Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology prides itself on its close community culture and its powerful sense of history and heritage. A group of OSUIT retirees is keeping those sacred traditions alive.

The group meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. to enjoy friendship and a good meal while talking about family, day-to-day life and, of course, OSUIT's past, present and future. Many of the members started working on campus when the school was called Oklahoma State Tech. Billy Hannon, who graduated from Tech and worked on campus for decades as a plumber and building trade supervisor, usually organizes breakfast and occasional dinner gatherings. Around eight to 15 retirees typically show up.

The Cowboy Café in the OSUIT Student Union is one of the group’s regular breakfast destinations. They returned to the café in September to reminisce about their time on campus.

Hannon was an NC machinist student at the school in the early 1980s. But when the demand for machinists dropped, he enrolled in the construction program. It was the beginning of a lifelong bond.

“Once I got my degree, the campus hired me on. I grew up here. This is my home,” Hannon said.

Hannon was joined in the café by Bob Seebeck, who worked for 41 years as a grounds manager and director of Physical Plant Services; Rene Jungo, who worked for 30 years in the Culinary Arts department as a teacher, department head and division chair; Grant Griffin, an Oklahoma State Tech furniture upholstery student who started teaching upholstery in the 1970s and retired as an admissions counselor in the early 2000s; Dennis Cunningham, who worked at OSUIT from 1970 to 2006, cleaning the Culinary Arts building and assisting ground managers; Warren Brewster, who worked for 27 years at OSUIT and was facilities planner in the Physical Plant; Bill Martin, who taught electronics and retired in 2008; Dana Martin, who worked at OSUIT for 22 years, taught in the arts and sciences program; and James McCullough, who taught graphic design in the commercial art area for 26 years.

Seebeck said he was having lunch a few years ago with former OSUIT Director Robert Klabenes and Dr. Ann Alexander, who was a former OSUIT employee, when Klabenes had a profound idea about preserving OSUIT’s history and heritage.

“Dr. Klabenes had said, ‘You know, I'd really like to see us get together as employees, retirees, and get together again,’" Seebeck said. "And he said, ‘Let's start having coffee every day.’ And I said, ‘Bob, we can't get everybody together to have coffee every day.’ I said, ‘How about once a week?’ And he said, ‘Well, OK.’”

Seebeck made a sustained effort to reach out to his fellow OSUIT retirees and band them together for Tuesday breakfasts.

“We come, and we have no agenda; 9:30 in the morning, we sit, and every kind of subject comes up. It can be about health or whatever, and we talk about the institution, and we really want to be informed about what goes on at this institution. We invested our lives out here. I mean, I spent 41 years at this place, and I loved it,” Seebeck said.

Most of the retirees started working on campus between the 1970s and 1990s, many years after the campus was converted from a World War II-era Army hospital into a vocational school for soldiers returning home from war. The old hospital campus did not have the brick school buildings that today’s campus has. Instead, it was comprised of dozens of barracks, all connected by a covered ramp system. The retirees said many of the barracks were still standing when they started working on campus.

Seebeck remembers the first few weeks of each semester being packed with new and returning students.

“There were times when every facility was filled up, and they had to put people in the hallway, in the old ramps, wherever they could because the enrollment was so high,” Seebeck said.

Oklahoma State Tech graduates filled essential jobs in vital industries that fueled Oklahoma’s economy.

“Conoco was a big employer. Their whole employment was our graduates,” Jungo said.

Tech’s training programs covered a wide array of professions and services, many of which were unique to the time. A 1977 yearbook boasts scores of unique programs, including various automotive work, secretarial work, management and marketing, accounting, jewelry manufacturing and shoe, boot and saddle repair.

Furniture upholstery was part of Tech’s Furniture Design and Restoration program. The program taught furniture making and repair while providing a specialized service for school employees, according to Griffin.

“We were some of the original green recyclers. We took existing furniture that was ready to go to the landfill, and we saved all that by refurbishing it,” Griffin said. “People chose their fabric to put on it. It was custom designed for the individual because furniture reflects our personalities. You can't go to the furniture store and purchase exactly what you want, but you can have an existing frame. You can buy furniture, fabrics, the texture, colors, and everything, like the cottons you want, whatever you want, soft texture and all that. That's what we did.”

The Furniture Design and Restoration program also produced upholstery for cars, boats and airplanes, including Air Force planes that required flame-retardant materials, according to Griffin.

OSUIT tailors training programs to meet contemporary workforce needs, according to Jungo.

“A lot of what we taught has gone obsolete in the time that I've been away. But that's a good thing. That means that we're changing with the times. Things are changing; we're changing too. And we've had some good leaders,” Jungo said.

Culinary Arts is among the many top-flight professional training programs OSUIT offers. The program trained countless future chefs.

Jungo described OSUIT’s Culinary Arts program as groundbreaking, equipping young people with the skills to build a brilliant culinary career by consistently cooking at an elite level.

“The neat thing about culinary arts is the chef is only as good as his last meal. You can't say, ‘Oh no, whatever.’ My next meal better be right. What have you done for me today? What have I done for you today? It's very challenging,” Jungo said. “I think they're doing very well now. They have a brand new, younger generation of chefs. I think they're going to do fine.”

Today, OSUIT offers a wide range of degree programs, including four-year degrees. Though the school has been renowned for decades as the best technical training institution in the state, it also offers a plethora of excellent academic courses.

Dana Martin taught psychology, sociology and business ethics from 1995 to around 2007. She infused practical applications into her lessons.

“They wanted it to be an associate's degree, but you really needed to make it relevant for our students. So, I focused [my curriculum] a whole lot on disciplining children and how to have an argument with your spouse and still be friends,” she said. “I looked at it as preventative medicine so people would have strong families.”

Martin’s method complemented the school’s philosophy of providing students with an education that enables them to apply what they learn to real-world success.

“It’s a challenge to make it academic and be what OSU wants it to be, because you have to have those texts. You have to create a lot of content that is very practical about how to make your kids' minds work quickly,” she said.

Griffin said Tech’s general education math and English courses helped him become a stronger, more capable professional when he entered the workforce as both a small-business owner and a teacher.

“It really helped me because otherwise, had I not taken those courses, I wouldn't have been able to further it as far as teaching others when I got done,” Griffin said. “They knew what they were doing when they set it up that way. We have to take all those courses because they work together. You got to be communicating. If I wasn't a communicator, then I wasn't going to be successful.”

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where do OSUIT retirees meet?

A group of retired OSU Institute of Technology employees meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at various locations, including the Cowboy Café in the OSUIT Student Union. The gatherings typically attract eight to 15 retirees.

How did the OSUIT retirees' weekly gatherings begin?

Former OSUIT Director Robert Klabenes proposed bringing retired employees together to stay connected. Former Physical Plant Services Director Bob Seebeck helped establish weekly breakfast gatherings and began reaching out to fellow retirees.

What do OSUIT retirees discuss during their gatherings?

Retirees share stories about their families, everyday life and experiences working at OSUIT. They also discuss the university's history, current developments and future, reflecting their continued interest in the institution.

How has OSUIT changed since it was known as Oklahoma State Tech?

OSUIT has evolved from a vocational training institution housed in former World War II-era Army hospital facilities into a university offering associate and bachelor's degrees. Its academic and technical programs have changed over the decades to reflect evolving industry demands and workforce needs.