Southwestern Oklahoma State University

10/14/2026

SWOSU campuses will be closed for Fall Break starting tomorrow, Thursday, October 15. Classes will resume Monday, October 19.

We hope you have some time to rest and enjoy the long weekend! 🍂

Swipe to see facility hours.

10/13/2026

SWOSU’s Health Career Expo is your chance to talk with employers in allied health, nursing and pharmacy about internships, part-time work and full-time positions!

The expo is Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the north lobby of the Pioneer Event Center, 900 N. Seventh St. in Weatherford.

Anyone interested is welcome. No registration is required, and you can bring your résumé to share and ask about openings and how to apply.

10/12/2026

SWOSU is one of Oklahoma’s best college values! Niche’s 2027 rankings place us No. 2 among public universities in the state and first among the six universities in the Regional University System of Oklahoma. The ranking considers what students pay for college alongside graduation, debt and earnings.

For students beginning college or returning for another degree, SWOSU offers scholarships, individual faculty guidance and opportunities to gain experience in their chosen fields. Many graduate programs are also available online for those balancing their education with work and family.

🔗 Full story: https://www.swosu.edu/news/?p=niche-ranks-swosu-no-2-among-oklahoma-public-universities-for-value

10/09/2026

Registration is open for SWOSU’s 2026 Homecoming Parade! Student organizations, alumni, businesses, schools and community groups are welcome to participate in “Haunted Homecoming on the Hilltop.” 🎃

The parade is Saturday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. on Main Street in Weatherford. Eligible floats can compete for cash prizes of $1,500, $1,000 and $700!

Entries are due by noon Wednesday, Oct. 21.

🔗 Registration and parade details: https://www.swosu.edu/news/?p=swosu-opens-registration-for-2026-homecoming-parade

10/08/2026

Aizlinn Vasquez and Kasey Spillman’s senior exhibition is open at SWOSU! The two graphic design students are presenting “A Translation of Sight” in the Art Building Gallery through Oct. 16.

Their reception is Thursday, Oct. 8, from 4:30–6:30 p.m., with free food and drinks. We’d love to see students, faculty and our Weatherford neighbors there to support them!

10/06/2026

Congratulations to SWOSU’s Phillip Fitzsimmons on this feature from Scene Savers! We’re proud to see him recognized for the care he puts into preserving history and making it available to others. 👏

Phillip has helped make SWOSU athletics recordings, Thomas P. Stafford’s space mission materials and literary collections available to the public. Thanks to those efforts, alumni can revisit games they remember, and students and researchers can use materials that might otherwise have remained inaccessible. He brings that same care to helping each person find the recording, photograph or document they’re looking for.

Some history is stored on tape. Some on film. Some on floppy disks.

For Phillip, preserving it all became a career.

What started in 2007 as a simple assignment to scan and photograph materials for an online archive grew into a mission to preserve everything from historic documents to obsolete audiovisual formats.

Today, his work includes:

🚀 The Thomas P. Stafford Collection — including original reel-to-reel recordings of Stafford communicating with Ground Control during the Gemini missions.

🏀🏈 The SWOSU Athletics Archive — preserving games from the 1970s and 1980s and helping alumni reconnect with their past.

📖 The Mythopoeic Society Archive — providing free online access to publications and documents related to Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and other mythopoeic writers. The archive has generated more than 1.6 million downloads since 2017.

But preservation isn't just about technology. It's about connecting people with the history they’re looking for.

With support from Oklahoma Historical Society grants and partnerships with Scene Savers, materials that might otherwise have remained inaccessible are now available to researchers, students, alumni, and the public.

Because history doesn't preserve itself.

https://www.scenesavers.com/the-rewind/phillip-fitzsimmons-southwestern-oklahoma-state-university?utm_source=the-rewind&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rewind-2026-fall-issue-02&utm_content=article-04-button

10/06/2026

Fall 2026 graduates, the SWOSU Grad Event is today! The Alma Mater Merc campus bookstore will have everything available from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. to help you prepare for graduation:

- Cap, gown and tassel pickup, all included in your graduation fee
- Personalized graduation announcements
- Diploma frames and stoles
- Official SWOSU ring orders with in-person discounts

🔗 Commencement information: https://bulldog.swosu.edu/commencement/index.php

For questions, email Ashley Hancock, director of the Alma Mater Merc, at [email protected].

10/05/2026

SWOSU signed two new partnerships with MSU Texas to help students take their next steps in educational leadership and pharmacy!

Our educational administration master’s graduates will have a pathway to apply for MSU Texas’s doctoral program in educational leadership. Qualified MSU Texas students can complete three years of undergraduate coursework before entering SWOSU’s Doctor of Pharmacy program and working toward both degrees.

These agreements give future school leaders and pharmacists more options for continuing their education. We’re proud to help make those opportunities possible!

🔗 Full story: https://www.swosu.edu/news/?p=swosu-academic-partnerships-msu-texas

10/02/2026

There are going to be some really good days at SWOSU this semester. We hope today is one of them. 💙

10/01/2026

SWOSU has been ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s National Universities category for the first time! We’re one of only four Oklahoma public universities included in the 2027 rankings.

Our graduate programs and the addition of a second doctoral program helped make the move possible. Many of these programs are available online, so students can earn another degree while continuing to work and care for their families.

“We’re proud to see that strength recognized nationally and even prouder that our graduates put it to work strengthening Oklahoma’s workforce and communities,” said SWOSU President Dr. Joel Kendall.

🔗 Full story: https://www.swosu.edu/news/?p=swosu-enters-national-universities-category-in-2027-us-news-rankings