Happy Birthday, Liberal Arts!
Liberal Arts News and Events
March 31, 2022
In 1971, Central State College became Central State University (which became the University of Central Oklahoma in 1990), and the School of Liberal Arts (which is now the College of Liberal Arts) was established. In the midst of the pandemic and of the ongoing Alignment and Allocation process, we missed the opportunity to observe our college’s fiftieth birthday in 2021, but we have much to celebrate in the accomplishments of Liberal Arts students, faculty, staff, and alumni over the course of the past half-century.
As many of you have noted, we recently mounted, in the space between the North and South Wings of the Liberal Arts Building, the memorial plaque honoring our college’s first dean, Dr. Frank Finney, Jr., that used to be displayed outside the former Dean’s Office in the North Wing. Dr. Finney, who joined the Central State faculty in 1959, served as chairperson of the Department of English from 1965 until 1971 and as our founding dean from 1971 until his death in 1984.