Recent News

Give the gift of entertainment this holiday season by purchasing tickets for East Central University’s two featured performances of “Broadway’s Next H!T Musical” on Jan. 21, 2016 and “An Evening with Molly Ringwald” on April 7, 2016.

For $50, a person can receive a ticket for both shows which are part of ECU’s 2015-2016 Fine Arts Season.

Capture the holiday spirit by attending “A Showtime Christmas”, featuring a follies show with short Christmas skits, singing and dancing, on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 10-11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dorothy Summers Theatre on the East Central University campus.

“A Showtime Christmas, will be performed by ECU Showtime, ECU’s premiere music theatre performing ensemble. ECU Showtime is under the direction of Vickie Reifsnider. Musical direction for “A Showtime Christmas” is being provided by Rudy Lupinski and choreography from Michelle Rambo.

Two performances of the cherished holiday show Oklahoma City Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” can be seen at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5, at East Central University’s Ataloa Theatre in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center.

The production is being presented by the Chickasaw Nation and Devon Energy.

East Central University’s Music Department will present the ECU Jazz Ensemble Concert, under the direction of Kirk Palmer, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3 in the Dorothy Summers Theater.

The concert, which free and open to the public, will feature musical selections such as: A Time for Love, Ain’t Misbehavin, Blue Daniel, In a Mello Tone, Mercy Mercy Mercy, Oh Holy Night, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Things Ain’t What They Used to be and I Snore, You Drive.

A course on hymnology and liturgy will be offered this spring as part of the sacred music concentration, offered by East Central University’s Department of Music on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m.-11:50 a.m. in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center, beginning Jan. 11.

The course will provide an overview of the history and functions of hymns throughout the ages as well as a study of their literary and theological significance, according to W.T. Skye Garcia, coordinator of the ECU Sacred Music Program and instructor for the class.

East Central University, with the help of $2 million Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) Grant, is in the midst of establishing a one-stop shop to help students stay in college, graduate and earn a degree.

The five-year grant (at $400,000 per year) has led to the establishment of the ECU Academic Success Center, located on the second floor of the Administration Building on the ECU campus.

East Central University will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 25 and running through Friday, Nov. 27. Tuesday night classes, on Nov. 24, will still be in session. The campus will reopen at 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 30.

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Dr. Jimmy V. Scales has been a pioneer, whether it’s being one of the first two African American football players at East Central University in the 1960s or being the first African American appointed to the Oklahoma State School Board in 1984.

Scales, a nationally-recognized educator, civic and social leader and former superintendent of Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tenn., will address 232 bachelor’s degree candidates and 101 master’s degree candidates during the 2015 ECU Fall Commencement Ceremonies at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Kerr Activities Center.