37 Notable alumni of
University of Central Oklahoma
Updated:
The University of Central Oklahoma is 1716th in the world, 593rd in North America, and 557th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 37 notable alumni from the University of Central Oklahoma sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Paul Wight
- Occupations
- basketball playerprofessional wrestleractorpundit
- Biography
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Paul Donald Wight II is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under his real name. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1995 to 1999 as (the) Giant and his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation/WWE from 1999 to 2021 under the ring name (the) Big Show.
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Jim Beaver
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm directoractorwriterfilm producer
- Biography
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James Norman Beaver Jr. is an American actor, writer, and film historian. He portrayed Bobby Singer in Supernatural. He also played Whitney Ellsworth on the HBO Western drama series Deadwood, which brought him acclaim and a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for Ensemble Acting, Sheriff Shelby Parlow on the FX series Justified, and Robert "Dakota Bob" Singer on the Amazon Prime Video series The Boys. His memoir Life's That Way was published in April 2009.
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Muhammed Lawal
- Occupations
- amateur wrestlerprofessional wrestlermixed martial arts fighter
- Biography
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Muhammed Lawal, known by his ring name King Mo, is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. As a mixed martial artist, he is a former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and Rizin 100kg World Grand Prix Champion.
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Milena Govich
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm directortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Milena Govich is an American actress, director, singer, dancer, and musician, who may be best known for portraying Detective Nina Cassady for one season on Law & Order (2006–2007).
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Mary Fallin
- Enrolled in the University of Central Oklahoma
- Studied in 1979-1981
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mary Newt Fallin is an American politician and real estate broker who served as the 27th governor of Oklahoma from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2011, and as lieutenant governor from 1995 to 2007. As of 2025, Fallin remains the only woman to have served as governor of Oklahoma.
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Randall L. Stephenson
- Occupations
- chief executive officer
- Biography
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Randall Lynn Stephenson is a retired American telecommunications executive. He served as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AT&T Inc. from 2007 to 2020. He was national president of Scouting America from 2016 to 2018.
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Michael D. Brown
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Michael DeWayne Brown is an American attorney, and former government official who served as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2003 to 2005. He joined FEMA as general counsel in 2001 and became deputy director the same year. Appointed in January 2003 by President George W. Bush to lead FEMA, Brown resigned in September 2005 following his controversial handling of Hurricane Katrina. Brown currently hosts a radio talk show on 630 KHOW in Denver, Colorado.
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Kenny Garrett
- Occupations
- saxophonistcomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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Kenny Garrett is an American post-bop jazz musician and composer who gained recognition in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and for his time with Miles Davis's band. Garrett's primary instruments are alto and soprano saxophone and flute. Since 1985, he has pursued a solo career.
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Suhaib Webb
- Occupations
- imam
- Biography
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Suhaib Webb is an American imam. He previously served as the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.
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Lauren Nelson
- Occupations
- beauty pageant contestantnews presentermodel
- Biography
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Lauren Paige Nelson is a beauty queen from Lawton, Oklahoma, who holds the Miss America 2007 title. Nelson is the second consecutive Miss America and sixth in the history of Miss America to hail from this state.
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Donna Campbell
- Occupations
- ophthalmologistphysicianpolitician
- Biography
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Donna Sue Campbell is an American politician and physician who is the 25th District member of the Texas Senate. On July 31, 2012, she became the first person in Texas history to defeat an incumbent Republican senator, Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, in a primary election.
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Bijan Allipour
- Occupations
- engineerbusinesspersonentrepreneur
- Biography
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Bijan Allipour was an Iranian business executive and upstream oil and gas expert. He was an advisor to the Petroleum Minister of Iran (Bijan Zangeneh) in development projects. He was chairman and CEO of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) from 2014 to 2018. Allipour was also a member of the board of directors of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). He had earlier been the senior executive vice president of NISOC, which he had joined in 1979.
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Benjamin Wey
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Benjamin Wey is a Chinese-born US Wall Street financier and CEO of New York Global Group (NYGG). He began his financial career as an investment advisor and broker in Oklahoma in the late 1990s. Wey and NYGG were among the most active "facilitators and promoters" of reverse takeovers, which created Special-Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) and allowed small Chinese companies to raise capital on U.S. markets, until reverse takeovers became the subject of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation in 2011.
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Daniel McCutchen
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Daniel Thomas McCutchen is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers.
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Cyndi Munson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Cyndi Ann Munson is an American politician who has served as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 85th district since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served as minority leader of the Oklahoma House of Representatives since 2022.
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Diane Glancy
- Occupations
- writerplaywrightpoetnovelist
- Biography
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(Helen) Diane Glancy (born March 18, 1941) is an American poet, author, and playwright.
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Gregory J. Slavonic
- Occupations
- admiral
- Biography
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Gregory Joseph Slavonic is an American government official and retired U.S. Navy officer. He has served as Acting Under Secretary of the Navy from April 24, 2020 to January 20, 2021. He also served as the U.S. Senate-confirmed 18th United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs from June 11, 2018 to January 20, 2021. Slavonic retired as a one-star rear admiral serving 34 years in the United States Navy and the Navy Reserve.
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Greg Garrett
- Occupations
- blogger
- Biography
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Greg Garrett is a writer, professor, speaker, preacher, and musician based in Austin, Texas.
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Alicia Tate-Nadeau
- Born in
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United States - Occupations
- soldier
- Biography
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Brigadier General Alicia A. Tate-Nadeau is a senior officer in the United States Army National Guard and the first woman to be promoted to brigadier general in the Illinois Army National Guard. She currently serves as the director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.
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Jermelle Cudjo
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Jermelle Cudjo is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Central Oklahoma. He has played for the St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, and New York Giants.
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Rita Aragon
- Years
- 1947-.. (age 79)
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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LaRita A. "Rita" Aragon is a retired United States Air National Guard two-star general who most recently served as the 4th Oklahoma Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Her final active military post was as the Air National Guard assistant to the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower and Personnel. She retired in 2006.
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Dwight E. Adams
- Occupations
- forensic scientist
- Biography
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Dwight E Adams, is a forensic scientist.
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Elise Hall
- Years
- 1989-.. (age 37)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Elise Hall is a Republican politician from Oklahoma. Hall was the Representative for District 100 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. In April 2018, she announced that she would not seek re-election to the seat later that year.
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Lynn Seaton
- Occupations
- university teachermusic educatorjazz musician
- Biography
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Lynn Seaton is a jazz bassist associated with bebop and swing.
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Chris Kelsey
- Occupations
- music criticsaxophonistjazz musician
- Biography
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Chris Kelsey is an American-born jazz saxophonist, composer, music critic, and novelist. His music draws on bebop, free jazz, free improvisation, funk, and fusion, and is augmented by elements of non-tonal, contemporary classical music. His fiction is inspired by such crime writers as Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, and Dashiell Hammett. As a musician, Kelsey has worked almost exclusively as a leader of his own ensembles, usually trios and quartets. From the late 1980s, his principal instrument has been soprano saxophone, though in recent years he has recorded and performed on tenor and alto, as well. Kelsey has recorded nearly twenty albums under his own name, many for the C.I.M.P. label. With rare exceptions, he has recorded and performed his own original compositions. His first novel, Where the Hurt Is, was published in 2018 by Black Rose Writing. As a critic, he has written for leading jazz publications and web sites, including Jazziz, JazzTimes, Cadence, AllMusic, and Jazz.com.
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Kengal Shreepada Renu
- Occupations
- cricketer
- Biography
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Kengal Shreepada Renu is an Indian politician. He is the grandson of Kengal Hanumanthaiah, the most revered politician in Karnataka, who was the 2nd Chief Minister of the State, and, who built the State Legislature called Vidhana Soudha. He is also a former Ranji cricketer representing the State of Karnataka, and an accomplished golfer having won more than 50 club and amateur tournaments.
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Will Rogers
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Will Rogers was a United States representative from Oklahoma.
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Milt Heflin
- Years
- 1943-.. (age 83)
- Occupations
- executive
- Biography
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James Milton Heflin Jr. is a retired NASA official, who recently served as the associate director for technical activities at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Heflin also served as lead flight director for seven high-profile Space Shuttle missions, including the first to service and repair the Hubble Space Telescope and three that deployed inter-planetary probes.
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Debbe Leftwich
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Debbe Leftwich is a politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Leftwich was a member of the Oklahoma Senate from 2003 until 2010. She won the vacant seat through a special election after the death of her husband and former senator Keith Leftwich. She was a key figure in the 2010 Oklahoma political corruption investigation for her role in a bribery scheme in which she was accused of agreeing to not run for re-election in 2010 in exchange for a state job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
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Kari Miller
- Occupations
- beach volleyball playersitting volleyball player
- Biography
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Kari LaRaine Miller is an American Paralympic volleyball player.
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Robin J. Cauthron
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Robin Louise Johnson Cauthron is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
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Lance Allen Robertson
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 55)
- Biography
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Lance Allen Robertson is a United States Army veteran, university administrator, and government official who formerly served as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services (Aging). Prior to assuming his current role, he served as Oklahoma's Director of Aging Services from 2007 through 2017. Robertson was previously an administrator at Oklahoma State University, executive director of PartnerShips for Aging, and president of the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities. Robertson currently serves as partner of Guidehouse.
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Gary Banz
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Gary Banz is a retired American educator and former Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. He served as a majority whip of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and as Oklahoma state leader besides national secretary of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
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John Fitzgerald
- Occupations
- athletics competitorAmerican football player
- Biography
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John Fitzgerald is an American former college football player. He played offensive guard for the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma from 1997-2000. During his career, Fitzgerald was named an NCAA All-American following his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He was also named Daktronics All-West Region all three seasons and All–Lone Star Conference each season. Fitzgerald was also the Lone Star Conference Offensive Lineman of The Year in 1998.
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Roger P. Scheer
- Occupations
- military leader
- Biography
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Roger P. Scheer was a major general in the United States Air Force who served as Commander of the United States Air Force Reserve Command, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., and commander, Headquarters Air Force Reserve, a separate operating agency located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. As chief of Air Force Reserve, he served as the principal adviser on Reserve matters to the Air Force Chief of Staff. As commander of AFRES, he had full responsibility for the supervision of U.S. Air Force Reserve units around the world.
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Rick Shaw
- Years
- 1956-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- journalistteacher
- Biography
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Richard F. Shaw is the director of Pictures of the Year International (POYi), a photojournalism program, and an educator in visual journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. He is a former manager and senior editor at several daily newspapers in the United States.
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W. K. Stratton
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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William Kip "W.K." Stratton is an American writer, known for his historical non-fiction publications. Stratton lives in suburban Austin, Texas.
