Page 2 REVISED: 01.08.2014 Email: Registry for Oklahoma foster alumni college students and graduates h p://educa on.okstate.edu/risforthursday Facebook for foster alumni college students www.facebook.com/risforthursday Facebook for supporters and friends www.facebook.com/risforthursday.public Contact List -Oklahoma Snail Mail:, c/o Kerri Kearney, Oklahoma State University College of Educa on, 315 Willard Hall, S llwater, OK 74078
Page 3 Page 4 is a collaboration of higher ed professionals, community members, and foster alumni college students working toward increased understanding and support of former foster youth who are attending, or have graduated from, Oklahoma colleges or universities. We define foster alumni as someone who was in foster care (in any state) at age 13 or after. The Name Our name, RisforThursday, came from one of our early research participants. When asked what she would tell another foster alumni who was coming to college, she said. She then further explained that when she was a new freshman, she didn t understand that in college schedules we use the letter R to indicate a class that meets on a Thursday. She didn t have anyone to tell her that small but very important secret about college life. Her statement seemed to capture much of the essence of our goals to decode the college experience and provide better support for foster alumni who attend college, so we became the RisforThursday project. Table of Contents RisforThursday Volunteer Advocates on Oklahoma Campuses Oklahoma DHS Educational Specialists RisforThursday Campus Clubs/Organizations RisforThursday Research Count Me in 4 Kids Campus services of RisforThursday are a volunteer effort of Oklahoma institutions of higher education and collaborating partners. The colors in our logo represent the original universities who participated in RisforThursday research: Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City University, and Oklahoma Christian University.
Page 5 Page 6 Volunteer Advocates on Oklahoma Campuses Oklahoma Public Colleges and Universities RisforThursday Advocates are special people who work at an Oklahoma higher education institution and who have volunteered to be part of the RisforThursday network. Their roles are to help foster alumni students (or their advocates, such as the DHS education specialists) to navigate campus systems and to break down barriers as needed (and appropriate). Cameron University (Lawton and Duncan) East Central University (Ada) DHS Educational Specialist: Selynda Vass Eastern Oklahoma State College (Wilburton and McAlester) Stephen Glazier, VP for Student Affairs sglazier@eosc.edu 918-465-1767 DHS Educational Specialist: Seabrook Griffin Carl Albert State College (Poteau and Sallisaw) DHS Educational Specialist: Cherie Shaw Langston University (Langston, OKC, and Tulsa) DHS Educational Specialist: Cherie Shaw Connors State College (Warner and Muskogee) DHS Educational Specialist: Angela Cook Murray State College (Tishomingo) Mike Jackson, West Campus Administrator mike.jackson@connorsstate.edu 918-684-5426 DHS Educational Specialist: Cherie Shaw DHS Educational Specialist: Selynda Vass
Page 7 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (Miami) Northwestern Oklahoma State University (Alva, Enid, and Woodward) Page 8 DHS Educational Specialist: Denise Baker Northeastern State University (Tahlequah, Broken Arrow, and Muskogee) OKC Downtown College (OKC) DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel DHS Educational Specialist: Cherie Shaw Northern Oklahoma College (Enid) Jill Helmer, Counselor/ Coord in Student Affairs jill.helmer@noc.edu 580-548-2256 DHS Educational Specialist: Angela Cook Oklahoma City Community College (OKC) Dr. Greg Parks, Professor of Psychology (405) 682-1511, ext. 7241 gparks@occc.edu DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel Northern Oklahoma College (Stillwater) Oklahoma Panhandle State University (Goodwell) Sherryl Nelson, Assistant Registrar sherryl.nelson@noc.edu 405-744-2246 DHS Educational Specialist: Angela Cook DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel
Page 9 Oklahoma State University (Stillwater) DHS Educational Specialist: Angela Cook College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Dr. Cynda Clary, Associate Dean, Academic Prog. 405-744-5395 cynda.clary@okstate.edu Oklahoma State University Tulsa Page 10 College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Damron, Associate Professor & OSU Writing Center Director (405) 744-9365 rebecca.damron@okstate.edu Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences (Tulsa) College of Education Dr. Robert (Bob) Davis, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies and Assessment (405) 744-6350 robert.davis@okstate.edu Oklahoma State University Oklahoma City Brad Williams, Vice President of Student Services bradford.williams@osuokc.edu 405-945-3204 Secondary Contact: Jo Ella Flinton, fjo@osuokc.edu DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (Okmulgee) DHS Educational Specialist: Cherie Shaw Redlands Community College (El Reno) DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel
Page 11 Page 12 Rogers State University (Claremore, Bartlesville, and Pryor) Southwestern Oklahoma State University (Weatherford and Sayre) DHS Educational Specialist: Denise Baker Rose State College (Midwest City) Tulsa Community College (Tulsa) DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel Seminole State College (Seminole) University Center at Ponca City (Ponca City) DHS Educational Specialist: Selynda Vass Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant and Idabel) University Center of Southern Oklahoma (Ardmore)
Page 13 Page 14 University of Central Oklahoma (Edmond) University of Sciences & Arts of Oklahoma (Chickasha) Dr. Myron Pope, Vice President of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management mpope5@uco.edu 405-974-5370 University of Oklahoma Norman DHS Educational Specialist: Seabrook Griffin DHS Educational Specialist: Seabrook Griffin Western Oklahoma State College (Altus) Chad Wiginton, Dean of Student Support Services chad,wiginton@newmoodle.wosc.edu 580-477-7918 DHS Educational Specialist: Selynda Vass DHS Educational Specialist: Seabrook Griffin University of Oklahoma Tulsa Schusterman Center University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OKC) DHS Educational Specialist: Selynda Vass
Page 15 Page 16 Private / Independent Colleges & Universities Bacone College (Muskogee) DHS Educational Specialist: Denise Baker Mid-America Christian University (OKC) DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel Oklahoma Baptist University (Shawnee)
Page 17 Page 18 Oklahoma Christian University (OKC) Phillips Theological Seminary (Tulsa) DHS Educational Specialist: Marlene Helsel Oklahoma City University (OKC) Dr. Liz Donnelly, Vice President of Student Affairs / Dean of Students ldonnelly@okcu.edu 405-208-7910 Southern Nazarene University (Bethany) Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Bartlesville) Southwestern Christian University (Bethany) DHS Educational Specialist: Denise Baker Oral Roberts University (Tulsa) Southwestern College (Midwest City; Wichita, KS)
Page 19 Page 20 St. Gregory s University (Shawnee) Tribal Colleges & Universities The University of Tulsa (Tulsa) Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribal College (Weatherford) Wayland Baptist University (Altus; Plainview, TX) College of the Muscogee Nation (Okmulgee) Comanche Nation College (Lawton)
Page 21 Page 22 Pawnee Nation College (Pawnee)
Page 23 Oklahoma DHS Educational Specialists Cathy Connelly, Coordinator of Independent Living Oklahoma Department of Human Services (405) 521-3778 cathy.connelly@okdhs.org Please note that the campus assignments of educational specialists may change according to current load. Denise Baker 918-794-7532; 405-203-3403 denise.baker@okdhs.org Angela Cook 405-406-6379 angela_cook@juno.com Seabrook Griffin 405-406-6380 eatmopecanz@windstream.net Working with students at: Bacone College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Oklahoma Wesleyan University Rogers State University Working with students at: Oklahoma State University Stillwater Langston University Northern Oklahoma College Working with students at: Cameron University University of Central Oklahoma University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma Western Oklahoma State College Marlene Helsel 405-406-3220 marlene.helsel@okdhs.org Cherie Shaw 405-406-3222 seeshaw10@hotmail.com Selynda Vass 405-406-3218 selynda@sbcglobal.net Page 24 Working with students at: Oklahoma City Community College Mid-America Christian University Northwestern Oklahoma State University Oklahoma Christian University Oklahoma Panhandle State University Oklahoma State University OKC Redlands University Rose State College Working with students at: OSU Institute of Technology Connors State College Carl Albert State College Eastern Oklahoma State College Northeastern State University Working with students at: University of Oklahoma East Central University Murray State College Seminole State College
Page 25 Page 26 RisforThursday Campus Clubs/Organizations Under Construction Northeastern State University A student chapter for NSU is in the early planning stages; interim information may be requested from: Toni Hail, Instructor for Social Work Northeastern State University (918) 444-3533 hail@nsuok.edu Under Construction Oklahoma State University A student chapter for OSU-Stillwater is in the early planning stages; interim information may be requested from: Ashley Mellor, Student Oklahoma State University ashley.l.mellor@okstate.edu
Page 27 Page 28 RisforThursday Research Dr. Greg Parks, Professor Oklahoma City Community College 405-682-1611, extension 7241 gparks@occc.edu & Researcher for RisforThursday Dr. Kerri Kearney, Associate Professor Oklahoma State University College of Education 405-513-2043 kerri.kearney@okstate.edu & Lead Researcher/Founder RisforThursday Toni Hail, Instructor for Social Work Northeastern State University (918) 444-3533 hail@nsuok.edu & OSU PhD Student Researcher for RisforThursday Lisa Will, Academic Advisor University of Central Oklahoma (405) 974-3612 lwill@uco.edu & OSU PhD Student Researcher for RisforThursday
Page 29 Count Me in 4 Kids Count Me In 4 Kids is a community-led collaborative with the goal of engaging all of Central Oklahoma in meeting the needs of the children in foster care. It will achieve that goal by strategically aligning needs and resources so that children and families are best served and by developing a clearinghouse to connect children, families, service providers, state leaders, and the community in ways that can support on-going improvement of the safety net for our community s children. Through CMI4K s SafeFamilies & YouShare software, CMI4K will implement Safe- Familes as an alternative to foster care in collaboration with all foster care providers. CMI4K is collaborating with OKDHS and legislative leaders to pass SafeFamilies Oklahoma legislation. The SafeFamilies program reduced admissions to foster care by 50% in Chicago in its first year of operation (www.safe-families.org). We hope it will come to Oklahoma in 2014. The link between CMI4K and RisforThursday The link between the organizations is evolving. RisforThursday is affiliated with CMI4K because we focus on foster alumni. The CMI4K site provides an opportunity for individuals to donate money that is tagged for specific activities, including foster alumni college students (RisforThursday). This creates a potential revenue source for the emerging services (not research) of RisforThursday, which is zerobudget initiative. With the implementation of SafeFamilies in Oklahoma comes the associated software YouShare. Youshare.org Neighbors are people who want to connect with people in need by sharing goods or services and, when possible, being open to an on-going relationship that will be mutually transformative. Communities, such as Oklahoma s higher education system, could be established within YouShare, so that anyone can register to provide good and services or support to foster alumni students in Oklahoma. The system encompasses both a map Count Me in 4 Kids Collaborative Partners Page 30 to chart geographical distance between donor and recipient and allows donors to detail what they are willing to provide. YouShare then notifies the donor via text or email (as preferred) of newly posted needs so they may respond as desired. The addition of YouShare dramatically changes the ability of willing Oklahomans to support foster and adopted childrenrisforthursday students are one group who will greatly benefit from its implementation. Jennifer Abney, Angels Foster OKC Ray Bitsche, Jr., Sunbeam Family Serv. Laura Boyd, Ph.D., Oklahoma Therapeautic Foster Care Association Jane Brown, Ok County Juvenile DA Steven Buck, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Mark Campbell, Ministries of Jesus Jack Chapman, Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth Lana Freeman, Foster Care and Adoptive Association of Oklahoma Laura Gamble, Family Builders Diana Hartley, Sarkey s Foundation Robin Jones, SALLT Kerri Kearney, Ed.D., OSU Judge Richard Kirby, Oklahoma County Juvenile Center Ed Lake, Oklahoma Dept Human Services Lee Ann Limber, CASA of OK County Rebecca Becky McNeese, Former Assistant DA & Community Leader Frank Merrick, The Merrick Foundation Judge Gary Miller, Canadian County District Judge Amy Mitchell, Citizens Caring for Children Mary Myrick, Public Strategies Ben Nockels & Jenna Worthen, 111 Project Sandra Park, OKC Public Schools Steve Petty, Integris Health Jeaneen Pointer, Waddell Pointer & Assoc. Myron Pope, Ed.D., UCO Sarah Roberts, Inasmuch Foundation Blair Schoeb, Public Strategies Jennifer Seaton, OKC Chamber of Commerce Natalie Shirley, OSU-OKC Deb Shropshire, MD, OU Children s Physicians Deborah Smith & Amy White, OKDHS Terry Smith, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy Kathy Taylor, Stand in the Gap Marnie Taylor, Oklahoma Ctr for Nonprofits Tsinena Thompson, Lawyers for Children Karen Vinyard Waddell, The Lynn Institute
Email: Registry for Oklahoma foster alumni college students and graduates h p://educa on.okstate.edu/risforthursday Facebook for foster alumni college students www.facebook.com/risforthursday Facebook for supporters and friends www.facebook.com/risforthursday.public Snail Mail:, c/o Kerri Kearney, Oklahoma State University College of Educa on, 315 Willard Hall, S llwater, OK 74078