OBU Welcomes 575 New Undergraduates at Annual Convocation

Oklahoma Baptist University officially opened the 2026-27 academic year and welcomed 575 new undergraduate students during Convocation chapel Aug. 26 at the Recreation and Wellness Center on the OBU campus in Shawnee.

Combined freshman and transfer enrollment increased 8.49% this fall compared with fall 2025, continuing several years of growth in new undergraduate enrollment. Freshman enrollment alone increased 10.29% over last fall.

In addition to welcoming new students, the Convocation program included greetings from faculty and student leaders, recognition of new faculty and staff members, and the presentation of annual faculty and staff awards.

Each year, OBU presents three important awards to recognize quality teaching and faithful, productive service: the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Promising Teacher Award and the Meritorious Service Award. Nominations for the awards are made by alumni, current students, faculty and administration. In addition to public recognition and a token of the university’s appreciation, the recipients receive cash awards from a fund provided by OBU graduates John and Janet Hudson of Edmond.

This year’s recipients are Dr. Brian Camp, professor of family science, Distinguished Teaching Award; Ann McNellis, assistant professor of communication studies, Promising Teacher Award; and Crystal McKee, senior director of donor relations and data analytics, Meritorious Service Award.

OBU President Dr. Heath A. Thomas delivered the convocation address, encouraging students as they begin the academic year and challenging them to pursue excellence in their studies, relationships and faith.

In his convocation address, OBU President Dr. Heath A. Thomas challenged students to begin the new academic year “awake” to the opportunities, responsibilities and purpose God has given them.

Thomas began with a familiar need after Welcome Week: sleep. Students may be adjusting to earlier mornings after summer, while others have returned from Global Outreach trips, internships or demanding athletic schedules. But Thomas used sleep as more than a lighthearted opening. He turned to the wisdom of Aristotle, Plato and Solomon to consider what sleep reveals about human life.

Aristotle described sleep as a natural part of creaturely life and as the opposite of wakefulness. Plato and Aristotle also viewed sleep as a state in which human potential exists but is not fully active. Thomas connected those ideas with Proverbs, where sleep can illustrate both virtue and vice. “Sweet sleep” comes with wisdom and a life lived without fear, while other passages warn against laziness, excessive sleep and an unproductive life.

From this “survey of sleep,” Thomas turned to wakefulness.

“The virtuous life is one that is awakened to moral agency in our place, in our time,” he said. He challenged students not to “sleep our way through life” or “sleepwalk through life,” but instead to recognize the opportunities before them.

Thomas reminded students that undergraduate students are part of only 7% of the global population with the privilege of higher education. He challenged them to “wake up to this opportunity” and to “wake up to the needs of today,” recognizing that they have the ability to respond to those needs.

He also emphasized the purpose of the OBU community. “We believe God has called each of us to become awakened to the most significant purpose in life,” he said.

Thomas then turned to the Apostle Paul’s call to wakefulness, including the command, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” He connected Paul’s words to the call to love God, love others and live out a life of service.

“Wake up! Wake up!” Thomas urged the OBU community. “Love God. Love others. Serve our world. Live all of life, all for Jesus!”

As the academic year begins, Thomas challenged students to “greet this new academic year with an awakened sense of purpose and calling and discovery,” reminding them, “We only have one life, let’s not waste it.”

Convocation serves as one of the University’s most significant academic traditions, bringing together students, faculty and staff to celebrate OBU’s mission and shared commitment to Christian higher education.