About Us

History

Oklahoma State Legislature created Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU) in 1909 to be an Oklahoma Panhandle based agricultural institute offering a secondary agricultural education to the region. Time would pass, and the college would grow. The legislature authorized the school to offer a two-year college curriculum and changed the name of the university to Panhandle Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1921. In the middle of the decade, 1925, the State Board of Agriculture authorized upper division college courses, and this would be followed by an addition, in the summer of 1926, of junior and senior level courses to the curriculum. Reaching from that time to the present, OPSU has seen history, growth, and two changes in name ordered by legislature: Oklahoma Panhandle State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in 1967, and the familiar and current title of Oklahoma Panhandle State University in 1974.

Today

OPSU wishes to add to the legacy already established by its long standing history and exists as a baccalaureate degree granting institution at the present time. OPSU is an accredited university by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, a member of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Oklahoma System of Higher Education, and is approved by NCATE and the State Board of Education for the preparation of elementary and secondary teachers. General governance of the university is managed by the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. The academic programs and financial support of OPSU are authorized and coordinated via the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Centennial Celebration

OPSU observes 100 years of serving the educational needs of area citizens and businesses in 2009! Centennial Celebrations will kick off with the dedication of the new Science and Agriculture Building during football homecoming on October 25, 2008. A Centennial seal was commissioned and produced and has been used to create special merchandise such as T-shirts (available in the OPSU Bookstore) and signed, numbered coffee mugs hand-crafted by OPSU Art Instructor Brent Shoulders. For more information about Centennial projects, contact Dr. Sara Richter at 580-349-1472 or via email at saraj@opsu.edu.