Melba Phillips – Oppenheimer Colleague and OCU Alumni

Dr. Melba Phillips at Berkley

Perhaps you have wondered about the historical marker that sets on the Oakland City University campus. It celebrates a person who was perhaps our most famous alumnus, Melba Phillips. Melba graduated from Oakland City College in 1926 and went on to become a famous international woman physicist. She was Professor Robert Oppenheimer’s first graduate student…

Read More

“I Owed God Everything” – Dr. James Murray and OCU

Dr. James Murray

James W. Murray’s many accomplishments as president of Oakland City University were easily enough to make him legendary. When he came to Oakland City College in the fall of 1974, after retiring from the Marine Corps as a Lieutenant Colonel, the school teetered on the verge of collapse, strapped with falling enrollment, a lack of…

Read More

Oakland City College and Me – Fifty Years Ago

Carl and Randy

Fifty-year anniversaries of important events in our lives tend to stand out, perhaps because there are still fellow survivors left to share the memories with. This late spring, I celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of my graduation from Oakland City College. To understand the importance of this occasion for me, one must look back at my…

Read More