Lifelong OSU supporter Dean Stringer is ensuring the humanities have a strong presence at OSU with a gift to create an endowed chair for the new Oklahoma State University Center for the Humanities. The center will bring together faculty, staff and students from the College of Arts and Sciences, including humanities scholars at the Edmon Low Library and interdisciplinary academic programs in Africana Studies, American Indian Studies, American Studies, Religious Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies, offering a unified approach to the humanities at OSU.

The Oklahoma State University Museum of Art unveiled a three-piece installation on Oct. 30 that features works by Native American veteran artists. The mini-vault show, which opened on the eve of Native American Heritage Month, was curated by OSU art history student and museum intern Sam Holguin. The “Native American Veteran Artists” mini show is on exhibit until March 14.

Oklahoma State University is tearing down the language barrier for a critically underserved group: Deaf people. This fall, OSU received approval to make its American Sign Language (ASL) major into a bachelor’s degree program, which is crucial for students who want to learn interpreting and also teach ASL nationwide. ASL was previously only offered as a minor. Dr. Taylor Woodall-Greene has been working to make OSU the first in the state to offer bachelor’s level courses in ASL for years and finally was able to see her dream come to fruition.

Toddlers have poor social skills, are terrible conversationalists, cannot care for themselves, and have very imprecise motor skills. Yet, despite their relatively immature state of development, a typical 24-month-old child already knows over 250 words and, amazingly, learns an average of six new words per day. Understanding the impressive language development of children is at the heart of Dr. Sarah Kucker’s research.