student success

Earning a bachelor’s degree can be challenging for any student. But Bessy Valera faced more hurdles than most.

“Growing up in Peru, my mother made sure I knew the importance of education,” said Valera, a recent Oklahoma State University-Tulsa graduate. “Unfortunately, higher education in Peru was completely unaffordable.”

Valera moved to the United States in 1996. Despite the difficulties that came with a language barrier, she found a career and settled in.

Before Jesse Guardiola was an OSU-Tulsa graduate, a Tulsa Police senior officer, and a winner of the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing, he was a fresh Tulsa Police Department recruit who saw an issue and wanted to make a difference.

“Early on, I saw a divide between Tulsa’s Hispanic community and law enforcement,” Guardiola said.

She is OSU-Tulsa’s new assistant vice president for community engagement and student services, but she is not a new face on campus. Emonica “Nekki” Reagan-Neeley has been working on campus for a total of 27 years, and has spent much of that time as the face of OSU-Tulsa’s outreach efforts.

OSU-Tulsa student Amairani Perez Chamu has been named a 2018-19 OSU Outstanding Senior, the highest student honor bestowed by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association.

Grace Evans entered OSU-Tulsa’s master’s program in counseling with some uncertainty.

A bachelor’s degree in sociology had prepared her to study people, but from afar.

“I have always been interested in human beings, but I wasn’t sure if this was the right fit,” she said. “I quickly realized that the personal interaction of counseling was just what I was looking for.”

The first thing Emma Keller ever heard was an airplane engine.

After spending her first 18 months of life without the ability to hear, an operation opened up the world of sound. While leaving the hospital in her mother’s arms, she pointed excitedly as she heard an airplane flying overhead.

“Of course, I don’t really remember that, but my mom tells that story,” Keller says with a laugh.

Graduate student Lauren Branum has been “talking trash” for months, but it’s a good thing because the result will be a cleaner and greener Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus.

On his first foray outside of the country, OSU-Tulsa doctoral student Blaze Heckert will be a featured speaker at the International Astronautical Congress in Germany Oct. 1-5.

Heckert, who is pursuing a doctorate in materials science and engineering, was selected to discuss his research into improving materials used in aerospace components to better absorb energy and reduce vibration.