OU to Recognize Four Individuals With Honorary Degrees

Born in 1943, Barbara Ann Posey Jones attended racially segregated public schools in Oklahoma City, graduating with honors from Douglass High School in 1960. Alongside her family, Jones attended Fifth Street Baptist Church, where she met and developed a long association with educator and civil rights leader Clara Luper. Jones and her sister were founding members of the church’s NAACP Youth Council, established by Luper. As a youth council member, Jones took part in the Oklahoma City sit-ins that began in August 1958 at Katz Drug Store and ultimately led to the desegregation of major public eating establishments and other public places across the country.

During her time at OU, Jones was active in the Student Senate, Association of Women Students, Independent Student Association and International Students Association. She served as a residential assistant, was inducted into Mortar Board and selected as Outstanding Independent Woman. Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, political science and mathematics from OU in 1963.

Toby Keith, an award-winning singer, songwriter and entertainer, built an unparalleled career that included 10 billion streams, 100 million radio plays and 44 million albums sold. Born and raised in Oklahoma, Keith was inducted into the New York-based all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He received the BMI Icon award, and he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame shortly before his passing.

Through his Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic, launched in 2004, he helped raise a total of $18 million for nonprofits, including OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home for children and families seeking treatment for life-threatening illnesses. With his wife, Tricia, he was also a significant supporter of OU Athletics.

Keith died in February 2024, and his honorary degree is being granted posthumously.

Tom E. Love, the founder of Love’s Travel Stops, started the company in 1964 with his wife, Judy, beginning with one small location in western Oklahoma. Today, Love’s has more than 640 locations in 42 states, operations in Europe, and employs nearly 40,000 team members.

Tom and Judy Love and Love’s Travel Stops are longstanding partners of the University of Oklahoma. In 2018, the university announced a leadership gift from the Tom and Judy Love Foundation in support of the entrepreneurship initiatives in the Price College of Business. In recognition of his visionary leadership and generosity, OU named the Division of Entrepreneurship, Innovation Hub, Center for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurs in Residence Program in his honor. In October 2021, OU announced a lead naming gift from Love’s Travel Stops, which put in motion the construction of OU’s new softball stadium, Love’s Field, which opened in March 2024.

Love died in March 2023 in Oklahoma City, and his honorary degree is being granted posthumously.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from OU, David Proctor pursued graduate studies at Stanford University. He went on to have an outstanding career in aerospace and computer industries, including serving in a number of executive positions at IBM. He coded the lunar descent maneuvers for the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 missions, and he and his team earned the President’s Medal of Freedom for ensuring the safe return of the Apollo 13 astronauts.

David and his wife Judi are longtime supporters of the University of Oklahoma. Their contributions include numerous student scholarships, including scholarship endowments in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences and the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts, which were created in memory of their sons, David Michael Proctor and Matthew David Proctor, both of whom passed away as young adults. The David and Judi Proctor Department of Mathematics was named in their honor in recognition of a $7 million irrevocable contribution in 2022.