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Arts and Sciences announces Inaugural Hall of Fame Class

Thursday, September 24, 2015

2015 A&S Hall of Fame awardees: (from left) Edwin Chappabitty, Bradford Gray, Ziva Branstetter and A&S Dean Bret Danilowicz.

Ziva Branstetter (B.S. Journalism, ’88), Edwin Chappabitty (B.S. Zoology, ’67), and Bradford Gray (M.S. Sociology, ’66) made up the 2015 A&S Hall of Fame class.  (Bios below)

In addition to the creation of a Hall of Fame, the event marked the first time the OSU College of Arts & Sciences recognized distinguished alumni from each of its 24 departments. Branstetter, Chappabitty, and Gray were chosen from those honorees.

Kendall Gipson (B.S./M.S. Communication Sciences and Disorders, ‘05/’07) was awarded the 2015 Rising Star Award.  

All previous Distinguished Alumni were grandfathered into the A&S Hall of Fame.  

2015 A&S Distinguished Alumni:

• Lt. Col. William “Bill” Schwertfeger, Aerospace Studies, ‘67

• Paul Corrigan, BFA Art (Graphic Design), ‘91

• Susan Barber, M.S. Botany, ‘75

• Carl Kerfoot, B.S. Chemistry, ‘49

• Jill Moore, B.S. Communication Sciences and Disorders, ‘74

• Timothy Carver, B.S. Computer Science, ‘94

• Dilin Liu, Ph.D. English, ‘92

• Randy Couture, B.A. Foreign Languages (German), ‘92

• David Waits, M.S. Geography, ‘88

• Mike Gaskins, B.S. Geology, ‘80

• Steven Karr, Ph.D. History, ‘01

• Alfred Lichtenburg, B.S./M.S. Mathematics, ‘71/’72

• Mary Jane Wooten, B.S. Microbiology, ‘72

• Alonzo Poindexter, Military Studies, ‘63

• Barry Epperley, B.A./M.S. Music, ‘66/’69

• John Kempf, B.A. Philosophy, ‘73

• Bahadden Jassemnejad, Ph.D. Physics, ‘86

• Julia Brown, B.A. Political Science, ‘72

• Terry Cline, M.S./Ph.D. Psychology, ‘85/’92

• Leroy Folks, M.S. Statistics, ‘55

• Sarah Hoyt, B.S. Theatre, ‘66

The OSU College of Arts & Sciences recognizes its Hall of Fame, Distinguished Alumni and Rising Star awardees annually, with the Hall of Fame serving as the college’s highest honor.  The Distinguished Alumni award recognizes alumni who attain distinctive success in their field or profession and perform outstanding service to their community.  The Rising Star award recognizes alumni who have graduated from an Arts & Sciences program in the past 10 years and whose lives and achievements demonstrate the promise of future leadership and bring distinction to the college.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Branstetter

Ziva Branstetter entered journalism school at OSU where she became well known for her unwavering investigative journalism skills.  Upon graduation, she took her enthusiasm to The Tulsa Tribune, where she covered crime and politics.  In 1992, she and her husband moved to Philadelphia, where she worked at The Daily News for a few years.  

Branstetter returned to Tulsa and began working for The Tulsa World, where for two decades she covered stories such as the Oklahoma City bombing, deadly tornadoes, government waste and fraud.  Her investigation into an ineffective state board governing nursing home administrators led to the removal of nearly all its members and a chance in state law.  In April, she and reporting partner Cary Aspinwall were named finalists for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for their coverage on the botched execution of Clayton Lockett. 

Despite her reputation for asking the tough questions, she is also known for her dedication to her field, to her coworkers and to her two sons, Jordan and Parker. 

Chappabitty

Dr. Edwin Chappabitty graduated from OSU with a degree in zoology.  He was also a member of the Scabbard and Blade for the OSU Army ROTC.  He has gone on to demonstrate incredible support for Native American education, a record of distinguished service to his country and to the field of medicine, and has brought distinction to his alma mater. 

From 1983-2008, he served on the Commission Corp of U.S. Public Health – Indian Health Services.  He served as the first medical director to the Comanche Nation in Lawton, Okla.  He has received numerous public health service awards, including being named the 1996 Physician of the Year by the Association of American Indian Physicians.  

He also earned three bronze stars and several medals of valor during his time in the field and in Vietnam.  In 2010, he received the OSU ROTC Army Award for his dedicated support of OSU, the state of Oklahoma and the United States. 

In 2002, he was honored as an OSU Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni.  In 2011, he established the Edwin Chappabitty, Jr. M.D. Scholarship for the OSU Department of Integrative Biology.  

Gray

Bradford H. Gray, Ph.D. graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in business (’64) and master’s degree in sociology (’66).  He moved to Washington, D.C. as a member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Office of Education Fellows.  He received his doctorate in sociology from Yale University in 1973.  

He is a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., editor emeritus of leading health journal The Milbank Quarterly, and a senior advisor to the Harkness Fellowship Program at the Commonwealth Fund in New York.  

Previously, he has served as the founding director of the Division of Health and Science Policy at the New York Academy of Medicine and as director of Nonprofit Organizations and director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, where he also was a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.  

He has more than 100 publications, including two books (Human Subjects in Medical Experimentation and The Profit Motive and Patient Care: The Changing Accountability of Doctors and Hospitals).  He has been an elected Fellow of both The Hastings Center (a leading bioethics think tank) and AcademyHealth (the professional association of health services researchers).  He is also an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

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