Dr. Cheryl Evans, president emeritus of Northern Oklahoma College, will deliver the address to graduates at Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s spring commencement exercise at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 7, at Ranger Field. In case of inclement weather, commencement will take place in Percefull Fieldhouse.
Evans graduated from Northwestern in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and earned a master’s degree in communication in 1993 from Wichita State University. She completed her doctorate in 2000 from Oklahoma State University.
Evans served as NOC’s first female president from 2011-2021. Prior to her position at NOC, Evans served 17 years at Northwestern — 10 years in the mass communications department and managing the campus radio station KNSU in Alva and seven years as dean of the university’s Enid campus. She also led Northwestern’s accreditation efforts as the self-study coordinator and steering committee chair from 2002-2004 for the Higher Learning Commission. (story continues below)
“Many people at Northwestern hold my favorite memories,” Evans said. “My friends, students and colleagues from Northwestern have been there for me over the years.
“Growing up in Cherokee, my early memories were from junior high school attending basketball camp where I developed plenty of foot blisters on the court and had tons of fun staying in South Hall. That was my first real experience with the university, and I think impacted my decisions down the road to attend right out of high school. Also, it didn’t hurt that my boyfriend, Tom Evans, was going to the Alva campus. We both benefitted from the opportunities and quality educations we received.”
While in the college classroom at Northwestern, she was awarded the Lisa John Faculty Fellowship from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters in 1996, the Northwestern John Sheffield Teacher of the Year in 2000, Top Graduate Presentation of Dissertation at Oklahoma State University in 2000, National Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Second Place Research Paper 2001, the Northwestern John Barton Distinguished Teaching and Service Award 2004 and the Enid News & Eagle Reader’s Choice – Best College Professor 2006.
She currently is a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society board, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame board, the Standing Bear Museum board and a member of the Oklahoma Academy.
Evans and her husband of more than 40 years, Tom, enjoy traveling, serving their local church, spending time with family and photographing wildlife on their rural land near the Salt Plains refuge in Alfalfa County. They also are enjoying life in Tulsa with their two grandchildren, Charlie and Caroline Rogers. Evans has two daughters, Cara Evans, MBA, who works in economic development with career tech and Christa Evans Rogers, who is an attorney and officer with Waters Edge.
A livestream link for the commencement exercises can be found at http://riderangersride.com/watch.
