Ten Reasons There's Only One Oklahoma!

There's only one Oklahoma!

1.  The University achieved the Carnegie Foundation's highest tier of research activity classification in 2011, the first time a public institution in Oklahoma has received this outstanding recognition.

2.  OU ranks No. 1 in the nation among all public universities in the number of freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled, with 207 in the fall 2011 freshman class.

3.  Klout, which measures influence online using data from social networks, has ranked OU the most influential university in America.

Climate science display (photo courtesy SloverLinett Strategies)

4.  The University has been selected by the U.S Department of the Interiors as the site of one of the only eight regional climate science centers nationwide.

K20 (photo courtesy Signs Now)

5.  The OU-based K20 Center for Educational and Community Renewal promotes innovative learning through school/university/community collaboration, serving 900 schools, 1,800 school leaders, 12,000 teachers and 150,000 students throughout Oklahoma.

School of Community Medicine

6.  The University's School of Community Medicine is the first of its kind in the nation, improving the health status of the under-served Oklahoma rural and urban communities.

EYEChina has been accepted into the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition!

7.  The first social entrepreneurship project of the OU Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth is developing a sustainable business model to eliminate a backlog of 1 million patients suffering cataract-related blindness in China's Sichuan Province by 2020.

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art

8.  OU's Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art ranks among the top half dozen university museums in the United States and is home to the most important public university collection of French Impressionist art in our country.

Seed Sower at OU's Health Sciences Campus

9.  Between 2005 and 2010, 62 U.S. patents were issued to the OU Health Sciences Center and 11 license agreements were executed, resulting in nearly $1.7 million in license income.

Sam Bradford statue on campus. (photo courtesy Dave Hunt/OU Insider)

10.  OU recognized its fifth Heisman Trophy winner, Sam Bradford, with the placement of his sculpture in Heisman Park.  The University's four other Heisman winners - Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, and Jason White - also have sculptures in the park, located directly east of The Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

This information and more can be found in the 2012 Community Impact Report.  If you'd like to see more, click here or send an email to alumni@ou.edu and we'd be happy to mail you one.