Geographical Switch: Patti and Tori Dennis

Patti and Tori Dennis have found themselves in a Freaky Friday situation of sorts.

After growing up in Oklahoma City, Patti attended the University of Oklahoma and then moved to Denver for her career. Now, 40 years later, her daughter, Tori, lives in Oklahoma City after coming to OU from Colorado.

“It is weird that we are kind of living our lives the opposite of each other,” Patti said. “There’s a connection there that’s almost unspoken. We don’t have to say things sometimes to know what each other’s thinking, and she can mention some place, and I immediately know where that is and vice versa.”

Tori actually represents the third generation of her family to attend OU as Patti’s father was also a Sooner. Patti earned her journalism degree in 1979, with Tori completing her advertising degree in May 2012 and her second major in Spanish the following December.

In addition to pursuing degrees in mass communication, mother and daughter share another OU connection – both were members of Kappa Kappa Gamma. During her time at OU, Patti was her pledge class president and later president of the Kappa house. She was also a member of the President’s Leadership Class.

Now, Patti and Tori are giving back to their shared alma mater and the Gaylord College. Patti is in her first year on the Board of Visitors, while Tori joined the JayMac board last year.

Attending OU was not initially part of Tori’s plan, and her senior year of high school she already had plans to go to a university in her home state. That changed once the Dennises drove to Norman while on a trip to Oklahoma City, with Patti just wanting to show her family where she attended college. That visit was all it took to change Tori’s path.

“It just felt like home,” Tori recalled. “It was a campus I wanted to be a part of. I wanted to be there every day. I came in October, so we all know it’s the most beautiful time of the year. I was just completely enchanted by the collegiate feel and I’m sure subconsciously there was an aspect of wanting that connection with my mom, but at the time I was just completely enchanted by how incredible our campus is.”

The choice ended up being a great one as Tori said coming to OU was probably the biggest pivotal decision of her life, as she was able to figure herself out and ended up staying in Oklahoma because of situations and the people she met there.

From her perspective, Patti sees the same positives in her daughter’s OU journey.

“I give OU and the environment there total credit for helping Tori find herself and where she was going to be in the world, that they helped her find her passion in life and her goals for her future,” Patti said. “It wasn’t us in Denver doing that, she found that in Norman.”

Patti has worked in television since she was 19 years old when she drove to Oklahoma City five nights a week to work at KOCO while in college. Since 2014, she has served as the vice president of news and director of recruiting for Tegna, Inc., recruiting top on-air talent for the company’s 62 stations across the country. She also collaborates with 17 of the stations that report to her about news. In this capacity, she visits those stations, working with the news directors and teams on content ideas, how to execute great stories and other relevant aspects of the industry.

Tori, who is in the process of completing her MBA, works as the events specialist at COOP Ale Works. Previously Tori worked in the nonprofit sector, and through her current role, she still follows that interest as she handles all of COOP’s philanthropic activity in the state. One event Tori said she enjoys planning is COOP’s anniversary party, which has raised about $60,000 for the Oklahoma Humane Society over the past two years.

While Patti and Tori have followed their own career paths, it will always be special for them to share an OU story.

“I don’t know about for her, but for me, it’s one of the highlights of my life,” Patti said of sharing the OU connection with her daughter. “We just have this bond of things that a lot of parents don’t get to share with their kids. My older daughter went to where her dad went, and my younger daughter went to where I went, and it’s been really special for both of us.”