A Letter from Provost Barthell

Dear Students of the University of Central Oklahoma:

Welcome to the Fall Semester of 2019!

Please know how pleased we are to have you on our campus, whether this is your first semester or the last one before you graduate.

Our campus has so much to offer you as you make your way through the educational experiences you will need in the coming months of the semester. We now have 20 degrees, 126 programs, 164 majors and 89 minors to provide you with the best options for your career goals. Many of our programs are specially recognized by leading accreditation organizations and will broaden your opportunities for employment. Our academic colleges include the Colleges of Business, Education & Professional Studies, Fine Arts & Design, Graduate Studies, Liberal Arts, and Mathematics & Science. These contain the academic departments as well as specialized units such as the newly named School of Design and the Schools of Criminal Justice and Music, as well as the Forensic Science and Oklahoma A-Plus Schools Institutes. Our faculty members in these colleges, schools, and institutes include leaders in their fields who contribute regularly to their disciplines and create a modern and well-informed context for your studies at Central.

If you want to prepare for your career by getting direct experience in research look no further than the Office of High-Impact Practices that provides opportunities for grants to students who wish to work with faculty mentors on a variety of topics, including studies abroad in the field and in museums. The Student Transformative Learning Record, or STLR, provides an important opportunity for you to record such experiences as a permanent record of your time at Central, something that future graduate schools and employers will value as well. We can also help you find internships and other opportunities with our colleagues in the Division of Student Affairs who want to see you succeed during your time here as well as afterward in the job market.

Look around our campus and find out about the cutting edge learning spaces as well, including the newly opened College of Liberal Arts South Wing and the Donald Betz STEM Research and Learning Center. We have learning facilities in Oklahoma City as well, including the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) Building in Bricktown and UCO Downtown (in the Carnegie Centre and the soon to open Santa Fe Plaza facility). Programs like Music Business, Music Performance, and Music Production, and the MBA are offered in these facilities, respectively. You can balance your studies with visits to newly constructed athletic facilities, a Wellness Center, and the CHK Boathouse in Oklahoma City. Central is steeped in tradition as one of the oldest institutions in the State of Oklahoma. We offer, and always have, a focus on you: students. I believe you will see this each and every day that you spend with us on this campus or in the many opportunities we also offer online through the recently established Connected Campus that offers undergraduate and (soon graduate degrees) that are completely online.

Our mission is to help you learn, and in an environment that benefits your experience as a student and a person. Welcome to that experience, we are so happy to have you here.

John F. Barthell, PhD

Provost & VP for Academic Affairs