NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma’s Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage will host its annual Constitution Day program on Wednesday, Sept. 17, featuring a lecture by Rogers M. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and leading scholar of American constitutional history.
Smith will present “America’s Conflicting Constitutional Visions: The Quest for Common Ground” from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art on OU’s Norman campus. The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated.
Author of Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History, a Pulitzer finalist that earned six book prizes, Smith has written nine books and numerous articles on constitutional issues and citizenship. He previously taught at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, where he founded the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. He retired in 2022 as the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science.
Constitution Day commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Each year, the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences and the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage host programs that promote discussion on constitutional history and relevance.
OU’s Constitution Day is named after J. Rufus Fears, a Professor of Classics and Letters. The lecture is made possible by a gift from alumni Roger and Patti Clapp.
About the University of Oklahoma:
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
Engineering Days at the University of Oklahoma give high school students direct exposure to engineering through hands-on, discipline-based experiences on campus. The program brings rising juniors and seniors to the Norman campus for one-day sessions led by OU faculty and supported by current engineering students.
The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $10.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create the Oklahoma Center for Biomedical Research Excellence in Sensory Biology. The center will serve as a hub for research into how cells sense and respond to their environment and the diseases that can occur when that process malfunctions.
Four University of Oklahoma faculty members have been selected to be a part of the 2026-27 cohort of Fellows of the Southeastern Conference’s Academic Leadership Development Program, an initiative designed to identify, prepare and promote the next generation of academic leaders in the SEC to meet current and future challenges in higher education.