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OU Dean, Professors Inducted into Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame

OU Dean, Professors Inducted into Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame

Draugalis, Resasco and Sabatini portraits displayed side by side

Three educators at the University of Oklahoma were recently inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame for their distinctive achievements and contributions to higher education.

Honored were Dean JoLaine Draugalis of the College of Pharmacy, as well as Gallogly College of Engineering Professors Daniel Resasco and David Sabatini.

The three were among 11 who were inducted as part of the 2020 Hall of Fame Class. The group was recognized last month at the Oklahoma History Center in a ceremony that was delayed due to the pandemic.

Since 1994, the Oklahoma Higher Education Society has recognized individuals whose achievement and leadership in scholarship, teaching, research, administration, staff support, outreach and public service have brought honor and distinction to higher education in Oklahoma by inducting them into the Hall of Fame. To date, more than 200 individuals have been honored.
 

Draugalis has served as dean of the OU College of Pharmacy for more than 14 years. She also is an Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor, David Ross Boyd Professor and Regent’s Professor, and she holds the Phil C. and Fern Ashby Endowed Dean’s Chair.

Under her leadership, faculty members have substantially increased their research publications, state and federal grant funding, and national and international presentations. In addition to serving as dean, Draugalis is an active researcher. She conducts studies in pharmacy education program design, administration and evaluation; educational applications in pharmacoeconomic and outcomes research; and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is the author of more than 125 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and monographs.

Draugalis has won numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and a Research Achievement Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences from the American Pharmacists Association.


Resasco
, a professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, joined the OU faculty in 1993 and holds the inaugural Gallogly Chair of Engineering. He specializes in the study of catalysts and nanomaterials for commercial and industrial applications.

Resasco is the author of more than 300 publications, holds more than 40 industrial patents, and has received approximately 27,000 citations in scientific literature. In 2003, Resasco was named a George Lynn Cross Professor, the highest research honor bestowed by OU. He has been honored with a number of national awards, most recently receiving the Excellence in Catalysis Award by the Catalysis Society of Metropolitan New York, a prestigious regional organization with an awardee pool in national scope.
 

Sabatini was promoted to full professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in 1999 and was named the Sun Oil Company Endowed Chair. In 2005, he received one of OU’s highest honors, David Ross Boyd Professor. His research focuses on physio-chemical processes for water and wastewater treatment.

In 2005, he co-founded and served as the OU’s WaTER Center’s first director, which has gained global recognition. Among many awards, he is a recipient of the Water Environment Federation Pioneer Award for Disinfection for his pioneering research in removing fluoride from drinking waters in developing countries.


Past Hall of Fame Inductees from OU

Draugalis, Resasco and Sabatini join 69 other OU faculty members and administrators who have been inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame since 1994. OU recipient names are listed below, along with their induction year. A complete list of all Hall of Fame inductees is available here.

M. Dewayne Andrews - 2013

Marcia Bennett - 2016

Belinda P. Biscoe - 2015

William Bennett Bizzell - 1997

Charles W. Bert III - 2011

Molly Shi Boren and David Lyle Boren - 2015

David Ross Boyd - 1995

Sidney DeVere Brown - 2000

Charles Butler - 2006

David A. Burr - 2000

Thomas D. Carey - 1997

William R. Carmack - 2010

George Lynn Cross - 1995

Billy L. Crynes - 2007

David A. Dary - 2008

Robert C. Dauffenbach - 2015

Robert Con Davis-Undiano - 2018

Nathaniel S. Eek - 1997

Floyd Wesley Emanuel - 2009

John E. Fagan - 2010

Jerry B. Farley - 1997

J. Rufus Fears - 2017

J. Clayton Feaver - 1998

Joseph Jerome Ferretti - 2011

Roger G. Harrison Jr. - 2017

Maggie Hayes - 2015

George Henderson - 2003

Penny Hopkins - 2018

Glen D. Johnson - 2016

James “Jeff” Kimpel - 2017

Alexander J. Kondonassis - 1998

Sivaramakrishnan Lakshmivarahan - 2014

Jacob F. Larson - 2007

David Levy - 2006

Jane Magrath - 2016

Charlies J. Mankin - 2007

Michael A. Mares - 2002

Nancy Mergler - 2013

David R. Morgan - 2011

J.R. Morris - 1996

Donna J. Nelson - 2013

Edgar A. O’Rear III - 2019

James P. Pappas - 2008

R. Leon Price - 2010

John W. Renner - 1999

Paul Risser - 2020

Gary D. Schnell - 2009

Ingrid Shafer - 2015

Paul F. Sharp - 1995

Eddie C. Smith - 2001

John T. Snow - 2009

Glenn R. Snider - 1998 

Dorscine Spigner Littles - 2019

Kenneth E. Starling - 2012

David Swank - 2011

Melvin B. Tolson Jr. - 2014

Roy Troutt - 1994

Ronald J. Tyrl - 2011

Jerry B. Vannatta - 2016

Alan R. Velie - 2015

Douglas W. Voth - 2012

Mary Jo Watson - 2014

Frank Waxman - 2008

Jerome Weber - 2005

Thurman J. White - 1996

G. Raney Williams - 2003

Lloyd P. Williams - 2005

Daniel A. Wren - 2011

Article Published:  Wednesday, December 15, 2021