WHEREAS:
A certificate of incorporation was issued by the State of Oklahoma to The Baptist University of Oklahoma (now The Oklahoma Baptist University) on February 9, 1910, whose stated purposes included providing opportunities for all departments of higher education to persons of both sexes on equal terms; establishing and maintaining one or more colleges and to provide instruction in all collegiate studies; and establishing and maintaining an institution of higher learning in which all the branches of advanced learning may be taught; and

WHEREAS:
The first Board of Trustees of the University and leaders of the City of Shawnee determined that the new school should be located on the northwest edge of the city on a sixty-acre tract known as the Kickapoo site; and

WHEREAS:
Founding fathers of the University came to the bare prairie location which would become known as Bison Hill and knelt and prayed that Almighty God would "send down upon this school the rich gift" of His Spirit and that the "Spirit would dwell in this place from generation to generation"; and

WHEREAS:
One hundred years later, Oklahoma Baptist University's statement of its mission emphasizes the school's faithful commitment to the Oklahoma Baptist founding fathers: "As a Christian liberal arts university, OBU transforms lives by equipping students to pursue academic excellence; integrate faith with all areas of knowledge; engage a diverse world; and live worthy of the high calling of God in Christ"; and

WHEREAS:
More than seventeen thousand students have graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University with a high percentage of them remaining in the state and contributing to the economic, civic, social, and spiritual welfare of their communities while others serve in the forty-nine other states and numerous countries; and

WHEREAS:
Significant recognition has been directed to Oklahoma Baptist University for the quality of its academic programs and the opportunities provided to its students; and

THEREFORE:
I, BRAD HENRY, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, do hereby recognize and commend Oklahoma Baptist University on the occasion of its centennial anniversary and for its significant contributions to the State of Oklahoma and to our nation and world.