Forbes recognizes Oklahoma State University as ‘Dream Employer’

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Media Contact: Mack Burke | Associate Director of Media Relations | 405-744-5540 | mack.burke_iv@okstate.edu

Forbes recently recognized Oklahoma State University in the top 25 education-based employers on its 2025 America’s Dream Employers list. 

Among educational institutions, OSU was No. 22 nationally earning top honors in the state of Oklahoma and the Big 12 Conference.

Forbes partnered with Statista, a market research firm, to poll over 140,000 employees and 10,000 students nationwide working for companies that employ at least 1,000 people. The poll assesses feedback in a number of areas, including career growth, work-life balance and workplace culture.

“OSU’s placement on the Forbes Best Employers list further demonstrates our commitment to recruiting, retaining and developing our faculty and staff,” OSU President Kayse Shrum said. “At OSU, we recognize the crucial contributions employees make every day to ensure we are meeting the challenge of the land-grant mission, and I am so thankful for their dedication to their work and to cultivating the kind of working environment that has made us a top-ranked higher education employer.” 

This announcement comes on the heels of OSU being named as the top educational, and top 10 overall, employer in the state earlier this fall.

Christa Louthan, OSU assistant vice president and chief human resources officer, said the university’s positive and empowering work culture is the result of intentional efforts across the OSU System. 

“OSU's land-grant mission is tied to the success of our people,” Louthan said. “Their work, whether that be teaching, research or keeping the grounds at OSU beautiful, drives our institution forward. We are ecstatic about the recognition but are prouder still of the people who continue to contribute year after year.” 

Employees were asked how likely they were to recommend their employer on a scale of zero to 10. Those responses were entered into a scoring system that also includes statistical data from the last three years, weighing the most recent data and responses from current employees within the state more than other criteria.

These honors are the latest from Forbes, which has also recognized OSU as the best educational employer for new graduates in the state,  No. 1 midsize educational employer in Oklahoma, top 20 in Best Employers for Veterans and the top online college in Oklahoma.