Where are you from? 

I graduated high school in Valliant, Oklahoma, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a master’s in education. I don’t really have a place that I say I am from. I have lived in many states and worked overseas for 5 years. I guess I am a citizen of the world. 

What do you do here at OSUIT? 

I am an instructor in the Power Plant Technology program in the School of Energy Technologies.

Tell me a little about your experience with the university so far? 

Our family has a long relationship with OSUIT. My father-in-law graduated from the School of Diesel & Heavy Equipment back in the ’60s. He worked all over the world. One of our sons graduated from the Toyota T-TEN program in 2011. He has passed all of his ASE and is a master automotive technician for Lexus of Tulsa. One of our daughters graduated from the School of Visual Communications in 2015. She is the art director for the Baptist Messenger in Oklahoma City. OSUIT is a place that helps people succeed and reach their goals.

What’s been the best thing about working here? 

I enjoy connecting students to industry. We obviously don’t have a power plant on campus, but what we do have is over 10 power plants within an hour and a half drive from campus. The employees at these plants have been great mentors for our students. The workforce has bought in to the fact that this is their program and that has a lot to do with the success of our students. We were at a plant last summer where everyone on the shift had graduated from OSUIT. The Advisory Board has done a great job working with us to develop a program that helps our graduates succeed in the workforce.

What’s your favorite spot on campus? 

I really enjoy the cafeteria at lunch. Day in and day out there is so much activity and life taking place in the cafeteria. For me it is a place to hang out with coworkers and do the lunch thing. You know, swap war stories, jokes, get a little loud and work on solving the world’s problems. But it is also the place I get to visit with colleagues from across the campus in a non-work related relationship. To me, it is a place that connects the campus in a common place. There are so many programs on campus and each program develops its own culture. Many of these cultures can be identified through the work clothes they wear, or where they group up in the cafeteria. The cafeteria is where these cultures become a melting pot. To me these cultures are one of the most unique aspects to OSUIT.

What would you tell someone who was thinking about attending or working at OSUIT? 

To someone that is thinking about attending OSUIT, I encourage them to visit as many programs on campus as it takes for them to find where they fit. The career opportunities on our campus are amazing. The reputation of OSUIT programs is worth a prospective student visiting with the instructors that have lived and succeeded in the workforce. If you want to travel, if you want a straight day job, if you want to work three weeks and get a week off every month, there is a program for that.  If you want to climb a pole, measure land, work in a hole in the ground in Montana, there is a program for that. If you want to climb on a building, work in a building, work on the cars that people drive to the building, work on keeping people communicating, work on getting someone over a health issue, or work on promoting and advertising a business, yes we have a program for all of those and more. Spend a day on campus visiting with the instructors and the students enrolled in the programs.