Dr. Nyla Ali Khan, OCCC Faculty and Human Rights Speaker for The Respect Diversity Foundation, has again received a “50 Making a Difference” award from the Journal Record. From the article: ‘“Through her experiences and insights, Dr. Khan introduces her students to ideas and concepts they may never come in contact with outside of the

By Noel J. Jacobs, PhD (Title adapted from The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman, excerpt taken from spoken word) We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in

About two weeks ago I flew halfway around the world with my best friend, who is also my brother, and  13 wonderful people I now count as friends. We spent one amazing week in an historic, beloved, conflicted, painful place. It is a very young country, a little over 70 years old, and it is

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door. These words, by Emma Lazarus, are at the base of one of the most iconic statues in this country.  Except

I grew up with a sense of belonging in both received and chosen communities. I existed in several –Christian and Episcopalian; OU fan; Republican; middle class; Okie; American; guy. All of those communities create images of shared characteristics and maybe even a sense of connectedness for me at times. Community membership has many immediate benefits: it helps us identify “our”