NSU to Recognize Homecoming Honorees Oct. 24

TAHLEQUAHOne is a nurseryman, another is a former teacher. The youngest became a high school principal at age 33, and the fourth is the former Executive Director of the Oklahoma Arts Council.

The Northeastern State University Alumni Association 2009 honorees will be recognized as part of NSU's Homecoming celebration, Growing Into Our Second Century, during halftime of the Saturday, Oct. 24 football game with Southeastern Oklahoma State at Doc Wadley Stadium.

This years award winners are Bob Berry (61) of Tahlequah and Ron Evans (60, 64) of Collinsville, Distinguished Alumni; Dr. Jenyfer Glisson (91, 93) of Sapulpa, Distinguished Young Alumnus; and Betty Price (53) of Oklahoma City, President's Award for Community Service.

Berry and his family own Tri-B Nursery in Hulbert, along with Park Hill and Sanders nurseries. The nursery operation is now nationwide, employing approximately 3,500 people.

"Since 1994 our nursery operations have increased in size by two or three times," Berry said. "We are now easily the largest nursery in the U.S. The next largest operation is probably about 40 percent our size. And we're entirely family-owned."

Berrys lifelong interest in politics led him to work in the Senate campaigns of Henry Bellmon and Dewey Bartlett. He was appointed to chair the Oklahoma Highway Commission during Bellmon's second administration. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Small Company Management Program (now Owner President Management).

Ron Evans is a former president of the NSU Alumni Association and remains active in the association. He is also a co-founder of NSU's Nifty Fifties alumni group, which has assisted the organizing of numerous reunions for alumni who graduated in the 1950s and early '60s. He also co-founded and chairs Collinsville High School's Nifty Fifties and maintains Web sites for both organizations. He is a former teacher and coach and retired in 1999. He also serves as vice-president of the Collinsville Education Foundation. At Northeastern he was a member of Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity, editor of Tsa-La-Gi, named Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and a two-year letterman for the basketball team.

"I was stunned when (NSU) President Don Betz called," Evans said. "This honor was the farthest thing in the world from my mind. I can probably think of 40,000 other people who could be named besides me. But of course, I'm extremely proud and honored."

Glisson is principal at Sapulpa High School. She was named the 2009 Oklahoma High School Principal of the Year and the 2008 District 10 Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. She was appointed SHS principal in 2004, making her the youngest person and first woman named to the post. She is a former sergeant-at-arms with the Sapulpa Rotary Club and coordinates the club's Student of the Month presentations. She was invited to Washington, D.C. as one of Oklahoma's representatives at the NASSP conference. She is a former English teacher and track and cheerleading coach for the Union Public School system.

"It is very humbling to be honored by NSU," she said. "I am surrounded by good students, good teachers and a good family, and any accomplishments or awards I achieve are reflections of all the people around me."

Price served as executive director for the Oklahoma Arts Council - a statewide agency for the arts - for 24 years before retiring in 2007. The NSU Alumni Association named her a Distinguished Alumnus in 2001. She is perhaps most renowned for her work with non-profit arts organizations across the state. At the Oklahoma Capitol she directed the commissioning of murals, paintings and sculptures in and around the building. The Betty Price Gallery in the state capitol was named for her by the state legislature, in recognition of her successfully spearheading passage of the Art in Public Places Act in 2004. She has belonged to the Oklahoma Centennial Commission and the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum and is in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame. Price initiated the Governor's Arts Awards and worked with the State Capitol Preservation Commission.

These exceptional NSU alumni will be formally honored during the 12th annual Emerald Ball on Dec. 12. Tickets for the event are available through the NSU Foundation at 918-458-4200.

Sponsors for NSU's 2009 Homecoming celebration include Love Bottling Co., BancFirst, Keetoowah Cherokee Casino, Chili's Grill & Bar and BCI Barn Builders.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.nsuok.edu/homecoming/

10/20/2009

Published: 2009-10-20 00:00:00