Commencement Speaker Named

April 7, 2008

Commencement Speaker Named

The Chairman of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education has accepted the invitation to deliver the keynote speech at the 2008 OCCC Commencement ceremony.

Chairman Bill W. Burgess, Jr. was appointed to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education in 1993 and reappointed in 2002 by Governor Henry for another nine-year term. He is one of the youngest State Regents to be appointed in the state's history.

Burgess is chairman emeritus of the board of Techrizon, LLC, chairman of the board of Vortex, Inc., and is the senior partner of Burgess & Hightower Law Firm.

Burgess also served as chairman of the Citizens' Commission on the Future of Oklahoma Higher Education and the 1998 "Two for Technology" campaign for passage of State Questions 680 and 681 regarding higher education technology transfer. He was chosen as one of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's Oklahoma Stars for the "I Believe in Oklahoma" campaign. He also served on the Steering Committee for the Oklahoma EDGE (Economic Development Generating Excellence) project.

Burgess is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma. He graduated from Cameron University and received his jurist doctorate from the University of Oklahoma School of Law.

The 2008 Commencement will be held at the Cox Business Services Convention Center on Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. Faculty and staff are asked to assemble in the Auxiliary Room on the east side of the arena at street level no later than 6:45 p.m. The procession will form at 7:00 p.m. Due to the probability of significant traffic congestion, you are encouraged to allow yourself plenty of time to arrive by 6:45 p.m.

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Cordell Jordan
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