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By News Director Jared Atha
In a press release issued Thursday, Southwestern Oklahoma State University officials say they expect to return to normal operations this 2021 fall semester.
SWOSU credits the ability to return students to classes on the university community’s commitment to follow COVID-19 safety protocols and the availability of vaccines. Officials say these are leading indicators that full, in-person instruction and activities will be possible.
The release also stated that the university’s main concern is the safety and well-being of the SWOSU community and will continue to abide by federal and state COVID-19 regulations as it plans upcoming semesters, and will adjust protocols as the semester draws closer.
By News Director Jared Atha
Southwestern Oklahoma State University with locations in Weatherford and Sayre has announced the establishment of the Dr. John Hays Scholarship Endowment.
The endowment will provide financial assistance in perpetuity to SWOSU students with demonstrated financial need. Recipients of assistance from the endowment shall be styled “Dr. John Hays Scholars.”
Hays, president of SWOSU from 2001-2010 and a 1969 SWOSU accounting graduate, died on October 9, 2020.
The Weatherford resident worked 30 years at SWOSU, having served as assistant business manager, comptroller, assistant to the president, vice president for administration and executive vice president for administration before being named president.
Melissa Rosenfelt
Special to Oklahoman
When a Native American woman realizes the power of her voice and her passion, she can never be silenced.
Although Native American women represent 6% of Oklahoma’s population, this small group of women carry generations of traditions, culture and knowledge that have ensured the survival of Native American identities since the beginning of colonization.
At the heart of Native American communities is the drum, which represents the supple, strong heartbeat that flows through Indigenous people. The drum is the heartline that connects the people to the land we reside on today.
Much like the drum, here are four Native American women who radiate as the heart of Indigenous families and also their communities as they’ve used their voices to stand up for Native American issues like Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People, against colonized curriculum in the public-school systems, for Black Freedmen Bands no longer federally recognized, a