Alumni
Alumni News

Friday, April 14, 2023
Oakland University Professor Anna Spagnuolo has been recognized as one of the state's three recipients of the 2023 Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions and dedication exhibited by the faculty from Michigan’s 15 public universities to the education of undergraduate students. The awards are presented annually by the Michigan Association of State Universities.

Thursday, March 23, 2023
The Region III Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), which took place Jan. 11-15 at the University of Michigan-Flint, featured the work of 48 students from the Department of Theatre in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance. You can read more about their accomplishments here.

Wednesday, February 01, 2023
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced the appointments of Colleen Ochoa Peters, of Bloomfield Hills, and Stefen J. Welch, of Detroit, to the Oakland University Board of Trustees. Both were appointed to eight-year terms that will run through August 2030. They replace Melissa Stolicker and W. David Tull whose terms have expired.

Thursday, September 15, 2022
Elizabeth Parkinson, a doctoral student in Oakland University’s Department of Biological Sciences, has been awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. The fellowship supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees with a focus on NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.

Monday, August 15, 2022
Michaela Messing, a student in Oakland University’s Master of Accounting program, was recently selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a nonprofit corporation created by Congress to oversee audits of public companies.

Friday, August 12, 2022
The 2021-22 performance season concluded in the spring with a jazz and world music residency at the Flagstar Strand Theatre for the Performing Arts in Pontiac March 30 - April 2, including four concerts and a community workshop with faculty, students and artist-in-residence Regina Carter; the Department of Theatre’s production of Pippin, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, from March 30 - April 3 in Varner Studio Theatre; a series of Young Choreographers Forum and Senior Dance Concert performances at Detroit Country Day School in April; an Oakland Symphony Orchestra and Oakland University Symphony Chorus performance on April 14 at Orchestra Hall in Detroit; and the Department of Music’s reimagined version of Handel’s opera, Acis and Galatea, from May 5 - 8 and May 12 – 15 in the Varner Studio Theatre.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Oakland University alumni Ellen Hargis and David Douglass, the husband-and-wife team who stepped down recently after many years of serving as the co-artistic directors of The Newberry Consort in Chicago, have been selected to receive the 2022 Howard Mayer Brown Award for lifetime achievement from Early Music America, the leading organization in their field, for their pioneering work in uncovering and performing rarely heard music.

Monday, July 11, 2022
After a highly competitive application process, Oakland University’s Project Upward Bound (PUB) College Prep Academy has secured a five-year, $3.5 million federal grant that will enable the program to continue its mission of helping participants graduate high school and successfully pursue postsecondary education.

Tuesday, April 05, 2022
Oakland University’s School of Nursing and its Board of Visitors have announced the 2022 Nightingale Award winners and runners-up. This year’s top nurses in Michigan come from a variety of clinical positions and settings and are recognized as exceptional in their areas of nursing.

Friday, February 18, 2022
Researchers in Oakland University’s Department of Biological Sciences have published a study that employs statistical models to analyze host-parasite relationships – in this case between tadpoles (hosts) and flatworms (parasites). The study, published in The American Naturalist, one of the world’s leading peer-reviewed publications in ecology, evolution and behavior research, uses the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) to describe the role temperature plays in that relationship.

Wednesday, February 02, 2022
Oakland University’s Creative Writing Program will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a fiction reading by author Matt Bell, whose most recent book, “Appleseed” was recognized by The New York Times. The OU alumnus will share his work during a campus event at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 10 in Oakland Center Banquet Room A. In-person attendees will be required to complete OU’s Daily Health Screening Form. The reading will also be streamed via Zoom.

Monday, December 20, 2021
In recognition of his exceptional leadership, service, and accomplishments, Oakland University alum Michael Kenny (CAS ’78) has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree. The degree was presented on Friday, Dec. 17 during the university’s fall commencement ceremony.

Thursday, December 02, 2021
Theatre alumnus Esau Pritchett has joined the cast of Keenan Scott II's Thoughts of a Colored Man on Broadway. The production began performances at Broadway's Golden Theatre on October 1, ahead of an official opening on October 31. Natasha Ashey with Broadway World has called Thoughts of a Colored Man “a jaw-dropping, thought-provoking, incredibly real production that is not to be missed,” and Pritchett’s performance has been praised by The New York Times.

Monday, September 20, 2021
Matt Bell, a 2006 graduate of Oakland University’s English program, recently released his novel “Appleseed” to critical acclaim. The book traces three storylines across a thousand years, including a mythological retelling of the Johnny Appleseed folktale, a harrowing struggle against climate change-driven corporate control and the travails of a bioengineered creature searching for the last vestiges of civilization.

Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Oakland University’s School of Nursing and its Board of Visitors have announced the 2021 Nightingale Award winners and runners-up. This year’s top nurses in Michigan come from a variety of clinical roles and settings and are recognized as exceptional in their various nursing roles.

Thursday, May 27, 2021
As colleges and universities look to address the growing mental health crisis on campuses across the nation, a new book is touting the benefits of the human-animal bond. Published by Purdue University Press, “The Canine-Campus Connection: Roles for Dogs in the Lives of College Students” provides evidence-based guidance on bringing college students and canines together in mutually beneficial ways.

Friday, January 08, 2021
Recent Oakland University graduate Shreyas Gavit was part of an innovative team that won the Salesforce Career Journey with Deloitte, a case study competition in which college students were tasked with helping a fictional online retailer meet recruiting and hiring challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020
FALL EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:Our fall performance season kicked off with Mark Stone’s annual Peace Day concert on Sept. 20. The event happened live in the Varner Hall Courtyard and was livestreamed on the SMTD Facebook page. Professor Stone was interviewed by Civic Center TV, during which he discussed the return to campus and the Peace Day concert.

Friday, September 18, 2020
Annie Fuelle, an alumna of Oakland University’s Honors College, has been selected as the recipient of the inaugural Honors College Humanitarian Award, which was established to recognize students who have demonstrated “sustained humanitarian involvement” during their time at OU.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Oakland University's Department of Theatre hosted “A Candlelight Vigil to Honor the Lives of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Countless Others” on June 7 at The Elliott Tower at Oakland University. About 100 people attended the vigil, which was featured in an article in The Detroit News. “The diversity of our department is our greatest strength,” said professor Anthony Guest, chair of the Department of Theatre. “Something like this (event) is important. We are storytellers, and if we are not telling stories that represent all of humanity, then we are not doing our job.”

Wednesday, August 26, 2020
When the lights went dark in theatres across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oakland University Assistant Professor and Tony Award nominee Josh Young reached out to some of Broadway’s top talent and helped them connect virtually with OU’s musical theatre students as part of an innovative Summer Masterclass Series.