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Giving From the Heart

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Giving From the Heart

Two of Oklahoma’s premier research institutions the Noble Foundation and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation forge a historic relationship that now spans four decades.

By Courtney Leeper

Less than 35 words make up the body of one of the first letters between the Noble Foundation and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

The brief note dates back to July 10, 1970, and it enclosed a $25 donation. The donation, which amounts to about $155 in today’s value, was sent by John March, Noble Foundation president at the time, in response to a request for $25 to help fund the Leonard P. Eliel Lectureship for Endocrinology.

“We hope this will serve in a small way to aid in the success of the lecture series,” wrote March, who had joined OMRF‘s governing board just two months prior.

Forty-five years later, the letter is filed away in the back of a bulky, pale green folder one of five dedicated to The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation at the medical research institute in Oklahoma City. Though short and simple, the letter marks the beginnings of one of the Noble Foundation’s longest tenured granting relationships.

Since 1977, the Noble Foundation trustees have awarded OMRF more than $19 million to support their researchers’ work in studying ways to fight human disease. The most recent and largest of the gifts was $6 million to support the construction of the Research Tower, which houses The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Cardiovascular Institute.

“The Noble Foundation trustees view OMRF as a premier medical research center,” said Mary Kate Wilson, director of philanthropy, engagement and project management. “It brings a certain synergy of research to Oklahoma and increases our state’s profile in terms of benefits to healthcare. They are more of a partner rather than simply a grant recipient.”

Mei Cheng, a Research Assistant in the Coagulation Biology lab of Dr. Charles T. Esmon, the Lloyd Noble Chair in Cardiovascular Research at OMRF, conducts various experiments as part of ongoing research.

From the heart, for the heart

In 1946, OMRF was incorporated by a group of University of Oklahoma Medical School alums. The first research building was dedicated in 1950, and the next two decades of research increased the organization’s credibility through discoveries related to cancer, cardiovascular disease and other debilitating health conditions.

By the mid-1970s, the need for more research space was growing dire. In 1977, the Noble Foundation awarded its first substantial gift to OMRF $500,000 to enlarge and centralize the Laboratory Animal Resource Center. In the early ’80s, OMRF called upon the Noble Foundation for further help. William G. Thurman, M.D. OMRF president, announced the construction date for a cardiovascular research building that would provide 30,000 additional square feet of research space. Before construction could begin, at least 60 percent of the required funds had to be in OMRF‘s hands. This was especially challenging because of the economic climate of the day the 1980s oil bust had spiraled Oklahoma into a devastating recession.

Despite the trying financial times, the Noble Foundation trustees recognized the need for high quality cardiovascular research. In early 1950, Lloyd Noble chaired a fund drive for the Oklahoma Heart Association. In a letter requesting donations, he wrote: “Heart disease is your business and my business, because you, your family and friends are among its potential victims. No one can say with any real assurance, ‘this can’t happen to me’.”

A few days later, on Feb. 14, he unexpectedly died of a heart attack.

Stephen Prescott, M.D., serves the OMRF as president.

John Snodgrass had assumed the leadership of the Noble Foundation when the trustees approved $500,000 to be given to OMRF for the cardiovascular research building, which was later named the Acree-Woodworth Cardiovascular Research Building. Snodgrass spoke of Noble’s dedication to service and giving during the building dedication on Sept. 23, 1983, 38 years to the week after Noble founded the Noble Foundation.

He also announced that the trustees wanted to do more than just contribute to the building. In memory of Noble, they established the Lloyd Noble Chair in Cardiovascular Research, a permanent $1 million endowment, and set aside $1.5 million for cardiovascular research operating support over the next five years.

“Although Lloyd Noble’s original gift to the Noble Foundation and his subsequent bequests were substantial, I doubt that even he visualized the size and scope of the good works that he had made possible for mankind,” Snodgrass said during the dedication.

Charles Esmon, Ph.D., holds the Lloyd Noble Chair in Cardiovascular Research at the OMRF.

A cattle connection

Across from OMRF is the University of Oklahoma College of Health Building. That’s where Charles Esmon, Ph.D., started his first laboratory after finishing his postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1970s.

In the summer of 1982, Esmon joined the OMRF scientific staff and moved his lab into the not-quite-complete Acree-Woodworth Cardiovascular Research Building. The promise it offered was too tempting more space to conduct his research.

In September 2015, Esmon sat in his office just down the hall from the connected cardiovascular research building in its mirror image, The Massman Building and Mary K. Chapman Center for Cancer Research, which was also constructed with Noble Foundation support.

It was a typical Oklahoma summer hot, Esmon recalled. His eyes seemed to search for the past, and he chuckled in remembering it. They rolled their equipment over to the new building in the heat trying not to break anything, he said.

Once they moved in, the building was alive with research nearly 24-7. At one time, one lab member started his day at 10 p.m. and worked through the night in order to have everything prepared for the next day’s experimentation.

Esmon’s lab was, and still is, studying blood and how it clots. Early in his research career, Esmon began studying Protein C, a critical component of blood that prevents it from clotting within the body. One of the benefits of the new lab was a whole room dedicated to the messy process of isolating Protein C from blood cow blood.

It was Oklahoma’s vibrant livestock industry, in part, that had drawn Esmon to the state. Oklahoma City’s beef packing plants kept him supplied with the important research material, which ultimately led his lab to discoveries fundamental to two life-saving therapies: one for a deadly genetic Protein C deficiency; the other for sepsis, a serious illness caused by infection in the blood. The work is also the basis of other research focused on a host of major diseases, from heart and blood diseases to cancer and diabetes.

Over the years, Esmon’s work has earned him many high profile recognitions. He became Oklahoma’s first Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 1988, and he has received multiple awards from the American Heart Association, the American Society of Hematology, and the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis. In 2002, he was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.

While agriculture in a way supported his early research, his research is also supported by the Noble Foundation a research organization dedicated to supporting agriculture. In 1996, Esmon was honored as the first Lloyd Noble Chair in Cardiovascular Research, a position he continues to hold.

For Esmon, having the Noble Foundation’s financial support means stability for his lab and not having to rely on short-term governmental grants.

“Even in the best circumstances, you can get only 75 percent of your funding from grants,” said Stephen Prescott, M.D., OMRF president. “Financial supporters like the Noble Foundation are one of the reasons we’ve been successful as an organization. Historically, if we’ve had a worthy project, the Noble Foundation has been willing to help us.”

Without relying on short-term grants, Esmon has been able to cultivate his lab members, helping them be successful over time. This, he said, has helped him maintain some laboratory members for more than 20 years.

“The Noble Foundation provides tremendous support,” Esmon said. “Because of them, I can take a longer-term view of research with the people in my lab. That simply would not happen on short-term grants.”

At 68 years of age, Esmon continues to build off initial findings. About five years ago, Esmon’s lab discovered a new property of the critical proteins called histones. These proteins are responsible for folding DNA so that it fits inside the cell nucleus. Although histones serve this critical function, when they exit the cell, generally through a traumatic experience like a car accident or gun shot, “They control your demise,” Esmon said. His lab’s current research focuses on using this knowledge to help trauma victims. The research is also instrumental in an experimental treatment for hemophilia being developed.

In the spirit of Lloyd Noble, Esmon said he chose to study blood coagulation because he’d be able to ask interesting basic questions that are relevant to making life better for people.

“The research we’re studying affects all the major killers heart disease, sepsis, cancer,” Esmon said. “You might develop a reagent, test it, then the next thing you know you’ve got a therapy that saves lives. That’s rewarding. That’s what I’m here to do.”

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The Future of Art

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

The Future of Art

Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute is more than just a summer camp. Young artists hone their talents and discover possible careers, thanks in part to the Noble Foundation legacy of support.

By Kim McConnell

This summer, Jakki Dameron pursued her passion and, in the process, defined her future.

Dameron, a resident of Tishomingo, Okla., is one of thousands of Oklahoma students who hone their artistic passions at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute (OSAI), a two-week residential arts academy held at Quartz Mountain State Park in southwest Oklahoma. Dameron, a 2013 high school graduate who attended OSAI in 2012 and 2013, was a choral music student who participated to learn more about her art, but came away with a firm idea of what she wanted to do as an adult. “OSAI definitely helped me find out what to do with my life,” Dameron said. “I want to be a choir director.”

Dameron said she had thought about making music her career, but she wasn’t sure about it until she attended OSAI. The institute’s goal is to offer gifted and motivated high school students the opportunity to study with artists in the fields of acting, ballet, modern dance, orchestra, drawing and painting, poetry, photography, film/video, and choral music – Dameron’s choice.

Lucky Coffey, a senior from Tulsa’s Edison High School, practices landscape photography at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.

“I learned so much about it,” she said of her craft, adding that OSAI is successful because its students are completely immersed in their art medium for the entire two weeks. “All you do is practice, practice, practice all day.”

The intense opportunity and professional interaction are among the reasons that The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation has supported OSAI since 1978, the year that the institute first made its home at the Quartz Mountain Resort Arts and Conference Center. Since its first grant of $15,000 in 1978, the Noble Foundation has provided OSAI with 14 grants totaling $712,500, including a $7,500 grant awarded this year.

While OSAI does receive some funding from the state of Oklahoma, the bulk of its financial support comes from individuals and entities such as the Noble Foundation.

Scott Parkman from Boston conducts the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute Orchestra.
Ballet students dance on the Quartz Mountain stage.

Julie Cohen, president and CEO of Oklahoma Arts Institute, said such support is crucial to OSAI‘s success and its arts programs. “Without it, we couldn’t have OSAI at all,” Cohen said. “We rely heavily on it. It’s clear from our students and the impact on their lives that these funds are changing life directions.”

Cohen said financial support from private donors allows the arts institute to handle normal operating costs and provide scholarships to students who attend. While the Noble Foundation has provided operating support in recent years, it established an endowed fund in 1986 to support OSAI‘s orchestra program.

Will Hedgecock and Caitlin Rose Morrison-Dyke act in the final Summer Arts Institute performance.

Cohen said that support has been instrumental in ensuring “that Oklahoma’s most talented young musicians are able to come to Quartz Mountain each summer to play together in the institute orchestra.”

Mary Kate Wilson, director of philanthropy, engagement and project management for the Noble Foundation, said that’s exactly what the board of trustees had in mind when it began its long association with OSAI. “Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute offers a powerful program for promising artists across the state,” Wilson said. “Not only does it give them a phenomenal experience, but oftentimes the students find possible outcomes that last a lifetime.”

That’s true. Just ask one of Oklahoma’s future choral directors – Jakki Dameron.

Parents and students review a gallery of photos taken during the summer.

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Banking on Miracles

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Banking on Miracles

By Jessica Willingham

Oklahoma Blood Institute initiates state’s first public umbilical cord blood bank with support from the Noble Foundation

Howie Jackson was just 27 years old when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a form of the disease common in juvenile patients younger than 17 and adults older than 65.

But that was just the beginning of his rare and remarkable story.

Treating leukemia often involves a bone marrow stem cell transplant, which requires a viable donor who is a genetic match (usually found among the patient’s close family members). Jackson, however, was adopted from the Azores Islands, near Portugal, making a family option near impossible.

His future became a game of roulette as he was entered into the National Marrow Donor Program in hopes of finding an unrelated genetic match in time to save his life.

Almost as an afterthought, Jackson’s transplant coordinator requested permission to enter Jackson into a different kind of donor registry the National Cord Blood Program on the slim chance that stem cells harvested from the umbilical cord of a full-term pregnancy would provide the match to save Jackson’s life.

If the search yielded a match, Jackson would make history as the first adult in the state of Oklahoma to receive an umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant.

The odds were not in his favor, and it was a bet he couldn’t afford to lose.

An Oklahoma Blood Institute employee processes umbilical cord blood donations to preserve potentially lifesaving stem cells. Photo by Steve Sisney

Banking On It

The National Cord Blood Program is a public bank housing the umbilical cord blood of full-term pregnancies for the purpose of harvesting viable stem cells as matches for patients with blood cancers and other blood disorders, like leukemia or sickle cell anemia.

The umbilical cord is taken after childbirth without harming the child or mother. After collection, cord blood is tested for tissue type and viruses, processed for freezing, and stored until it is needed for transplantation.

Unlike private umbilical cord banks, which collect and save umbilical cords for the specific use of being a match for the individual it was harvested from or for members of the individual’s family, a public bank can be utilized by any eligible patient entered into the registry. So someone of Portuguese descent, like Jackson, could be a genetic match for a donor halfway across the country. Further, public umbilical cord banks are completely free.

“In Oklahoma, prior to our public cord blood bank, the only option for an expectant mother who wanted to utilize her baby’s umbilical cord was to bank it privately,” said Gary Lynch, director of corporate development for the Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI). “The initial cost to bank privately is between $2,000 and $2,500, then an additional $150 a year after that. All of this without a guarantee that it would be useable for her child or an immediate family member.”

Without a public bank in Oklahoma (the closest option is in Houston, Texas), umbilical cords and the potentially lifesaving stem cells they hold were considered medical waste and thrown away. OBI wanted to change that.

Photo by Steve Sisney

With A Little Help

The need for a public umbilical cord blood banking center within Oklahoma is as unique to the state as waving wheat and windy days. Oklahoma has the largest Native American population per capita in the United States, representing an opportunity to grow the national registry to further include and provide matches for minority patients.

“Only 0.2 percent of 1 percent of the national registry is Native American,” Lynch said. “Oklahoma’s Native American population, the largest per capita in the country, is the least represented group. We can add to the diversity of the national registry by leaps and bounds, and in a relatively short period of time.”

OBI set a goal to raise $3 million enough to establish and maintain the public umbilical cord blood banking center for two years. OBI began reaching out to organizations within the state for financial support.

The Noble Foundation reached back with $15,000 to support the center’s creation and operations. The Noble Foundation, a longtime supporter of OBI, has given $790,000 to date in support of the institute and its various missions.

“The Noble Foundation and the Oklahoma Blood Institute share the same goal of advancing Oklahoma and its quality of life,” said Mary Kate Wilson, director of philanthropy, engagement and project management at the Noble Foundation. “In addition to helping Oklahomans, the public bank gives us the opportunity to increase the diversity of the national registry and help people everywhere. We wanted to be a part of this noble cause.”

The center opened in January 2014. OBI will soon complete the rigorous Food and Drug Administration licensure process for the cord blood facility. Additionally, a major portion of OBI‘s original headquarters in Oklahoma City has been renovated to accommodate offices, laboratory and cryogenic storage tanks for the program.

OBI‘s new public umbilical cord blood banking center is one of 17 in the country and 24 worldwide. Mothers giving birth at OU Medical Center can choose to donate their child’s umbilical cord to the state bank. OBI will partner with additional hospitals in the future and eventually collect enough cords to qualify for entry in the national registry. Opening OBI‘s public umbilical cord blood bank and establishing its presence in the national registry is just the beginning; raising awareness, sustaining funding and getting mothers to donate are their greatest challenges.

“Cord blood is being used for treatment of blood disorders, but scientists are beginning trials for diabetes and traumatic brain injuries,” Lynch said. “The future is unlimited.”

Photo by Steve Sisney

Lucky Hand

Today Howie Jackson is cancer free. He was the first adult in Oklahoma to receive a stem cell transplant from umbilical cord blood after finding six perfect genetic matches in the national donor registry.

He entered into remission.

A year and a week after his successful transplant, his leukemia returned. But because his first transplant was a year earlier, he was eligible to enter the national umbilical cord blood registry again.

Five of the original six genetic matches remained available; thus, Jackson became the first adult in Oklahoma to receive two stem cell transplants from umbilical cord blood.

Because of his success, it is now common practice to use two cord units on adult patients of leukemia.

Today, Jackson often takes his story to Washington, D.C., in hopes of raising awareness and funding opportunities for the American Cancer Society and National Donor Marrow Program. Historically, the national donor program has never been fully funded.

“Our biggest hurdles are manpower, resources and getting this information out to the general public,” Jackson said. “If we keep trying and we spend enough money, we will beat cancer. That’s a promise. I am a man who was cured by God and because people gave money for research.”

The first umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant was successfully completed in France in 1988 on a child diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. The first transplant on an adult was successfully completed in 1997, just a few years before Howie Jackson’s acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis in 2001.

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As Far as the Eye Can See​

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

As Far as the Eye Can See

By Courtney Leeper

Soft sunlight shines through the glass walls of the Dean McGee Eye Institute (DMEI) in Oklahoma City. As the eye captures light and works with the brain to produce images of the surrounding world, so, in a way, does the Institute.

At DMEI, knowledge is generated through research and clinical trials much like the eye captures light. Instead of producing images, the research brings clarity to methods of preventing and treating eye disease. Just like the eye works with the brain, the Institute people – researchers, clinicians and surgeons – collaborate to help others continue to see the world around them.

In the early 2000s, research at the Dean McGee Eye Institute boomed. More space became a necessity, and a capital campaign was launched. In 2004, the Noble Foundation joined other donors to the campaign with a $1 million gift to help expand the facilities.

The result: these glass walls and the space to accommodate a vibrant world-class vision research program.

The studies of Michael Elliott, Ph.D., a researcher at the Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City, have implications for treating vision loss related to diabetes, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

At the Top of the List

It didn’t take long for Michael Elliott to realize he needed to be in a laboratory with other vision science researchers.

Elliott stumbled upon eye research as a Ph.D. student at the University of Kansas in the 1990s. The laboratory in which he worked studied damage caused by oxidation in parts of the brain. A colleague at the time, who previously worked at the National Eye Institute, told him some of their research could be applied to the retina, the back-inside coating of the eye. Why not take a look, Elliott thought?

The more Elliott studied the eye, the more interested he became in the system and how the eye and brain partner to produce images. The lone eye researcher in the laboratory, Elliott buried himself in papers to learn more. He picked up on researchers’ names through these papers, then met the name bearers at national meetings of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

“It became quite clear to me that if I wanted to stay in this field, I needed to be part of a lab that specifically studies the eye,” Elliott said.

When the time came to apply for postdoctoral fellowships, the Dean McGee Eye Institute was at the top of his list because of a name that kept reappearing in the papers he had studied: Anderson, as in Robert E. “Gene” Anderson, M.D., Ph.D.

Michael Elliott, Ph.D., studies retinal cells in laboratory space at the Dean McGee Eye Institute that was made possible through a gift from the Noble Foundation.

Prestigious Honor

Research at the Dean McGee Eye Institute was gaining momentum in the early 2000s, thanks to several significant milestones still in play today, said Anderson, DMEI research director and Elliott’s mentor.

First was a grant from the National Eye Institute that enabled DMEI to provide core research facilities to its research staff.

Then, in 2002, the Institute received the prestigious NIH Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) grant, which provided$1.5 million per year for 10 years to identify and mentor young researchers in vision science.

Elliott was selected for the program in 2007.

“The program was phenomenally successful,” Anderson said. “It launched the careers of seven young investigators.” All seven are now tenured or on tenure track and have won their own R01 funding, the gold standard in grants from NIH.

There was only one problem: space.

“As we became more successful, we were bursting at the seams,” Anderson said. “We were packed in ‘cheek by jowl.’”

Everyone, from junior to senior level, was sharing laboratory and office space. They were outsourcing clinical activity, which meant the researchers and clinicians couldn’t have a close relationship to connect molecular knowledge with real-world situations.

Though they had the funds and desires to expand research projects and add researchers, they didn’t have the room to accommodate anyone new.

Expansion for the Future

About a hundred miles south, the Noble Foundation had a long history of supporting DMEI. Since 1974, the Noble Foundation has awarded DMEI nearly $3 million in support for research, construction and renovations.

During this new era of growth and need in the 2000s, the Noble Foundation again stepped forward to help, providing its largest gift to date to DMEI: a $1 million contribution toward a facility expansion that doubled research space and expanded clinical programs by 40 percent.

“The Noble Foundation trustees value the Dean McGee Eye Institute’s vital contributions to science and quality of life for those struggling with eye problems,” said Mary Kate Wilson, Noble Foundation director of philanthropy, project management and engagement. “As stewards of a research institution themselves, they understand the importance of quality working facilities and were pleased to support this important project.”

Construction was completed in 2011, and the effect was immediately felt by the researchers. “It was tangibly huge,” Elliott said. “We went from everyone stumbling over each other to having enough space to bring in more people.”

Elliott’s lab space quadrupled, and for the first time he moved into his own office. The CoBRE-funded mentorship program provided him the funds and support he needed to kick-start his retina research, which has implications for understanding the mechanisms behind and treating vision loss from diabetes, glaucoma and macular degeneration. The building expansion provided the space he and the rest of DMEI needed to continue growing into the exciting research possibilities of the future.

“We are deeply grateful to the Noble Foundation,” said Gregory Skuta, M.D., president of the Dean McGee Eye Institute. “Their meaningful and consistent support over the past four decades has allowed us to deliver a profound, lasting impact on vision health.”

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Art for Everyone

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Art for Everyone

Noble Foundation grants aid the Oklahoma City Museum of Art as it enriches lives through its cinema program, film festival

By Jessica Willingham

E. Mike Whittington leans in to get a better look at an intricate and aging sketch, inhales and then whispers a barely audible “Wow.” Around him, temperature-controlled crates flown in from Paris are being carefully unpacked, larger-than-life portraits are being installed, and art curators wheel paintings to their designated locations as assistants arrange sculptures.

Whittington, president of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA), is admiring a sketch created by 15th century Italian architect and painter Raphael Sanzio da Urbino. Urbino’s work and the work of some of history’s most celebrated artists is set to be featured in a new exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art – the first stop on the collection’s American tour.

Like Urbino’s sketch, some art comes to visit and some is here to stay. The museum’s permanent collection has 3,000 works that represent more than 400 years of European and American art from the 19th and 20th centuries. The story of the museum’s journey to this place in time is as rich, complex and diverse as the pieces it holds.

One might say the museum’s journey began at the movies.

A multistory glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly greets visitors to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

At the Movies

Its home once near the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds, the museum relocated to downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the 1990s. The OKCMOA‘s new home was a long-abandoned 1940s movie palace, the Center Theater. Even after extensive internal and external renovations, and additions to the building, the Art Deco vibe of the old palace still shines through the architecture. The Center Theater’s original box office still stands near the museum’s main entrance. It’s a reminder that even when America’s “greatest generation” was steeped in war, there was still one beloved place of escape – the movies.

“Understanding the building itself is to understand a great deal about what this museum means to this city and for Oklahomans,” Whittington said. “The museum’s relocation downtown, saving this building and repurposing it was a catalyst for downtown development. And it gave the museum the opportunity to create a film program.”

Through a series of grants totaling $2.6 million, the Noble Foundation assisted the OKCMOA in building and maintaining one of the most advanced digital theaters and the only art house cinema in the state – which has been named The Samuel Roberts Noble Theater in honor of its support. Using the existing architecture, the OKCMOA rebuilt the theater and brought the magic of movies back to life.

Before the new building and support from organizations like the Noble Foundation, the museum’s film program consisted of poor-quality screenings, folding lawn chairs, and a small but dedicated following of independent, foreign, and classical film fans, said Bryon Chambers, assistant curator of education at the OKCMOA.

“It was kind of a struggle,” Chambers said.

Today, the 250-seat Noble Theater hosts 335 screenings and 25,000 visitors a year.

With funding from the Noble Foundation, the theater began its first phase of theater Projection Perfection. Since the Noble Theater’s initial construction in the early 2000s, cinema has changed from hard-copy film to a completely digital format. The Projection Perfection campaign will enable the theater to stay within the current trends of the industry and remain a destination for independent film distributors and the next generation of filmmakers. The improvements will bring state-of-the-art digital, visual and audio technology paired with new, plush seating to transform the theater experience for filmgoers and producers alike.

With the creation and advancement of the Noble Theater, future generations of filmmakers no longer have to escape to the Coasts for opportunities and careers in the industry, according to Chambers. The OKCMOA is cultivating the next generation of artists right in the heart of America. University of Oklahoma film students come to the Noble Theater to learn about film narrative, history and production. Every June, the Noble Theater is home to the deadCENTER film festival, the largest film festival in Oklahoma.

“The film program has been an integral part of our maturity, a wonderful symbol of how we celebrate art,” Chambers said. “With the help of the Noble Foundation, we are truly a visual arts center.”

Yes, Whittington certainly admires the age-old sketch, but he appreciates the tremendous growth – up almost 29 percent last year – associated with the variety in programming.

“Our audience is getting younger and becoming more diverse,” Whittington said. “We’re pleased our audience is beginning to reflect the diversity of this community in every sense.”

Students learn about contemporary art in the museum’s galleries.

Beyond Museum Walls

Every day at the OKCMOA is as uniquely individual as the museum’s signature sculpture: a 76-foot tower of 2,100 pieces of blown glass by Dale Chihuly. Classes, workshops and seasonal camps are hosted throughout the year, and every Thursday night brings the community to the museum’s rooftop for drinks and live music.

“The communities formed around art, agriculture and education are essential to improving life and culture in Oklahoma,” said Mary Kate Wilson, Noble Foundation’s director of philanthropy, engagement and project management. “Our trustees appreciate being part of fostering those connections and supporting cultural growth in our state.”

Those connections are taking place both inside and outside the museum. The OKCMOA fosters community outreach programs for families, adults and children in the surrounding communities.

The museum also partners with organizations throughout the Oklahoma City area to help citizens in need heal through the arts. Children with hearing or vision impairments attend museum-hosted summer camps. OKCMOA works to connect with members of the community who may not be able to visit the museum for medical or health reasons. Enabling all people to experience art within and beyond museum walls is central to the museum’s mission: to enrich lives through the arts.

Noble Foundation grants helped to fund construction of a 250-seat theater within the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

While the latest exhibition wraps up installment on one floor of the OKCMOA, the deadCENTER film festival is just beginning its preparations for another season. Somewhere in the middle, an entire class of preschoolers holds hands to form a long line, slowly but noisily snaking their way from gallery to gallery.

For each individual who visits, the museum offers something a little bit different – a unique opportunity, a quiet escape, a whimsical adventure. From exquisite French paintings to the excitement of the silver screen, everything at the OKCMOA brings art alive for the thousands of Oklahomans who visit each year.

And Whittington doesn’t take a bit of it for granted, saying “Without the help of the Noble Foundation and organizations like them, none of this would be possible.”

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Chasing the Dream

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Chasing the Dream

An automotive technology student gains classroom knowledge, hands-on learning and real-world experience with support from a Sam Noble Scholarship.

By Kim McConnell

Michael Evens credits family with his lifelong fascination with automobiles and fixing them.

“My grandfather got me into it,” the 20-year-old Marlow man says, of his love for auto mechanics. “As long as I can remember, he always had a car to play with. And I was out there helping him.”

While Evens mirrored his grandfather when it came to tinkering with cars, he laughs when he admits he did not follow in his grandfather’s exact footsteps.

“He likes Chevys, and I went to Ford,” Evens says, laughing again while admitting, “It made him mad, at first. And I thought it was funny.”

The skills Evens grew up with followed him into high school, when he began taking classes part-time at the local technology center. There, a teacher who had been a Ford technician suggested Evens consider attending the Ford Automotive Student Service Education Training program, or ASSET, at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology in Okmulgee.

The teacher’s description intrigued Evens, who continued to ponder the idea as he secured his first full-time job after high school. Evens graduated on a Friday. The following Monday, he started work in the service department of Billingsley Ford in the nearby town of Duncan. By the end of the summer, Evens knew he was in the right career field and that he wanted to further his education.

The ASSET Advantage

In August 2016, Evens moved to Okmulgee and entered ASSET. The two-year program is designed to give students specialized automotive training and real-world experience as they earn Ford certifications and associate degrees in applied science.

“It’s a total immersion in service technology,” says Evens, who graduated from the program at the end of August. “You learn every Ford-specific system on a vehicle, which will put you years ahead of learning in a shop. So, it’s a really big advantage to get ahead in a shorter amount of time.”

During the last two years, Evens has studied traditional subjects in the classroom while also completing a hands-on curriculum in the program’s automotive laboratory. The program also requires an internship. When it was time for Evens to take what he learned in the classroom and apply it on the job, he returned home and to the familiar shop at Billingsley Ford.

But, Evens says, he isn’t certain he could have chased his dream without his two-year Sam Noble Technology Scholarship.

“I was left with a couple thousand dollars (of debt) even with federal assistance, and I don’t think I could have paid it out of pocket without getting more loans,” he says, of the expenses of attending school. “The scholarship usually paid for most of what I had left (in debts each semester). It was very, very helpful.”

The scholarship is named after Sam Noble, son of founder Lloyd Noble, who bequeathed funding in 1992 to establish the program, which supports south-central and southeast Oklahoma students as they pursue degrees in technology and agriculture.

“Sam Noble knew that education is one of the most valuable tools in life,” says Alexis Carter-Black, Noble Foundation director of philanthropy. “Thanks to his generosity, we have the privilege of watching students like Michael Evens as they grow in their studies and step out into the professional world, where we know they will create positive impacts in their communities.”

Classroom to Auto Garage

Jeremey Harris, Ford ASSET program instructor at OSU, says that while students come from a variety of backgrounds, successful candidates all share the desire to learn as they work their way through the 12 major areas associated with the certification.

“They have to want to be here. They have to take initiative and be responsible for their own education. We provide the environment, and they provide the desire,” Harris says, adding that Evens fits into the program because of his desire to learn.

“His performance and behavior are exactly what we want from our students so they will be successful,” he says. “He works well with anyone he is partnered up with in the lab or the shop. He is the type of student we would hope to have every year, the kind that wants to be a technician and not just a parts changer.”

The key to the program is small bites. Students spend two months in the classroom then apply what they learn at their internship site for two months.

“You take that small bit of information and apply it instead of receiving it for two years then going to a shop,” Evens says. “When you take it and immediately use it, it sticks with you.”

The blend of academics and hands-on learning can be points of worry for students trying to do their best while also putting finances into place to cover everything from tuition and textbooks to housing and tools. The Sam Noble Scholarship means one less burden, Evens says.

“I worry a lot less about how I pay for this, about whether I will have more debt when I get out,” he says.

Looking to the Future

When Evens returns to southern Oklahoma after graduating from ASSET, he’ll not only have a college diploma and practical knowledge. He’ll have a job.

In September, Evens will return to Billingsley Ford as an automotive technician. For the first time, he will not be working alongside a mentor. Instead, he will use what he’s learned to diagnose and address automotive troubles by himself. The thought is a little intimidating but exciting, he says. And, he has big dreams for the future.

He would like to stay with the dealership and eventually work his way up through the ranks of the service department to become a manager. “There are good people here, good work. And, it’s close to home,” he says. “I feel confident that my education is going to help me now and in the future.”

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Strengthening the Community’s Place

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Strengthening the Community’s Place

The newly renovated Ardmore Family YMCA provides community members with more space to stretch their muscles and build life-long friendships.

By Andrea Mongler

The Ardmore Family YMCA has been a fixture of the community for so long that not many residents remember a time when it wasn’t there. In some form, anyway.

In its early days, which began in 1945, the YMCA had no building. Instead, members met at the local bowling alley, churches or parks in the area. In 1953, the first formal program, which encouraged teenage boys to play baseball, began.

As membership and demand for the YMCA’s activities continued to grow, the organization’s board members decided it was time for the Y to have a permanent location. In 1958, the community rallied behind a capital campaign to raise funds for such a facility. By 1960, construction officially began.

Once opened, the Y was a fitness facility that focused on men and boys’ gymnastics, archery and gun safety. Hi-Y was a form of day camp that offered programs specifically for high school boys. Women joined the day activities in the mid-1960s and the sports programs, starting with softball, in 1973.

The Y quickly became the place not just to exercise but to socialize.

“The YMCA and the community were synonymous,” says Jana Weichbrodt, CEO of the Ardmore Family YMCA. “Kids hung out here all the time. There were fund drives, dances, birthday parties. Everything was done here, and people made life-long friendships.”

Among those friendships built include ones made at the summer day camps. Dr. Rebecca Barnes, a local optometrist and YMCA member, remembers how much her daughters enjoyed the day camps. The mentors and participants from when the girls attended are still their friends 10 years later. As a working mom, she knew the YMCA was a safe and encouraging place for her daughters during the summer.

“One of the things I love most about the YMCA is the emphasis on healthy living,” Barnes says. “There are many activities provided to help nurture active, healthy lifestyles and family involvement for everyone. Kids are able to make positive connections with others through the activities.”

Through the decades, though, the organization found itself lacking the space to offer all the programs it wanted to provide, particularly the summer day camps. The YMCA needed a larger facility with new amenities, so it once again turned to the community for help.

And the community did not disappoint.

A Gift Rooted in History

In 2013, former YMCA CEO Tom Riley launched a $4.6 million capital campaign — which later expanded to $5.3 million — to renovate the facility, and community members were quick to contribute. One of the first to do so was the Noble Foundation, which provided a $300,000 grant.

“The YMCA was a perfect choice for us to support,” says Alexis Carter-Black, director of philanthropy at the Noble Foundation. “We support organizations that cultivate good health, encourage education and build stronger communities, which is very consistent with their mission and vision.”

There are other parallels between the two organizations, Weichbrodt says, including their roots.

The same year that Lloyd Noble founded the original Noble Foundation (now Noble Research Institute) as a resource for agriculture, he also served as a founding member of the YMCA. He went on to serve as its first board president, and the Noble Foundation has been supporting the YMCA ever since.

“The Noble Foundation has been generous to the YMCA all along, and they were one of the first to contribute to our capital campaign,” Weichbrodt says. “Without them, our expansion would not have been possible.”

Something for Everyone

After 19 months of construction, during which time the YMCA was housed in a facility without a pool or a gym, the renovated facility opened Jan. 4, 2018.

At 54,000 square feet, it is 13,000 feet larger than before and ready to be filled with more community members and programs than ever before.

“There is something for everyone here,” Weichbrodt says. “We want kids to have a safe, go-to place to be active in, and we are able to offer them so much more with our expansion.”

For one, the day camps are making a return, but in a shortened version for now. Mini one-hour morning youth camps were offered in summer 2018.

Other new features include air-conditioned gyms, which will allow for more programs and activities during the swelter of the summer; a social room where children can play games; and a welcome center sponsored by the Noble Foundation and Noble Energy.

But perhaps the most anticipated addition was the second pool. Along with its large, lap-swimming pool, the YMCA now has a warmer, shallower pool for families and children to enjoy. The new pool will play host to swim lessons for children and water aerobics classes.

The YMCA will also offer pickleball, a combination of badminton, tennis and table tennis, in addition to tennis and basketball; pool and gym parties for children; programs for individuals with diabetes and pre-diabetes; and several classes for seniors.

For the Community

After losing members during construction, the YMCA has seen its membership quickly grow since the new facility opened. As of June 2018, it had about 5,744 members and was averaging 375 visitors per day. Membership continues to grow, and nonmembers participate in YMCA’s programs as well.

“The YMCA’s capital campaign represents a community project that is going to impact people of all ages,” Carter-Black says. “Noble’s gift shows the Noble Board of Directors’ commitment to the community and its commitment to support organizations like the YMCA that have stood the test of time and changed with the times to serve members of the community.”

Weichbrodt says the YMCA’s commitment to the community grew stronger with the outpouring of support the organization received during its capital campaign.

“We are here for everybody, and we want to be the community’s YMCA again,” she says. “I am so thankful for everyone who participated in the capital campaign and helped us get to this point. We want to give back to the community what they gave to us.”

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Battling a Crisis Together

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Battling a Crisis Together

Oklahomans caught in the grips of addiction will find new hope at Arcadia Trails, the state’s first recovery center to simultaneously treat addiction, mental illness and trauma.

By Kim McConnell

Alden Snipes had few treatment options in her home state of Oklahoma when she began her journey to sobriety in 2000.

Snipes’ best hope was in Tuscan, Arizona, more than 1,000 miles away from familiar surroundings and loved ones, including her two small children. It was a difficult time, she recalls. But looking back, she knows she was one of the lucky ones.

“I was fortunate my family could afford it,” says Snipes, who has been sober for 18 years now. “A lot of people cannot.”

In spring 2019, Oklahomans will have a new treatment option: Arcadia Trails Center for Addiction Recovery.

For Snipes, Arcadia Trails is personal. It will feature a comprehensive style of treatment that will increase the chance of long-term sobriety. This treatment looks at healing the whole person not just treating the addiction in isolation. And Snipes says it’s what Oklahoma needs.

Healing Oklahomans

Arcadia Trails was the brainchild of four Oklahomans who, in 2011, sought a solution to the state’s addiction problem. More Oklahomans between the ages of 25 and 64 die because of addiction than any other disease. At the same time, the state ranks second-to-last in the nation for treating it.

These visionaries wanted to change the conversation surrounding addiction. They knew that one-size-fits-all treatments rarely result in complete and lasting healing. They also knew Oklahomans needed greater access to affordable and effective treatment.

They took their concept to INTEGRIS, the state’s largest not-for-profit health care system, and INTEGRIS agreed to turn the dream into reality. Upon completion, Arcadia Trails will be a 61,900-square-foot, 40-bed medical treatment center on a wooded lot on the INTEGRIS Health Edmond campus.

Snipes, in addition to being a retired registered nurse and intimately understanding addiction recovery, has been involved in a clinic for recovering opioid addicts. She also served on the committee that wrote the treatment protocol for Arcadia Trails, which will be the first medical facility in the state to offer a whole-person approach to treating addiction.

This treatment model is unique because it equally addresses addiction, mental illness and trauma. Programs will be tailored to each patient’s needs, and patients will move through the 60- to 90-day program at their own pace. Along the way, they will be supported by a blend of experts ranging from dietitians and clergy to psychiatrists, medical doctors and addictionologists.

“This three-pronged approach is why Arcadia Trails will be successful,” Snipes says. “The three are tightly woven together, which makes it difficult to address one without the other. Treating addiction without treating trauma or mental health won’t allow you to be as successful as you would be if you treated all three at one time.”

The "Ardmore Effect"

INTEGRIS donated $11 million to the project then committed to raising the additional $35 million needed by launching a fundraising campaign and uniting Oklahoma communities in battling the statewide crisis.

When the Noble Foundation joined the fight with $100,000 in 2015, it became the third to give and the first major donor outside of Oklahoma City.

“I really believe the Noble Foundation’s gift created a cascade of momentum for us,” says Becky Endicott, INTEGRIS Health Foundation leadership gifts officer. “When the Noble Foundation stepped forward to stand behind the project at a leadership level, it prompted others to follow suit.”

Endicott says the Noble Foundation’s donation also created what her office calls the “Ardmore Effect.”

“Noble’s gift was the first that opened the Ardmore community to the campaign,” Endicott says, of an effort based in Ardmore as a whole.

Ardmore residents and organizations, led by the Noble Foundation’s example, opened their checkbooks and donated a total of $1.3 million, action that Endicott describes as people locking arms and saying they want to get behind the new treatment center because it will battle a crisis ravaging their community.

“What is so inspiring to me is that individuals who gave from Ardmore did it in a way that worked for them,” she says.

In addition to financing construction of the facility, which broke ground in October 2017, campaign-raised funds will establish an endowment to provide financial assistance to those who need it. Many of the donations given by Ardmore individuals went to ensure funds are available specifically to residents in their county who need treatment but cannot afford it.

“That level has inspired so many other communities in the state,” Endicott says. “It’s all about us coming together and saying, ‘We are not going to stand by any longer and watch our citizens die. We’re going to take care of our own.’ It’s an amazing rallying cry, and I credit the Noble Foundation and its board members, especially Rusty Noble, for influencing our movement.”

Long Overdue

Endicott says one of the most important aspects of the Arcadia Trails project is that it will provide more affordable treatment for all Oklahomans. And, its service area may extend outside the state. While the U.S. has other treatment centers that use a similar approach, none are located in this region of the country.

Alexis Carter-Black, Noble Foundation director of philanthropy, says this great need and the unique approach is why the Noble Foundation supported the Arcadia Trails project.

“Something of this size and caliber coming to the state of Oklahoma is critical to fostering healthy communities,” Carter-Black says. “Arcadia Trails addresses the whole person with a holistic approach. This is something Oklahoma needs and Oklahomans deserve, and the Board wanted to be part of the solution.”

Snipes also sees Arcadia Trails as a valuable resource for Oklahoma, one she wishes would have been available 18 years ago.

“I know from experience that the local connection is important,” Snipes say. “Not only does it help keep patients linked to their support network at home, it also makes it easier to stay in touch with the treatment support network later on. I also know the type of treatment that Arcadia Trails will provide works. It worked for me, and I know other Oklahomans will benefit from it as well.”

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To Deliver Solutions

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

To Deliver Solutions

Farmers and ranchers find answers to pressing questions that face agriculture, and ultimately all of society, at Noble Research Institute.

By Courtney Leeper

Jimmy Kinder knew there had to be more to the soil.

In the 1990s, Kinder and his father turned to no-till on their farms in southern Oklahoma. They put down their plows, and, instead of turning the ground over in preparation of planting, they sowed seed right into the soil.

The practice, which had been gaining interest among corn and soybean farmers in the northern U.S., was said to reduce erosion, the loss of topsoil to rain and wind and a contributor to the infamous dust storms that ravaged the Great Plains in the 1930s.

The neighbors thought they were crazy diverting from generations-old tradition, but, after a few years, Kinder started noticing some areas of the farm were growing more forage than they had when the land was tilled.

He tested the soils to find out what gave the more productive areas their advantage, but, according to the tests, the areas were the same.

Kinder thought it must have something to do with the mysterious property of soil his professors had mentioned when he was earning his agronomy degree in college.

“They told us there was something biological there within the soil, but they didn’t know much about it,” Kinder says. “It was talked about more as magic than as science, so we focused on what we could measure — the physical and chemical aspects of soil.”

As a result, soil was typically viewed as a sterile medium that anchors plants and holds nutrients and water. But Kinder was becoming aware that this living component of soil could be his key to success. He just needed to know more about it.

The Beginning of a Partnership

In the mid-2000s, Kinder was at a producer meeting hosted by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service when he met Jim Johnson, a soils and crops consultant at Noble Research Institute (then known as the Noble Foundation).

Johnson, who was also interested in no-till and soil health, struck up a conversation with Kinder. The pair began sharing their thoughts and experiences, and Johnson suggested that Kinder take advantage of Noble’s consultation program to help answer his questions.

In turn, Johnson was interested in learning from Kinder’s on-farm research. Johnson wanted to further test no-till methods using Noble’s research and demonstration farms and add to the agriculture community’s understanding of the practice.

“I knew early on that I wanted to work with Jimmy,” Johnson says. “He was applying new ideas and technologies on his farm, and he had a hunger to learn more about how he could improve his land and its ability to produce food both for cattle and people.”

By 2007, a team of consultants — each with their own expertise in soils, crops, livestock, economics and wildlife — visited Kinder’s farm near Walters, Oklahoma, where he grows wheat both to graze cattle and to harvest as grain, as well as canola, sesame and grain sorghum.

“The best part about the consultants is that they look at my farm as a system,” Kinder says. “I could bring an agronomist out here, but I also need someone to consider the livestock and the economics. There may be a solution to one problem I have. But if it doesn’t consider the other aspects of the farm, it’s not a viable solution.”

Within two years, the Noble consultants turned the tables and asked Kinder to provide consultation to them as part of the nonresident fellows program. During the next eight years, Kinder provided a boots-on-the-ground perspective to help guide Noble’s research and keep it relevant to producer needs.

Meeting Real-World Needs

Noble Research Institute conducts research from the basic, which looks at the cellular and genetic levels of how plants grow and function, all the way to the field, where improved varieties of forage crops (those grazed by cattle) are tested and new technologies are implemented in real-world farming and ranching environments.

As a nonresident fellow, Kinder shared with scientists his perspective of what crop traits — like the ability to tolerate drought and resist diseases — are needed by ranchers who grow small grains, like wheat, oat, rye and triticale, as pasture for their cattle.

Once a new variety is on the market, he has also been among the first to try it out on his farm as part of Noble’s variety field trials, which provide a venue for other producers to see how the new varieties grow throughout the season. At the end of the season, producers can learn more by attending an on-farm field day, one of dozens of educational opportunities offered by Noble.

The ultimate goal is to deliver solutions for the challenges faced by farmers and ranchers. These could be improved forage varieties or tools that help producers make management decisions that protect the soil, water and air for years to come.

“If you start giving farmers some technologies, some ways of farming that will actually build their soil so that at the end of 10 years they’ve got a better yield potential than when they started, that would be a great thing not only for farmers but for people in general,” Kinder says.

A Step Forward for Soil

More than 15 years after Kinder began noticing improvements to his soils thanks to no-till, he is finally closer to getting some answers about what is happening below the grass-covered surface.

“I credit Noble Research Institute with getting the national and international community talking about soil health,” Kinder says. “It’s opened a generally unknown and underfunded field of study in agriculture and driven a lot of research in that area.”

Spearheading soil research is the nonprofit Soil Health Institute, which was created by Noble Research Institute (then called Noble Foundation) in 2015. One of its first action items has been to determine how producers can measure soil health, including the biological aspects.

Research is finding that as soil health improves, so does its ability to capture carbon from the air and sequester it underground. This helps reduce air pollution and enhances the soil’s natural ability to produce plants. Healthy soils can hold more water, and they need less added nutrients from fertilizers, which means less run-off into streams. 

Funding for Noble Research Institute comes from the Noble Foundation, which supports agricultural research as a central focus of its mission.

“Supporting farmers and ranchers and providing them with solutions that help them improve soil health and face other challenges is the answer to many of society’s problems,” says Alexis Carter-Black, Noble Foundation director of philanthropy. “This is what Lloyd Noble believed in and why his resources, which are stewarded by the Noble Foundation, continue to be used in support of this mission.”

There are no simple answers, Kinder says. “But Noble Research Institute has the unique ability to take a problem in the field and look at it from the ground up,” he adds. “They can look for answers all the way from a laboratory to field trials to the farm. No one else I know of can do that.”

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Pursuing A Dream As A Career Path

Gene Waxman on December 8, 2023

Victoria Chapman works part-time for National Livestock Commission Association in Oklahoma City and will move to full-time following graduation in spring 2020.

Pursuing A Dream As A Career Path

Victoria Chapman is pursuing her goal to support farmers and ranchers with help from the Sam Noble Scholarship Program.

By Meg Drake

Victoria Chapman has set her sights on a career path that allows her to serve an industry she loves: agriculture.

Chapman was born and raised as the fourth generation on her family’s cattle operation in south-central Oklahoma. From a young age, she remembers helping her father with day-to-day ranch duties like gathering cattle, checking heats and processing calves each spring. During this time, Chapman was also exposed to the policy side of the agriculture industry.

“Growing up, every summer, my siblings and I would attend the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Convention annual meeting,” Chapman says. “It seemed as though this was only a routine but, what I didn’t realize, it was teaching me dedication and commitment to the industry.”

Throughout her childhood, Chapman was a member of several agricultural organizations. She exhibited livestock at local, state and national shows and had a keen interest in agriculture-related competitions. She credits her involvement with her local FFA as having the biggest impact on her educational decisions.

“Proudly wearing the blue and gold corduroy jacket for five years, I was exposed to several different areas within the ag industry,” Chapman says. “This allowed me to discover my own interests in specific areas and would eventually prepare me for a future occupation in agriculture.”

Pursuing a Career in Ag

Today, Chapman attends Oklahoma State University and is preparing to take the next step in her life’s goal of serving and working within the agriculture industry. She’s currently studying agribusiness with an emphasis in pre-law and minor in legal studies and is set to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in May 2020.

Victoria Chapman, a senior at Oklahoma State University and recipient of the Sam Noble Scholarship, studies agribusiness with an emphasis in pre-law and minor in legal studies.

“I was interested in ag business because of the opportunity for hands-on experience,” Chapman says. “Professors are great at relating lessons learned in the classroom to real-life situations similar to what my family would experience and use to run our ranching operation. Choosing my minor to be in the area of legal studies fueled my interest in policy, especially as it pertains to understanding wording and meanings behind contracts.”

Chapman is heavily involved in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR). She has kept busy with internships and positions within departments and has actively participated in on-campus organizations. She is quick to note being a recipient of the Sam Noble Scholarship has allowed her to focus heavily on her studies and simultaneously participate in many extracurricular activities.

“The Noble Foundation’s investment in my education has allowed me to pursue an academic career in the field of agriculture while also giving me the opportunity to grow as a person and build relationships with other students and faculty involved in CASNR,” Chapman says.

From internships in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Production and Conservation division, to serving as a CASNR ambassador and the executive director of the Student Alumni Board, Chapman embodies everything the Sam Noble Scholarship Program sets out to accomplish.

“Victoria Chapman exemplifies the ideal Sam Noble Scholar,” says Alexis Carter-Black, Noble Foundation’s former director of philanthropy. “We are proud of her achievements and look forward to her leaving her mark in the field of agriculture.”

Scholarship Program

Every year, the Sam Noble Scholarship Program endorses students from south-central Oklahoma who have dreams of obtaining an associate degree in technology or bachelor’s and graduate degrees in numerous agriculture-related fields.

“The main purpose of the Sam Noble Scholarship Program is to support the educational aspirations of students who want to pursue a future in agriculture,” Carter-Black says. “The scholarship has clearly served its intended purpose by choosing Victoria Chapman as a recipient.”

Selected recipients can receive up to $20,000 to put toward their college or post-high-school education. The scholarship is available to students who plan to attend or are currently attending a land-grant institution in the U.S. or a technical program offered by Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, Okmulgee or Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City. Students must also hail from one of Oklahoma’s south-central or southeastern counties.

The scholarship is extremely competitive, Carter-Black says.

“Each year we receive a number of applications from high achieving students — those who have graduated at the top of their high school classes with 4.0 GPAs and above, many with ACT scores above 30 and a few each year with perfect ACT scores,” she says.

Future Plans

Following graduation, Chapman plans on entering the workforce. She would like to continue her growth and development within the agriculture industry by obtaining a livestock marketing position that deals specifically with policy.

“I hope to serve producers and consumers through regulatory and financial hardships that will arise over time through the changes in the industry,” Chapman says.

Every industry is constantly evolving, and Chapman believes the agriculture industry is no exception. Part of her 10-year plan after college is to work with producers, small and large, to devise and fight for policy that fits their ever-changing needs.

“I’d like to work first with small farmers and ranchers in rural areas and eventually move into working with commercial operations,” Chapman says. “I’d like to create consulting relationships with these producers and analyze legislation with and for them.” 

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