OBU to Present Alumni Awards at Annual Harvest Dinner Nov. 6

OBU will host its annual Harvest Dinner Friday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. in the upper level of the Geiger Center on the OBU campus. Tickets are $20 through Nov. 1 and $23 beginning Nov 2. To purchase tickets for the Harvest Dinner, visit www.okbu.edu/events or call (405) 585-5413.

OBU employees and family members receive a discounted ticket price of $15.

During the Harvest Dinner, OBU will present several awards, including the Alumni Achievement Award, Graduate of the Last Decade award, Faculty Hall of Fame inductions and Profile in Excellence awards.

The Alumni Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Association and is given in recognition of outstanding life service, which has brought honor to the individual's alma mater. This year, the Alumni Achievement Awards will honor Ronda Mikles, ’75, and Hildegard (Hiddie) Stanley, ’59.

Ronda Mikles is a motivational speaker and corporate trainer. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from OBU. After spending one year in the classroom, she began an award-winning career in radio sales and marketing and later launched her own company, Mikles Marketing and Management, Inc. She quickly became a sought-after corporate trainer for entities such as OG&E, Devon Energy, and Tinker and Altus Air Force Bases. Her company offers training on more than 30 topics, such as time management, stress management, team building and the discipline of listening well. In 2001, she was invited back to Bison Hill as a chapel speaker.

Dr. Hildegard Jo Stanley was chairperson of the music division at Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia, from 1966-2001. In September of 2000, she became Brewton-Parker College’s first distinguished professor. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from OBU and earned a Master of Church Music from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a major in Conducting. Over the next four years, she served as full-time minister of music in two North Carolina churches. She grew the music program at Brewton-Parker into something impressive, adding and assimilating six more full-time professors, conducting the Brewton-Parker College Choir for 35 years, and investing in her students and their families in a personal, one-on-one level.

The Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award is presented annually during the Harvest Dinner to a young alum of OBU, not necessarily a graduate, who, in his or her life and career, has demonstrated outstanding achievement and brought pride and honor to the University. This year’s GOLD Award recipient is Michael Ware, ’06.

Ware currently serves as minister of music at Wilmont Place Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. He is an accomplished composer and musician. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition from OBU, and was a member of the University Chorale, Symphonic Band, the OBU Ringers, and the student worship team. He served as minister of music at Kelham Baptist Church in Oklahoma City while studying at OBU. He continued his training at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning a Master of Music in Church Music with an emphasis in Composition. Congregations throughout the United States have sung Ware’s compositions and arrangements. The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, of which he has been a member, the Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma City Community College Choir have also performed them. One of Ware’s pieces, “Not I, But Christ,” has been translated into Korean.

The Faculty Hall of Fame recognition program honors legendary faculty members who were master teachers that made a significant impact on OBU students. The first class was inducted in November 2010 during the University's Centennial Homecoming. This year’s inductees include Dr. Claudine Franks Dickey, Dr. Ronda Hall and the late Dr. Jimmie Russell.

Dr. Claudine Dickey graduated from OBU with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1960. She then earned a Master of Education in Guidance from Central State University; a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Oklahoma; and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences, also from OU. She is married to John Dickey, and has three children, Michael, Darla and Laura. She has served OBU as a professor of nursing, as dean of the College of Nursing, and as an adjunct professor in the Master of Science in Nursing program at OBU. She has also served in numerous roles outside OBU, including clinical assistant professor of nursing at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing and assistant for career development at Presbyterian Hospital. She published “What is Career Mobility?” in the Oklahoma Nurse newspaper, and received the Outstanding Young Women of America award in 1973.

Dr. Ronda Hall served as professor of Spanish at OBU from 1973-2011. Prior to her time at OBU, she served as a missionary journeyman for the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention. She is married to Joe Hall. She has attended numerous universities and colleges to further her education, even attending universities in Spain and Mexico. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Samford University and a Master of Arts from the University of Alabama. She likewise attended Calvin College. She was involved in the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and the Oklahoma Foreign Language Teacher’s Association. In 1980, she received OBU’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. Jimmie Russell served as professor of education at OBU from 1981-2002. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 52. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Norris Russell, OBU professor and chair of the Division of Kinesiology and Leisure Studies, and two children, Jeremy and Meredith. She graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in education. She then earned a Master of Education from East Texas State University and later went on to earn a Doctor of Education from Oklahoma State University. She was highly involved in the educational system of Oklahoma and was a member of numerous educational organizations such as the Oklahoma Teachers Applying Whole Language and the Oklahoma Reading Council. She loved to read and fostered this love for reading among her students. In the winter of 1990, she published an article titled “Underestimating Capable Readers.”

The Profile in Excellence Award is given to a former student, not necessarily a graduate, who has demonstrated recognizable accomplishment in his or her profession, business, avocation, or life service in such a way as to bring pride and honor to the University. Each year, up to 12 Profile in Excellence recipients are selected and all are featured in an article in “OBU Magazine.”

This year’s Profile in Excellence Award recipients include Kelly (Kennedy) King, ’84, Women’s Missions and Ministries Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, from Oklahoma City; Pat (Baker) Prescott, ’70, retired middle school principal at Arlington Middle School, from Shawnee; Kris Steele, ’97, executive director for The Education and Employment Ministry, from Shawnee; Jim Tye, ’62, retired missionary for the International Mission Board, from Burneyville, Oklahoma; Shirley (Bynum) Tye, ’87, retired missionary for the International Mission Board, also from Burneyville; and Joe Wilkins, ’87, investment relations officer for the United Parcel Service, from Atlanta, Georgia.