Meet a Few Honors Program Graduates

Russell Jones earned degrees in Biblical languages and philosophy at OBU. He spent a summer studying German in Austria before completing a senior thesis on Socratic Elenchos. He is working toward a Ph.D. degree in philosophy at the University of Oklahoma. 

Kim Cragin came to OBU from Shawnee, but she had also lived in China for several years. During her years at OBU, she traveled to Russia, taught in China, and studied for a semester in Israel. Winner of the prestigious Truman Fellowship, Kim completed a graduate degree in international diplomacy at Duke.  With a specialty in counter-terrorism, Kim now works in the Pentagon for Rand Corporation. 

Elise Anderson was a vocal music major who spent a summer in Xinjiang, China, teaching English as a second language. While there, she developed an interest in Uyghur music and culture that eventually led to her senior thesis titled “The Muqam in Modern Uyghur Life.” She is currently a graduate student in ethnomusicology at Indiana University. 

Branson Stephens earned degrees in mathematics and physics at OBU. His senior thesis on molecular dynamics simulations was based on summer research he completed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Co-author of two articles on gravitational physics and recipient of a prestigious NASA Fellowship, he is currently a doctoral student and research fellow in the astrophysics theory research group at the University of Illinois.

Amy Harris completed a nursing degree after traveling to Guatemala to study Spanish and volunteer at the non-profit hospital Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro. She is now an RN working on the emergency/ trauma surgical floor at St. Mary’s Hospital (Mayo Clinic) in Rochester, Minn.

David Duvall was a biochemistry major who spent a January Term as a volunteer at Mercy Clinic in McAlester, Oklahoma. Today, he is one of several Honors Program grads enrolled in medical school at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.