Meet UCO Faculty Members:
We’re proud of our diverse, accomplished faculty, and look for any excuse to shine the spotlight on them! Check back for new featured faculty members soon.
- Department of Mass Communications, (405) 974-5303
- Department of Kinesiology & Health Studies, (405) 974-5230
- College of Arts, Media & Design, (405) 974-3770
- College of Business Administration, (405) 974-2426
- College of Education and Professional Studies, (405) 974-5701
- College of Liberal Arts, (405) 974-5540
- College of Mathematics & Science, (405) 974-2461
Meet UCO Staff Members:
It takes hundreds of UCO staff members to keep our university growing and thriving everyday. From our Vice Presidents to the person who greets you at the front desk of a campus office, we all make helping students with the Central spirit our top priority. Check back often for new featured staff members.
- University Relations
- Inventory and Receiving
- Office of Research and Grants
- Violence Prevention Project
- Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Submit a Spotlight Nomination
Would you like to recognize someone at UCO for outstanding service? Complete the form below and we will contact you for more information.
College of Fine Arts and Design
Jamie Jacobson, Director of Dance
Jamie Jacobson heads UCO’s highly regarded dance program, which offers the state’s only dance education degree and includes the award-winning Kaleidoscope Dance Company. She has choreographed more than 25 works for the company, and her works have been selected for the American College Dance Festival, the Mid-America Dance Network Choreographer’s Showcase and Tulsa’s Local Motion Foundation. She is also the recipient of the "Distinguished Creativity Award" by the UCO Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and she has been honored with the prestigious Hauptman Fellow Award for Outstanding Scholarly Activity by the UCO College of Graduate Studies and Research.
College of Business Administration
Dr. Robert Terrell, Professor of Accounting
Dr. Robert Terrell received the prestigious “2008 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year” award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Terrell, who has been teaching at UCO since 1975, is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Neely Teaching Excellence Award, the OSCPA’s Outstanding Educator Award and the College of Business Administration Teaching Excellence Award. He often says that his students share in his teaching awards because they provide the motivation for him to do his best every day.
College of Education and Professional Studies
Dr. Scott McLaughlin, Professor of Special Services
Dr. Scott McLaughlin is a professor in the Special Services Department and advises the Speech Language Pathology Program. He came to UCO in 1983, the same year he received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He earned a B.S. from Winona State University in 1976, and an M.S. from the OUHSC in 1978.
Dr. Kevin Hayes, Professor of English
Though he teaches English, Dr. Kevin Hayes has made a little history recently, writing what many are calling the definitive biography of President Thomas Jefferson with “The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson” (Oxford University Press, 2008). Hayes, who has taught at UCO for 17 years, is the author of “A Colonial Woman’s Bookshelf,” “An American Cycling Odyssey,” “Melville’s Folk Roots,” “Poe and the Printed Word,” and “The Library of William Byrd of Westover,” for which he won the Virginia Library History Award.
College of Mathematics & Science
Dr. Wei Chen, Professor of Engineering and Physics
Dr. Wei Chen was honored as the “2008 U.S. Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, one of the most prestigious awards honoring professors in the country. He has taught at UCO for the past 20 years, establishing the biomedical engineering program and serving as the current Assistant Dean for the college. His research, primarily cancer treatment, has received numerous state and national accolades.
Department of Mass Communications
Dr. David Nelson, Assistant Chair and Associate Professor
Dr. David Nelson has spent five years teaching students in the Mass Communication department, while also serving as the faculty advisor for UCO’s campus radio station Ed 90.1 FM, advisor for the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association (OBEA) student chapter and the advisor for the Japanese Student Organization. Nelson is also a member of the OBEA faculty organization, Broadcast Education Association and the 2007 winner of the Outstanding Service Award from OBEA. Nelson says he enjoys spending lots of time with his students and building strong friendships with his students and fellow faculty.
Department of Kinesiology and Health Studies
Debra Traywick, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology and Health Studies and Coordinator
As the 2009 National Association Sport and Physical Education Mentor of the Year, Debra Traywick has worked at UCO for five years advising, mentoring and teaching students while also facilitating the Physical Education program. Debra enjoys getting to interact in many different ways with her students as well as her colleagues, and loves teaching! Debra received her bachelor’s degree from Southern Nazarene University, master’s degree from UCO and her doctorate from St. Louis University. The best reward for Debra is hearing positive comments from school administrators about her physical education teacher candidates, and being able to offer students positive experiences to expand professionally.
Beth Buesing, Administrative Assistant
Beth Buesing began working in University Relations as a student worker in 2000, and became the full-time administrative assistant in 2001. Beth handles everything from coordinating the campus master calendar to writing alumni notes for Old North to producing the annual campus directory and the commencement program. Beth earned her master’s degree with honors in Adult Education from UCO in 2006. Having the opportunity to help people every single day is Beth’s favorite part of her job, although she loves everything about working for UCO.
John McClure, Manager
John McClure began his career at UCO 14 years ago as an adjunct professor in the College of Business, and began managing Inventory and Receiving full-time four years later. He is responsible for managing items delivered to the university and redistributing the items to the appropriate areas, campus property inventory control and surplus campus property. As a former adjunct professor, John frequently runs into his students on and off campus, and is always pleased to see former students who have begun careers at UCO and in other places. John is a United States Air Force Vietnam veteran, and has twin daughters who attend Baylor University.
Pamela McDown, Coordinator of Research Programs
Pamela McDown manages and coordinates research programs and Research Assistantships (RAs), which are stipend assistantships given to students majoring in any discipline or field to support research, creative or scholarly activities. In addition to her job at UCO, Pamela gives clarinet lessons to students enrolled in the UCO Community Music School, and plays clarinet for the UCO chamber ensembles and orchestra. Pamela also recently earned her master’s of music degree from UCO. She says seeing her students present their research projects at Oklahoma Research Day is the high point of her year.
Kathryn Toahty, Coordinator
As a single mother of three daughters, Kathryn Toahty is doing more with her life than she ever thought possible. After thinking she would never set foot in a college classroom, Toahty graduated from UCO in 2007 with her bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. Toahty is currently the Violence Prevention Project coordinator, providing outreach and awareness education about rape, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. Toahty is also a member of the board of directors for New Day Recovery, a lead member of the State of Oklahoma’s Sexual Violence Task Force Committee and is a past recipient of UCO’s Vice President’s Most Outstanding Individual Award and the Volunteer Service Learning Award.
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Nathan Woolard, Field Admissions Counselor
As the Field Admissions Counselor for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Nathan Woolard handles the recruitment of potential students from northeast Oklahoma, and has a unique opportunity to be on the front end of much initial contact with potential students. Woolard says his favorite part of his job is talking to a concerned parent of a student and putting their mind at ease, and being equipped with unique responsibility and training that allows him to provide counsel to anyone interested in UCO.
100 North University Drive, Edmond, OK 73034 | (405) 974-2000