Important Update:
UCO has temporarily shifted most in-person classes to synchronous virtual delivery through Jan. 31. Campus facilities and services will remain open and offer in-person and virtual options. COVID-19 protocols remain in place. Masks are required on campus when around others. Students, faculty and staff who are directly exposed to or test positive for COVID-19 should fill out UCO's COVID-19 Self-Reporting form. To learn more about current operations, view the university's coronavirus webpage.

University Traditions
History of School Name
Territorial Normal School of Oklahoma: 1890-1903
Central State Normal School: 1904-1918
Central State Teacher’s College: 1919-1938
Central State College: 1939-1970
Central State University: 1971-1991
University of Central Oklahoma: 1991-present

School Colors
The school colors were chosen by President Edmund Dandridge Murdaugh in 1895 and marked Central as the first institution of higher education to adopt colors. Bronze symbolizes the burnished sun, the gentle light of intelligence. Blue symbolizes the color of heaven’s broad expanse, suggestive of depth, aspiration, hope and ideals.

Alma Mater
as performed by the UCO Chamber Singers
“Cross the plains, converging westward, seeking hope anew.
Settling here to found our college, strength and hope pursue.
Come for learning, come for growing, Central is our view.
UCO, our Alma Mater, honor Bronze and Blue.”

Fight Song
“Fight boys, fight for UCO! Fight boys, fight today.
Fight for the team, boys. All full of steam, boys.
Hear our cheers for you: Go! Bronchos!
Fight, boys, fight for the Bronze and the Blue;
Fight, boys, fight today. Add one more victory to our team’s history.
U-C-O! Bronchos!”
Old North Walk
Before each commencement ceremony, graduates gather around Old North to begin their "final walk" through campus. Beginning in the spring of 2008, each graduate touches the original bell that used to call students to class at the Territorial Normal School. The bell, thought to bring good luck, is located in the Gerald “Cowboy” Barnett Bell Plaza, just north of Plunkett Park. After touching the bell, graduates walk through Old North and make their way to Hamilton Fieldhouse for their commencement ceremony.

Buddy Broncho
Buddy Broncho first appeared in The Vista, Central's student newspaper, on October 3, 1932 as a broncho horse wearing a UCO football uniform. He has appeared numerous times throughout the years from local Edmond papers in the 1960s to state-wide papers in the 1980s. The commissioning of the first ever live mascot appears in the UCO’s 1979 Bronze Book where Buddy Broncho made his first public appearance at Homecoming. Since that time, Buddy has been a fixture at UCO events and in the hearts of Central students and alumni.
