Former Governor George Nigh as Julian Rothbaum speaker at Eastern OK ST College
(Press Release 11-03-03)
Hank Mooney, Office of Public Information

Former Oklahoma Governor George Nigh told a standing room only crowd of primarily college students that they should never look back on what they have accomplished, only look forward.

Nigh presented the third annual Eastern Oklahoma State College Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lectureship Series in Public Policy 10 a.m. Tuesday, October 28, in Mitchell Auditorium on the Wilburton Campus.

“Nothing is to be gained by looking behind you,” he said. “Always remember the story of Lot’s wife (from the Bible) who turned to a pillar of salt when she stopped to look over her shoulder to see the place from which she had come.”

Nigh continued to make the point with reference to an old hymn and told the crowd to “keep their hand on the throttle and their eyes on the track ahead.”

The lectureship series is made possible by an endowment by Julian J. Rothbaum through the Eastern Oklahoma State College Development Foundation and is open to anyone who would like to attend. Rothbaum was a native of Pittsburg County and long time advocate for higher education.

As an attorney and philanthropist, Rothbaum devoted his time and resources to help form public policy. Rothbaum’s intention was to give college students and area residents the opportunity to hear from recognized authorities on subjects that relate to national, state, and local public policy.

Rothbaum has made the $25,000 gift to the Eastern Oklahoma State College Development Foundation which was matched by an additional $25,000 by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. The $50,000 is to be held as a permanent endowment with the combined income used to provide an appropriate honorarium for lecturer, travel and related expenditures.

According to the terms of the endowment, the selection committee will “take into consideration the ability of the lecturers to address issues of public concern, the prestige and prior accomplishments of the lecturers and the importance of the topics they might address. In particular, the Rothbaum Lecturers should be chosen based on their ability to contribute to a thoughtful public dialogue on important issues.”

The lectureship program this fall was developed and organized by Eastern’s leadership class composed of college honor students. Eastern President Dr. Bill Campion provided the welcome followed by opening remarks by leadership class chairman Joshua Westmoreland, a horticulture major from Hartford, AR. Representative Mike Mass served as Master of Ceremonies.

George Nigh earned the distinction of being the first governor in Oklahoma history to be elected to more than one term, serving from 1979 to 1987. He also was the first gubernatorial candidate to carry all of the state’s 77 counties, winning the 1982 election in a landslide. A McAlester native who attended Eastern from 1946 to 1948, Governor Nigh served eight years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and 16 years as Lieutenant Governor. He was elected to his first term in the House in 1950 while a senior in college at East Central University in Ada. Nigh became President of the University of Central Oklahoma July 1, 1992. He had been Distinguished Statesman in Residence at the University for the previous five years. Nigh was inducted into the Eastern Oklahoma State College Alumni Hall of Fame in 1988.