Published: May 11, 2008 12:00 am            

OSU honors former Stillwater physician

The College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University recently recognized aerospace medicine expert Dr. Richard T. Jennings as its distinguished alumnus.

Jennings, who practiced obstetrics and gynecology for eight years in Stillwater, is residency director of the University of Texas Medical Branch/NASA-Johnson Space Center aerospace medicine residency program.

“When I came to OSU, I fashioned my own liberal arts degree,” Jennings told an audience of more than 230 on April 11 at the Wes Watkins Center for International Trade Development. He commended several of the college’s 24 departments including philosophy, religion and English.

“Each department was very helpful making it easy to research and write about what I loved, which was space,” said Jennings who since his childhood in Tipton, had dreamt of an aerospace career.

Jennings, who graduated with a bachelor’s in pre-medical science in 1971, stressed the importance of foreign languages. “I had one major deficit in my education and that was that I took no foreign languages,” he said. “In a world that is very international I eventually learned that was a big mistake.”

His final message to students: “Never underestimate the importance of a liberal arts degree as it makes life a lot better since life is much more than just putting money on the table.”

The College awarded more than 60 scholarships and awards, recognizing about 200 students including its Top 10 Seniors and national scholarship recipients, including:

• Evan Black, a public relations and Spanish major from Stillwater;

• Edward El Rassi, a chemistry major from Stillwater;

• Jessica Ward, a political science and public relations major from Perry;

• Kelsey Williams, an English major from Stillwater.

        

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