20-Jun-08 2:00 PM CST

Sandra O'Brien Receives OU Honorary Degree

Houston resident and OU Club of Houston Life Member Sandra O’Brien was awarded an honorary degree at the University of Oklahoma’s 2008 Commencement Ceremony, held Friday evening, May 11 at the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Sandra has a long record of support and service to the city of Houston and alumni leadership at OU and, in particular, the OU College of Education. A native of Oklahoma City, she earned her bachelor’s degree in education in 1957 from OU, where she was a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.

Sandra is a charter member of the OU College of Education’s Board of Advocates and she and her husband, Brian E. O’Brien, an OU geology alumnus, made a major gift to the campaign to expand and renovate Collings Hall, the college’s home. Their concern for people with special needs led them to fund and equip the college’s Sandra L. O’Brien Computer Laboratory, which features special technology for training teachers in special education and assisting students with special needs. She has endowed scholarships for students majoring in special education, and she and her husband were the first donors to endow a Presidential Professorship. In 2006, she was honored with a Meritorious Service Award during the college’s Celebration of Education.

Outside the College of Education, Sandra serves on OU’s Campaign for Scholarships volunteer committee which to date has raised more than $125 million. She has also served on the Reach for Excellence Campaign, Centennial Celebration Committee and Alumni Association Executive Board. She is a President’s Associate and, in 2000, she received the Regents’ Alumni Award. The O’Brien’s are members of the Seed Sower Society, honoring donors of $1 million.

Her philanthropic involvement includes support for the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, the only national volunteer health organization for that genetic disorder.

Sandra and her husband Brian are both Life Members and supporters of the OU Club of Houston and have lived in Houston for 45 years. The O’Brien’s have five children, two of whom are OU graduates, and 12 grandchildren, two of whom are current OU students.

Honorary Degrees are awarded by the University of Oklahoma to recognize alumni or other individuals for extraordinary achievement in such fields as science and technology, medicine, the arts and humanities, business and public service or in recognition of outstanding contributions to the welfare or the enrichment of the University, the state of Oklahoma, the nation or the world.

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Source: Jerry Daman