Celebrating legacies: 2024 marked several key OSU Global anniversaries

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Media Contact: Hailey Rose Viars | Communications Specialist | 405-744-5496 | hviars@okstate.edu

Although anniversaries are just numbers, OSU Global finds them opportunities to reflect on where we have come from and where we are going. 

The anniversaries remind us of our organization’s purpose from the beginning and allow us to reflect on how far we have come in achieving those purposes. Oklahoma State University’s legacy as a global land-grant institution is built upon the vision and commitment of those who went before us.  

Here were the three key anniversaries in 2024 that helped to shape OSU’s global engagement:

75th Anniversary  |  Point Four Program  

The Point Four Program was undoubtedly the key moment OSU launched into global engagement.

The initiative began with President Harry S. Truman’s 1949 inaugural address, where he outlined four major foreign policy goals. The fourth — sharing American knowledge and technology with developing nations — led to creating the Point Four Program. Truman then called upon his friend, Dr. Henry G. Bennett, who took leave as president of Oklahoma A&M College, to establish the new agency that would shape U.S. engagement worldwide in the post-WWII era. 

Bennett then spent the next two years developing projects around the world, involving universities as key implementers of the development projects. He called upon his personal relationship with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie to create a partnership for OAMC to work with the Ethiopian government to help establish Haramaya University and Jimma Technical School. More than 100 OSU faculty, researchers and their families relocated to Ethiopia to lay the foundation for these institutions and the Debra Zeit agricultural research facility.

This anniversary celebrated OSU’s lasting global impact, highlighting decades of educational exchange, agricultural innovation, and international partnership. Bennett served as director of the Point IV program (now called the Technical Cooperation Agency) until his untimely death (alongside his wife, Vera) in an airplane crash in 1951.

40th Anniversary  |  Oklahoma/Kyoto Sister State  

In 2024, Oklahoma and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, marked 40 years of their sister-state relationship, established in 1985. The sister-state agreement promotes cultural exchange, education, business, agriculture and medical collaboration.

As part of this relationship, OSU created a campus in Kameoka, Japan, and hundreds of Japanese students studied at OSU-Kameoka. Although the campus in Kameoka didn’t last long, the City of Stillwater still maintains a sister-city relationship. It has a citywide walking/riding trail (the Kameoka Trail) commemorating the historical partnership.

25th Anniversary  |  School of Global Studies   

In 2024, OSU’s School of Global Studies celebrated its 25th anniversary, marking a quarter-century of preparing students for impactful careers in international affairs.

Since its inception in 1999, the program has evolved to meet the changing dynamics of global challenges. Originally known as the School of International Studies, it was restructured in 2016 to the School of Global Studies and Partnerships. It was later rebranded in 2023 as OSU Global, reflecting its expanded mission and global engagement.

The Master of Science in Global Studies, offered through OSU Global, equips students with interdisciplinary knowledge in global trade, disaster management, public diplomacy, and leadership. The program emphasizes real-world issues and prepares graduates for roles in multinational corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.  

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