Senator Urges Involvement For Eastern Graduates
(Press Release 05-05-08)
Hank Mooney, Office of Public Information

“Don’t sit back, give back,” Sen. Richard Lerblance told the 99th Eastern Oklahoma State College spring graduating class Friday (May 2) evening in a standing room only Field House on the Wilburton campus.

“This is the beginning of your life,” the 1967 Eastern graduate said.

“Don’t be complacent. Be involved. There is no end as to what you can give back. Join a civic organization or service organization.

“I would urge you to be passionate about what you choose to do. You will reap the rewards,” he said.

Lerblance was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate for District 7 in June 2003 representing Latimer, Haskell, Pittsburg and Sequoyah counties. He was previously elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

He holds a degree in law from Oklahoma City University School of Law, and has practiced law in his hometown of Hartshorne since graduating from law school in 1978. He served on the Hartshorne City Council; the Hartshorne Board of Education and retired as Fire Chief of Hartshorne Fire Department. He and his wife Frances are members of the Edgewood United Methodist Church.

He is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Pittsburg County Bar Association and Muscogee (Creek) Nation Bar Association. He served twelve years on the Supreme Court of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme court and three years as Chief Justice. He presently is a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

Lerblance is an active cattleman and a member of the Latimer and Pittsburg County Cattlemen Associations, Oklahoma Cattlemen Association, Little Dixie Limousine Association, Maine Anjou Association and North American Limousine Foundation.

If early estimates hold true, Oklahoma may have more graduates receiving bachelor’s degrees this year than did last spring.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education estimates that approximately 30,000 students will earn degrees during the 2007–08 academic year at Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities. That number is down 800 from the number of graduates a year ago.

Of those 30,000 graduates, an estimated 17,400 will receive bachelor’s degrees, a 4 percent increase from the 2006-07 academic year. The most popular fields of study are business and education, as it was last year.

Nursing, business and general studies are the programs most frequently selected by the projected 7,500 students earning associates degrees. That estimated is down some 1,100 from last year when 8,600 students earned the associate degree.

An estimated 3,900 students will receive master’s degrees in a variety of fields, most notably in education and counseling.

Estimates show that 350 students will earn doctoral degrees, while 850 others will receive professional degrees in areas such as law and medicine.

Oklahoma Chancellor of Higher Education, Glen D. Johnson said he was “pleased to see that the number of students graduating from Oklahoma colleges and universities with a bachelor’s degree is continuing to increase.

“These graduates are the future of our state. I want to congratulate each one of them for their significant accomplishment and wish them the very best in all of their future endeavors.”

Johnson addressed more than 298 Eastern spring graduates last year.

This academic year Eastern granted just over 300 degrees and certificates of completion not counting other agencies including the Department of Corrections Academy and the Oklahoma Miner Training Institute also located on the Wilburton campus.

According to Eastern Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Karen Harrison, the majority of students earning associate degrees from Eastern are in the fields of general studies, agriculture and nursing.

Eastern graduates represent 31 of Oklahoma's 77 counties, 3 different states and two foreign countries.

One hundred-eight Eastern students received the Associate in Arts with 112 earning the Associate in Science. Seventy graduates received the Associate in Applied Science with nine students earning One Year Certificates in Child Development.

A list of Eastern graduates by degree, county and town follows: