OC’s College of Liberal Arts planned impressive displays of scholarship and creativity for the 2020 Celebration of Excellence 

Presentations would have included multiple projects from the Departments of Language and Literature, Music and Communication.

April 8, 2020 - Oklahoma Christian University is proud of its students who produce excellent presentations and projects in their respective fields. OC’s second annual Celebration of Excellence was to highlight students’ work on campus, giving peers an opportunity to experience life in other majors. The College of Liberal Arts, like other departments, would have used this celebration for students to present their research and projects to peers, faculty and community members. Despite the unfortunate cancellation due to Covid-19, the College of Liberal Arts would still like to recognize a number of planned presentations from their dedicated students.

The Department of Language and Literature had many excellent presentations to exhibit this year. These presentations reflect the hard work of English professors and students alike.“Power, Passion, and Poetry in British Literature,” was designed to present three exceptional papers from Brielle Kolesch, Ann Magner and Ruth Miller written for a British Literature course. 

Another exhibition for the department was “Unaware: A Collaborative Anthology,” produced by Professor of English Nathan Shank. This presentation was created to show how advanced writing students at OC and high school students from the Oklahoma Youth Academy Charter School worked together on a semester-long writing and editing project. 

Shank and OYA English instructor Stephen Saenz collaborated to provide OC students the experience of editing OYA students’ papers in a real-life context. In February, students from OC and OYA met in person and shared their personal experiences. An anthology will be published including the essays and poems written by students at OYA, the instructors’ insight and OC students’ reflections of their experiences. The anthology will be titled “Unaware,” reflecting OC students’ experience working with OYA students. 

“Unaware - for we were unaware at first,” Shank said. “But now, we are gaining a sober knowledge of those so different from us, a knowledge we are determined to share.”

Shank also participated in a panel along with other staff members to create “Poetry, Prose, and Visual Art” to represent the content and purpose behind the Soundings Literary and Visual Arts Journal. 

From the Department of Music, Professor of Music Heath Jones was to hold a presentation about Oklahoma jazz history from Greenwood to the Deep Deuce districts in addition to a performance from the Chamber Singers in chapel. 

The Department of Communication was going to feature campaigns run by public relations students over the last two semesters, particularly projects by Eagle PR, OC’s student-run PR firm. According to Associate Professor of Communication Josh Watson, one campaign that would have been presented by senior Elizabeth Killough placed 13th in the nation last year. 

“Our Up to Us campaign to motivate students to take action on our nation’s federal debt was recognized by the nonprofit group Net Impact in Washington, D.C. last year,” Watson said. “Elizabeth did an amazing job leading our 2020 campaign again last semester, and we’re looking forward to learning how we did this year.” 

OC PR students would have also presented information on their A-GRASP campaign ran for the First Amendment Center and for their Mission Zambia campaign to fight the famine in that country. Another student also created a billboard design for the national Project Yellow Light competition. 

Other Department of Communication students would have presented on films they produced for Eagle Media, work produced by the Eagle Angle television news program and stories written for the department’s online newspaper The Talon. 

Undoubtedly, had the Celebration of Excellence not been canceled, students would have also presented ambitious projects developed in the Department of Art + Design, School of Teacher Education and the Behavioral and Social Sciences Division.

The College of Liberal Arts was going to host Bill Pink, an OC alumnus and president of Grand Rapids Community College, as the keynote speaker for the Celebration of Excellence. 

Although this event has been cancelled due to the virus, the departments of the College of Liberal Arts have achieved great things this year.