Sooner Influence at the Academy Awards

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are this coming Sunday, February, 26, 2012.  The Academy Awards Show is the oldest award ceremony in the media.  Those nominated in each of the ceremony's categories are considered the best of the best.  And the cliche "it's an honor just to be nominated" rings true for many.

Throughout its history, some Sooners have been recognized on this prestigious evening.  And what better time to take a look at them than right before this year's awards are handed out.

Van Heflin:

Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1932 with a Bachelor in Arts and Sciences.  Also while here, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.  He made his film debut in 1936 in A Woman Rebels.  He went on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1942 for Johnny Eager.  Other notable films he was in include the 1953 classic western, Shane, Possessed (1947), The Three Musketeers (1948) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957).


Ed Harris:

Edward Allen "Ed" Harris was a Sooner from Summer 1971 to the Summer of 1973.  Though he did not graduate, he studied theater while here and then moved to Los Angeles to find work.  He is now an actor, writer and director known for performances in Appaloosa, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence and The Truman Sow.  He has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot as well as other companies.  He is a three-time Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor for Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman Show (1998) and The Hours (2002).  He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2000 for the title role in Pollock.  Fun fact for everyone, he still has a brother living in Norman, OK.  Boomer Sooner!


James Garner:

James Garner is perhaps one of the most iconic actors of our time.  He's also a huge Sooner fan! In 1995 he received an honorary doctorate degree of Humane Letters.  He accepted this degree one month after the OKC Murrah Building bombing.  During the speech he gave during the commencement ceremony, he said,

"If there's anything positive to come from this event, it is seeing the character, the toughness and the dignity of the Oklahoma people as they suffer the grief and carry on with their lives.  It makes every Oklahoman, where ever we are, to be PROUD to be an Oklahoman." 

He is the narrator on the intro video for the University of Oklahoma football team as they enter the stadium.  He also has a street named after him here: James Garner Avenue.


In 1986, James was an Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1985 film Murphy's Romance.  He's been in almost 100 movies and television shows as an actor and many others as producer and/or director.  Some of the most recent titles include Maverick (1994), My Fellow Americans (1996), Twilight (no, not that Twilight...this one was released in 1998), Space Cowboys (2000), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2003) and The Notebook (2004).
  

This year at the Academy Awards:

An OU student will be in attendance!  Chinh Doan, an OU Journalism Senior and will get a first-hand account of all the glitz and glamor as some of Hollywood's finest are recognized.  Of the trip, she says, "I kept thinking, 'This is a dream. It's not really true, and if I tell people I'm going, I feel like it might get jinxed and it's not going to happen.'"

Doan said that an OU staff member helped her make the valuable connection.  "We went to lunch in L.A. when I was there for a broadcasting conference, and we stayed in touch ever since," she said.

Viewers can watch the Oscars on ABC Sunday at 6:00 p.m.

TEDxOU featuring OU's Kyle Harper

TEDxOU Registration, Stuart Lounge, OU Memorial Union

Today, OU is hosting TEDxOU in the Memorial Union.  There are over 350 people in attendance and I can say, with complete certainty, they are all excited to be here.  If you don't believe me, check the TEDxOU Twitter feed!  If you're not familiar with TEDx, don't fret!  Simply put, TEDx is a global series of conferences devoted to "ideas worth spreading."  The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.  These events generally consist of a suite of short, carefully prepared talks, demonstrations and performances on a wide range of subjects to foster learning, inspiration and wonder -- and to provoke conversations that matter.

tedxou.com

Among the TEDxOU speakers is Kyle Harper, another OUtstanding University of Oklahoma alumnus!  He graduated from OU, summa cum laude, in May 2001 with a degree in Letters and then went to Harvard earning a master's degree and doctoral degree in History.  After that, he returned to OU as an assistant professor in the Department of Classics and Letters and was selected by President Boren as the Director of the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage.  He has published numerous books, articles and chapters as well as book reviews, conference papers and presentations.  He's received many awards and fellowships and his academic service is unmatched.  He also speaks Italian, German, French, Arabic and of course, English.  Kyle is what we call a "big deal" around here!  And if that's not enough, he is a specialist on Roman history.  In fact, he and his wife have graciously agreed to go on the OU Alunni Sightseeing Sooner's "Portrait of Italy" trip in May.  His knowledge of the history will make this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our OU Alumni and friends!  For more information on this, and many other Sightseeing Sooner trips, click here.
 

tedxou.com

As I'm typing this, Kyle is speaking at TEDxOU.  Because of his education and expertise, he is able to provide thorough information on a wide variety of topics.  Before TEDxOU, Kyle told the OU Daily, “TED is an institution that is always on the cutting edge of technology, science and knowledge.  It’s an opportunity for me to represent not just OU, but to represent my department, my discipline.  We have the image of historians as people who sit in libraries and in some sense might seem like an unlikely candidate for a TED talk. The kind of history I do brings 21st century science to the study of the human past.”  Kyle’s doctoral dissertation, “Slavery in the late Roman Empire,” was published as a book in June, and his second book, titled “From Shame to Sin: Christianity and the Making of Western Sexuality,” is already under contract.  I think Billy Kulkin summed it up best with his "That was deep" tweet when Kyle concluded his TEDxOU speech.

Dr. Kyle Harper speaks at TEDxOU in Meacham Auditorium

 You rock, Kyle!  Way to represent OU and "astOUnd!"

Alumni Club Scholarships

The OU Alumni Association has been buzzing with excitement yesterday and today as we hand out Alumni Scholarship checks to well-deserving students!

If you're interested in learning more about how this process works, see below:

The clubs have done an outstanding job raising money and making generous donations to reach such an incredible total!  To locate a club near you, please click here for our alumni club directory.

If you need further assistance, please email alumni@ou.edu or call (405) 325-1710.

And if you'd like to join the OU Alumni Association, please click here.

Boomer Sooner!