak in prairie dogs in an exotic pet facility, and a plague outbreak in Uganda in 2007.

His Distinguished Alumnus presentation "The Spread of Plague in Ancient and Modern Times," was at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21, Scholars Room, Oklahoma Memorial Union.

McCarter is the William Foxwell Albright Professor of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Johns Hopkins University.

McCarter graduated from OU in 1967, receiving a bachelor’s degree in English. In 1974 he received his doctoral degree from Harvard University, where he studied in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures specializing in Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic philology. For the following 11 years he served on the faculty of the University of Virginia, except for a one-year interlude spent as a visiting lecturer at Harvard University and Dartmouth College. He came to Johns Hopkins in 1985 as the first occupant of the newly-created Albright Chair in the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

McCarter spent much of the early part of his research career writing his two-volume commentary on the Books of Samuel in the Anchor Bible. His translation of I and II Samuel was the first to make use of the then-unpublished evidence of the Dead Sea scrolls, three fragmentary manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4. This work led to further study of ancient manuscripts, including a handbook on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, comparing of ancient biblical manuscripts written in Hebrew, Greek and other languages in order to establish the original reading of a text. His most recent contribution to the study of the Dead Sea scrolls is a new edition of the Copper Scroll, the most enigmatic of the Qumran manuscripts.

More recently, McCarter devoted an increasing portion of his work to the analysis and publication of newly found inscriptions found in excavation at various sites in the Middle East. He serves as epigraphist, a consultant on epigraphy, for a number of ongoing archaeological projects, both American and Israeli, at sites in Israel, such as Tel Zayit and Tel Beth Shemesh, both in the Judean shephelah, and Tel Ashkelon, on the coast north of Gaza. All of these sites have produced significant inscriptions dating to the last part of the second millennium B.C., a critical period in the history of the alphabet.

His Distinguished Alumnus presentation "The Origin and Early History of the Alphabet," will be at 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21, Regents Room, OMU.

Riley is professor of law at the UCLA School of Law, and director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. She also is the director of UCLA's joint J.D./M.S. degree program in law and American Indian Studies. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in letters from OU in 1995 and went on to receive her juris doctorate from Harvard.

Her research focuses on issues related to indigenous peoples’ rights, with a particular emphasis on cultural property and Native governance, and her work has been published in the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, California Law Review, Washington Law Review and others.

After clerking for Chief Judge T. Kern of the Northern District of Oklahoma, she worked as a litigator at Quinn Emanuel in Los Angeles, specializing in intellectual property litigation. In 2003 she was selected to serve on her tribe’s Supreme Court, becoming the first woman and youngest Justice of the Supreme Court of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma. In 2010, she was elected as Chief Justice.

She was recently appointed to serve on the United Nations - Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership Policy Board, which is a commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and calls for its full realization through the mobilization of financial and technical assistance. She also is also an evidentiary hearing officer for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

Her Distinguished Alumna presentation, "Cultural Property in a Globalized World," was at 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21, Scholars Room, OMU.

Berry is the chair of the Department of Psychology at Tulsa University. She has been a member of A&S Board of Visitors since 2004 and chaired the Kaleidoscope Committee for six years. Under her leadership the committee created a fun and festive atmosphere for our returning alumni to be honored and for funds to be raised to aide our Leaderships Scholars. Each year she selected a creative theme to build the event around and helped to increase the amount of money raised for scholarships each year.

During her tenure on the board of visitors, Judy also mentored many students from our Leadership Scholars program.

Long graduated from OU with a degree in history. He went on to serve a long and decorated career in the U.S. Army. He joined the A&S Board of Visitors in 2006 and has a rich history of mentorship to seven of the college's Leadership Scholars.

John has applied his superior leadership skills from a life of military service to his role as one of our most outstanding mentors to our students. He goes far beyond his assigned mentor duties and continues to do so beyond his students graduation, and well into their chosen careers. He has attended their weddings, military promotions, family reunions and vacations. He stays in constant contact with all of his current and former mentees.

Beyond serving as an outstanding mentor to our students, John has recruited other members to the board of visitors, and participated in panels for students on topics covering life after graduation and running your own business.

Claravall serves as the director of child labor for the Oklahoma Department of Labor. While working on his master’s degree, he maintained a 4.0 grade point average in his classes in the departments of Human Relations and Public Administration. After earning his bachelor’s in business administration and his master’s in human relations, Claravall entered state government as a Carl Albert Executive Fellow.

As a public servant for the department, he created partnerships, publications and programs to strengthen protection of working minors. He updated the work permit process to an online process and led the development of an educational game titled “Paying Attention Pays” which instructs minor workers in workplace rights. Its model has been shared in more than 30 countries around the world.

Claravall served as national president of the Interstate Labor Standards Association and has written contributions to the National Young Worker Health and Safety Network. This interaction led to reform of the federal child labor laws. In Oklahoma, Claravall created the first poster and brochure to educate parents and teens about illegal youth peddling.

Claravall is the recipient of many awards, including being named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the United States Junior Chamber and world-finalist for Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World by Junior Chamber International. He also has received the National Public Service Award from the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration.

Cook graduated Phi Beta Kappa from OU and received the Leitseizer Medal for Outstanding Senior Woman. She received her doctoral degree on a Danforth Graduate Fellowship from Vanderbilt after the birth of her two daughters. Cook served as a professor at Vanderbilt for 20 years and a lecturer on Shakespeare. She continues to teach in the Sewanee School of Letters at the University of the South and in Vanderbilt’s Lifelong Learning program.

From 1975 until 1987, she served as executive director of the Shakespeare Association of America. As chairman of the International Shakespeare Association for eight years, she presided over the Tokyo Congress in 1991. She is a Life Trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, the only United States citizen to hold that honor.

Cook is the author of several books about Shakespeare, including The Privileged Playgoers and Making a Match. She is married to OU alumnus Gerry Calhoun.

Danner serves as the chairman for Native American Communications and as the director for The International Association of Merchant Banks Investment Companies, IAMBIC Ltd. While at OU, he was a member of the President’s Leadership Class and Senior Class President.Danner helped create the President’s Summit on America’s Future, which included all living presidents and their spouses, Colin Powell, Fortune 1,000 corporations, more than 12,000 national nonprofit organizations, 100 American mayors and 27 governors.

Danner developed and produced special projects with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, World Conference of Mayors, National Governors Association and the National Association of State Legislators and Congress. He produced the Points of Light Foundation “We are Family” Campaign to mobilize funds and resources for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita victim relief. Danner also produced and performed at the National Cathedral, Washington DC for the InterFaith Council Concert.

He has worked with Nelson Mandela, President Obasanjo of Nigeria, Shari Belafonte in Kenya, the Dalai Lama and Wisdom Keepers, UN-NYC and Hibakusha in Hiroshima, Japan. He is a producer and promoter of several benefit concerts, including Steve Wozniak’s U.S. Festival, and Quincy Jones’ We Are the Future. Danner is on the board of Global Broadcasting Foundation and Global Learning Foundation. He serves as a regent and philanthropic development officer of the National Heritage Foundation, which represents nearly 10,000 foundations in the U.S.

Stair grew up on a dairy farm near Canton, Okla. before heading to OU. While at OU, he was active in Delta Tau Delta fraternity, the Air Force ROTC and he developed his life-long interest in skiing and table tennis.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from OU, Stair served in the United States Air Force as a 1st Lieutenant to the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory in Boston. After two years of active duty, he resigned to become a civilian scientist at the lab. He also lectured in applied physics at the Lowell Technological Institute in Massachusetts. In 1962, he and Doran Baker established the Space Dynamics Lab at Utah State University.

Stair continued to study the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium in the upper atmosphere and became a branch chief within the laboratory and the scientific director for NLTE research. This research continued through his career with the U.S. Air Force. Following his retirement, he became a consultant with the U.S. government, developing further studies of the atmosphere and creating joint programs for missile defense. He currently works as the president of Visidyne, Inc. and is involved with a new sensor called Sun and Aureole Measurements, used for measuring the optical properties of cirrus and their effects on radiation balance of the earth and solar energy.