OSU-Tulsa follows nationwide enrollment increase trend

Enrollment at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa is up about 20 percent this fall, marking an all-time record enrollment of 3,118 students.

Howard Barnett, president of OSU-Tulsa and OSU Center for Health Sciences, said undergraduate enrollment at OSU-Tulsa increased 11 percent this semester to 1,895 students, while graduate enrollment increased 30 percent to 1,223 students.

Barnett said he attributed the growth to OSU-Tulsa's strategy to implement more online courses and the lifelong value of earning a nationally recognized OSU degree.

Nationwide, college enrollment has increased 38 percent between 1999 and 2009, from 14.8 million to 20.4 million, according to Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics figures.

By fall 2019, the NCES projects a 9 percent rise in student enrollment for students under age 25 and a 23 percent rise in enrollments of students 25 and over.

The total enrollment for the OSU Stillwater/Tulsa campuses is 24,231, the largest in OSU history. The preliminary number for the OSU system is also on target to exceed previous records with a total enrollment of 35,214.

OSU enrollment numbers include Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, plus OSU-Oklahoma City, OSU Institute of Technology in Okmulgee and OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa.

Tulsa celebrates end of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy

To celebrate the end of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on Sept. 20, Oklahomans for Equality invited military recruiters from five branches to the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center.

The Clinton-era policy allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the military as long as they stayed in the closet.

This marked the first time in the center's 31-year history that military recruiters spoke there. They were present on Sept. 20 from noon-8pm with a special reception and panel discussion at 6:30pm.

Toby Jenkins, executive director of Oklahomans for Equality, said the recruiters were present at the center to talk to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community about job openings and career service.

"Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian," President Barack Obama said.

The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center is the first and only gay community center in our country to invite military recruiters into their facilities.

"Our local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has decades of honorable military service, but they served in secrecy, fearing at any moment their patriotism would be questioned because of their sexuality," Jenkins said.