UCO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President for Communication and Public Affairs
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor for Political Science and Academic Affairs Equity Advocate
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant I
Ashton is a native Oklahoman growing up in Eufaula. Her collegiate journey began in 2014 at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Vocal Performance in 2018. However, Ashton's love for music had always been rooted in the contemporary world, which led her to ACM@UCO in 2019. She is a proud alumnus of ACM, graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Technology in Spring of 2023.
In 2023, Ashton started her career in higher education, proudly serving as the Administrative Assistant for ACM@UCO.
Job Titles:
- Prospective Student Video" ( Summer - Fall 2019 )
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of TRIO and GEAR UP Programs
Job Titles:
- Director of Academic Student Services at the ACM
- Director, Academic Student Services
Brenda Brent is the Director of Academic Student Services at the ACM@UCO helping students with all things academic from recruitment to admission to advising through graduation.
Brenda began her UCO career as the Freshman Academic Advisor more than 20 years ago and over the years has advised students pursuing all sorts of majors. Prior to moving to the ACM@UCO, Brenda was the Assistant Director for Undergraduate Academic Advising.
Brenda is a two-time alumnus of UCO. She has a bachelor's degree in Political Science and master's degree in Adult Education and Community Service.
Job Titles:
- Director of Risk Management and Safety Operations
Job Titles:
- Interim Dean, College of Education and Professional Studies
Job Titles:
- Program Director, Contemporary Music Business
Job Titles:
- Director, Center for Counseling and Well - Being
Job Titles:
- Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Job Titles:
- Program Director, Contemporary Music Production
Job Titles:
- Inclusion Strategist
- Inclusion Strategist for the Office of Inclusive Community
Job Titles:
- Manager of the Business Development Center at the Academy of Contemporary Music
- MANAGER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Derek is the Manager of the Business Development Center at the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) and was part of the original staff that helped open its doors in the fall of 2009. It is here that Derek works to connect the music industry to ACM@UCO's student body by advocating on behalf of the students to the industry at large.
In 2001, Derek reconnected with ACM@UCO CEO Scott Booker and began working at Hellfire Marketing, helping market records by the likes of Sigur Ros, Mercury Rev and Vincent Gallo, among others. Additionally, he assisted on the management side of things. Later, Scott brought Derek on to be part of the World's Fair Label Group that provided label services for record labels like Daptone, Fabric, and Bella Union.
Derek has had a dual-career as a multi-instrumentalist performing and recording with the Flaming Lips, Liz Phair, Steve Burns, the Starlight Mints, the Chainsaw Kittens and his own project, Crocodile. In the summer of 2009, Derek began supplementing the Flaming Lips' live lineup, which has brought him to performing with the band for over 200 shows on five continents.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Vice President for the Office of Inclusive Community
- Assistant VP of Inclusive Community
- Asst. VP for Inclusive Community
Job Titles:
- Assistant VP, Talent Management, Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness
Job Titles:
- Faculty and Student Technology Support" ( Summer 2020 )
Job Titles:
- Admissions & Aid Academics about Student Life Athletics Search
- Director CGC / Global Learning
- Director of the Centre for Global Competency
- Executive Director of the Oklahoma Governor 's International
Jared Scism works as the director of the Centre for Global Competency and Global Learning on campus. Scism is responsible for helping international students, American students and community members understand different cultures by executing a number of events each month through the UCO International House and helping prepare students to study abroad. Scism also teaches the applied intercultural competency course as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Sociology, Gerontology and Substance Abuse Studies. Scism is a proud alumnus of Central and completed his master's degree in adult education with an emphasis in bilingual education at UCO in May 2020.
Additionally, Scism serves as the executive director of the Oklahoma Governor's International team and the past president of the Japan America Society of Oklahoma.
Ironically, Scism was not encouraged to be globally minded as he was growing up; the only international experience he had was traveling to Europe with his best friend during their junior year of high school. When he entered college, Scism's first roommate was Chinese. Although Scism was uncomfortable at first, he quickly began to develop a relationship with his roommate and other Chinese and Rwandan students on campus. Soon he became very interested in international students and the culture they had to share. Throughout his time in college, Scism was able to travel to Africa to do mission work, as well as study abroad for two semesters in Japan. He founded a new chapter of the People to People International organization on his campus, where he served as president.
After graduating from Oklahoma Christian University with a general studies degree (emphasizing the bible, teaching English as a foreign language, and international studies), Scism returned to Japan to work as an English teacher and missionary. Scism moved back to the United States with his wife, Cassie, in 2012. Scism and Cassie continue to travel internationally and have visited over forty countries in all six major continents and hope to travel to Antarctica someday. From all of these experiences, Jared has become passionate about making Oklahoma a place that is more culturally diverse and hopes to someday make Oklahoma one of the most diverse states in the country.
Job Titles:
- Information Systems and Operations Management
Job Titles:
- Student Success and Retention Call Campaign" ( Summer 2020 )
Job Titles:
- Facilities Project Manager
Kendall is an Oklahoma native, born and raised in Edmond. He attended OSU-OKC to receive his associate's degree in Construction Technology before continuing on to obtain his bachelor's degree in 3D Studio Art from UCO.
His most recent work is as a contractor on an energy conservation and building educational program, in addition to his independent contracting. Kendall joined the ACM@UCO team in September of 2013.
Job Titles:
- Studio Manager, Full - Time Lecturer
Job Titles:
- Business Manager
- Business Manager for the ACM
Kimberly Slagle serves as the Business Manager for the ACM@UCO. A native Oklahoman, she is a proud alumnus of UCO receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2006. Her career in higher education began at UCO after graduation in the College of Fine Arts and Design in the Department of Art. In 2007, she moved into the CFAD Dean's Office before stepping into her current role at the ACM@UCO in 2013.
Job Titles:
- Director for Curriculum and Policy
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Admissions & Aid Academics about Student Life Athletics Search
- Director, the Center / Assoc. Professor, Women 's, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Lindsey Churchill is an associate professor of history in the Department of History and Geography at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is the creator and director of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies minor. In 2015,she worked with the campus community to create the Center which includes the Women's Research Center and the BGLTQ+ Student Center. Her book, "Becoming the Tupamaros: Solidarity and Transnational Revolutionaries in Uruguay and the United States," was published in February 2014 by Vanderbilt University Press. Churchill worked as a Fulbright Specialist in Latvia in 2016. She is the recipient of the Oklahoma Human Rights Award from the United Nations Association and Oklahoma University Human Rights Association (2016).
At the Women's Research Center and BGLTQ+ Student Center, Churchill supervises more than 40 student researchers, interns and volunteers. She has given more than 50 invited lectures, speeches and discussions about issues regarding sexual health, gender and sexuality studies.
Education and Certifications
Florida State University
Job Titles:
- Program Director, Contemporary Music Performance
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate Marketing and Social Media
Job Titles:
- Senior Director
- Admissions & Aid Academics about Student Life Athletics Search
- Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Student Success
Niccole Miller serves as the senior director of strategic initiatives for student success in the College of Business at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is primarily responsible for strategic initiatives in the areas of recruitment, retention, and student success, in addition to college academic policy and compliance with university policy. Miller has been with the College of Business since July 2014, and at UCO since February 2012. She also serves as an adjunct professor at UCO. Her research interests include athletic identity, college-to-career transitions, leadership, and mother doctoral students.
Education and Certifications
Degrees
Doctor of Philosophy, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies - Higher Education, Cognate in Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University
Master of Business Administration, Focus in Entrepreneurship, Oklahoma State University
Bachelor of Science, Marketing, Minor in Nutritional Sciences, Oklahoma State University
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Associate Director of the Academy of Contemporary Music
Canadian-American composer and violinist Patrick Conlon is the Associate Director of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma. A genre-busting performer, composer, producer, and session player, Patrick is often found working with songwriters and producers and teaching Film Scoring, Music Culture, and Production classes. Equally at home with country fiddling, gypsy jazz, and classical symphonies, Patrick is obsessed with the notion that diversity of knowledge makes us better musicians and people. He believes in equipping his students with the skills and expertise to explore the furthest reaches of their creativity, and is grateful to be part of the community at ACM@UCO that provides such fertile ground for young artists to thrive.
As a composer, Patrick has written for and collaborated with such diverse groups as the Los Angeles New Music Ensemble, Arkansas Symphony, Fort Smith Symphony, Trio Encantado, More than Music, Other Lives, Princeton, Good King Friday, Soundcat Productions, Puntastic Productions, and Scissortail Productions, among many others. He is the principal second violinist for the Fort Smith Symphony, performs regularly with the Lawton Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and was a featured extra musician in the film I Can Only Imagine. Patrick is a voting member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), and his work is featured on the Naxos, Centaur, Hit City U.S.A., Onyx Lane Records, and TBD Records labels.
Job Titles:
- Director, Enrollment Management
Job Titles:
- Interim Assistant Dean / Professor, College of Fine Arts and Design
Scott Booker began his career in the music industry as a clerk at Sound Warehouse in Midwest City, Okla. in 1981. Soon after, while working at Rainbow Records in Oklahoma City, Scott began promoting small concerts in the surrounding areas. Working with venues like the Pyramid club in Bricktown, Rome 90 in Norman and the Blue Note in Oklahoma City, Scott brought acts like Superchunk, Firehose and Nirvana to the state.
Shortly after graduating with a degree from Central State University (now the University of Central Oklahoma) in education (emphasis on History), he met local band the Flaming Lips and began managing them in 1990, creating Hellfire Enterprises Ltd., an artist management company. After 20 years, Booker continues to work with the three-time Grammy Award-winning band. Also on the current management roster is Night Moves on Domino Records and Colourmusic. He has also worked with Academy Award Nominee Elliott Smith, and other acts like Wheat and British Sea Power.
In 2003, Booker co-founded World's Fair Label Group - a service company that runs record labels for artists, assisting them with self-releasing their own music. World's Fair Label Group worked with labels such as Rough Trade, Jeepster, Wichita and labels owned by artists like the Dandy Warhols. In 2008, Booker sold his shares in World's Fair Label Group to focus on the Flaming Lips and a new educational project.
The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) opened its doors in the fall of 2009 to 160 students. Booker is the CEO, bringing his knowledge of the music industry to a business and arts-centric program. Discovering the ACM in Europe in 2007, Booker helped bring the Academy to their partnership with UCO. Booker has brought guests like Roger Daltrey from the Who, Maynard Keenan from Tool, Jackson Browne and Prince's band The Revolution to be interviewed by him in Masterclasses.
Job Titles:
- Project Director, Campus Enterprises
Job Titles:
- Director, Housing and Dining
Job Titles:
- Admissions & Aid Academics about Student Life Athletics Search
- Assistant Director Metadata & Cataloging
- Assistant Director of Metadata and Cataloging at Chambers Library
Shay Beezley is the assistant director of Metadata and Cataloging at Chambers Library where she leads a team of six full-time employees and up to four student employees in providing accurate, effective and timely access to library resources. Metadata and Cataloging is dedicated to the library's mission of connecting the Central community to dynamic resources that support transformative learning by cultivating a collaborative environment that supports thoughtful and conscientious consideration of bibliographic description, subject analysis and emerging methods of metadata application.
She participates in the Library Digital Initiatives Working Group whose focus is on developing and promoting the library's digital collections. Her metadata expertise helps guide the content management of resources the library makes accessible through SHAREOK, a joint institutional repository between UCO, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
As a professional librarian, she also leads collection development efforts for the Department of English and the Department of Modern Languages. Her primary focus in collection development for these areas is increasing historically underrepresented and marginalized voices in the library's collections.
Outside of the library, she enjoys practicing her amateur photography skills, dabbling in various crafts from embroidery to zine-making, visiting museums (especially art museums and small, niche museums) and checking off "Places Visited" on Atlas Obscura.
Education and Certifications
M.S., Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011
B.A., English, magna cum laude, East Carolina University, 2009
Job Titles:
- Student Success Workshops" ( Spring 2023 )
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Admissions & Aid Academics about Student Life Athletics Search
- Instructor of German
Sophia Clark, Ph.D., joined the Department of Modern Languages at UCO in 2020. Her research focuses on German literature and drama of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and she specializes in questions of justice and legal reform thought in plays of the 18th century. She has presented at international conferences on the topics of legal reform in the plays of August Wilhelm Iffland, film adaptations of Heinrich von Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas, and early German Gothic poetry.
Clark is an enthusiastic instructor of German and believes that language, literature, and cultural studies are essential parts of college education and life-long learning. She also encourages students to put their classroom learning to use by participating in study abroad and summer language immersion programs. As an undergraduate, she studied German and art history as an exchange student at the University of Heidelberg, as well as printmaking and fashion drawing at the Technical University of Hamburg. She is always happy to talk to students about finding ways to go abroad for their education.
Job Titles:
- Women 's Research Center / BGLTQ Student Center
Todd G. Lamb became the University of Central Oklahoma's 22 nd President July 1, 2023, marking a new chapter in a distinguished career that spans public service, statewide elected office, private law practice and business ownership. In his role leading Oklahoma's metropolitan university, President Lamb ensures the Central team remains focused on educating students through transformative learning and meeting the critical workforce needs of our state and nation.
President Lamb champions a commitment throughout campus to what he has coined "The B.R.O.N.C.H.O. Way" - Being Reflective of Our Neighborhood, Community, History and Oklahoma. This commitment connects the University mission and values to relevant action that ensures accessibility to a quality university education for students.
Born in Enid, Oklahoma, President Lamb earned his bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University, also attending classes at UCO during his undergrad pursuit. He earned a Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University.
Early in his career, Lamb was a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service. He was appointed to the Joint Terrorism Task Force and was assigned to portions of the 9/11 investigation. He also served on details protecting President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.
Following his tenure with the U.S. Secret Service, President Lamb worked on the staff of U.S. Senator Don Nickles. He was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate in 2004 where he represented portions of Edmond and northwest Oklahoma City. He rose to the position of Majority Floor Leader during his Senate tenure.
President Lamb was elected as the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Oklahoma, a position he held from 2011 to 2019. During his time in elected office at the Oklahoma State Capitol, he served in a number of leadership roles, focusing on educational, financial and commerce matters. He also was the recipient of the Oklahoma State Regents Distinguished Service Award for his dedication to strengthening higher education in Oklahoma.
Upon reentering the private sector in 2019, he was involved in a number of private business ventures, including the practice of law, focusing on business and governmental matters.
President Lamb's diverse background in government, law, financial management and industry is helping guide UCO into the future as a leading university in career readiness.
President Lamb has been married to his wife, Monica, for 28 years. A longtime educator, she most recently taught at Cashion Public Schools. Monica stepped away from the classroom to commit herself to serving UCO students, faculty and staff as the University's First Lady. The Lambs have two children.
Job Titles:
- Massacre - Renowned Historian, Mr. Hannibal B. Johnson Provides Insight into the Events Leading Up to and After the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Job Titles:
- Equipment Technology Support Specialist
An ACM alum from the very first graduating class, Tyler has been producing and mixing records for over ten years. Tyler opened his recording studio, 33rd Street Studio, in 2013. Tyler also has a background as a touring sound engineer and tour manager.