Oklahoma State University's business school will be recognizing 100 graduates in 2014

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a business school in 2014. The school will be recognizing 100 graduates over the past 100 years during the yearlong celebration, which will culminate with the Spears School’s Centennial Celebration Gala on Sept. 5, 2014.

Nominations for “The Spears School: 100 For 100,” are being sought through Dec. 20. The school will be recognizing 100 graduates who exemplify the Oklahoma State and business school spirit. OSU business school graduates from 1914 to present are eligible, and posthumous nominations are also accepted. Nominations for the “100 For 100” can be made at the 100th anniversary website (http://spears100.okstate.edu/).

Ken Eastman, interim dean of the Spears School, believes the final list will include business school alums whose accomplishments are impressive professionally and personally.

“We are excited to celebrate our centennial, which gives us an opportunity to recognize some of outstanding graduates. We have so many noteworthy alums that it will be difficult to pare this number down to just 100. We appreciate the efforts of the Spears School Alumni Society who will make the selections, as this will not be an easy task. I encourage everyone to go to the website and nominate someone because we want to hear about all of our graduates, from all occupations and careers,” Eastman said.

Oklahoma A&M College established the School of Commerce and Marketing in 1914. Enrollment in the new school that first year was 37 students but within two years there were 164 students taking classes, and the first bachelor’s degree was granted in 1916. Today, there are more than 4,300 undergraduate and 1,100 graduate business students.

“Building Business Success for 100 Years” is the theme for the school’s 100th anniversary. In addition to the centennial anniversary, the school will be breaking ground in 2014 on a new state-of-the-art business building that will house the Spears School.

In September, the OSU/A&M Board of Regents selected Elliott + Associates Architects as the architect and Manhattan Construction as construction manager for the new facility. The new building is expected to cost more than $60 million and will include the Chesapeake Energy Student Success Center, as well as a naturally lit commons, an outdoor terrace, innovative classrooms, incubators to facilitate entrepreneurship, and gathering rooms to encourage cross-disciplinary interactions among faculty and students.

The 100-year anniversary celebration will include a summer golf tournament at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater in which OSU business school alums and friends of the school will be able to participate. The yearlong celebration will culminate with several events the first weekend of September, including the Centennial Celebration Gala. Dates and times are still being finalized.

For more information and how you can become a part of the 100th anniversary celebration, visit the Centennial Celebration website: http://spears100.okstate.edu/.

For sponsorship information on the Centennial Celebration Gala or the golf tournament, contact Anna Smith at 405-744-8679 or anna.noel.smith@okstate.edu.