The Arts Council of Oklahoma City presents the 2014 Oklahoma City Storytelling Festival August 21-23 at the Oklahoma History Center.

The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society recently announced the 2014 class of the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. They are:

Jo Lynn Autry Digranes 

(Cookson, Okla.)-Connors State College/Oklahoma City University

Sivaramakrishnan Lakshmivarahan  

(Norman, Okla.)-University of Oklahoma

Michael D. Lorenz  

(Stillwater, Okla.)-Oklahoma State University

Phillip K. Moss  

(Norman, Okla.)-Western Oklahoma State College/Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

John W. Parrish  

(Shawnee, Okla.)-Oklahoma Baptist University

Edmund F. Rybicki  

(Tulsa, Okla.)-University of Tulsa

Joan K. Smith  

(Norman, Okla.)-University of Oklahoma

Bloomer Don Sullivan  

(Lawton, Okla.)-Cameron University

Melvin B. Tolson, Jr.  

(Norman, Okla.)-University of Oklahoma (posthumous award)

Mary Jo Watson  

(Norman, Okla.)-University of Oklahoma

Sue E. Williams  

(Stillwater, Okla.)-Oklahoma State University

Jeanne Hoffman Smith 

(Oklahoma City, Okla.)-Special Award of Merit

The Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognize and honor individuals, living and deceased, for outstanding and meritorious service to higher education in Oklahoma. This year represents the 21st year to honor higher education educators and administrators, as well as those who support higher education with distinguished contributions.

To be eligible for induction, an individual must have been employed by one or more institutions of public or private higher education in Oklahoma on a full-time basis for a minimum of ten years. Individuals not so employed, but who have performed outstanding service to higher education in the state, and organizations or institutions, are also eligible for consideration, such service to be above and beyond financial contributions. Each year the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society may elect to give a Special Award of Merit for distinguished contributions to higher education to an individual, organization or institution deemed worthy of recognition.

The formal induction ceremony and banquet will be held on October 14, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. at the Jim Thorpe Museum/Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Biographical sketches and photographs of past Higher Education Hall of Fame inductees are available on the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society website, www.ohehs.org.

The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society was established in 1991 as a nonprofit to support awareness of higher education's vital role in Oklahoma history. For more information about the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame or the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society, please visit www.ohehs.org, email Marvanna Perry at mperry@okhistory.org or call 405-522-0778.