Diversity at OU
1950s
1959: First OU "For Credit" Classes
First "for credit" classes begin on September 21 with 570 students (1). Race and gender statistics are unavailable for this group.
Image: Oakland University Archives
1. In July 1958, OU offers non-credit continuous education class in a converted chicken coop. See OU Firsts
1959: Lynn Anderson Ruth: First OU Student
Chosen from a pool of students who finished in the top half of their class, Lynn Anderson Ruth registers for classes at Michigan State University - Oakland and receives student number 000001, making history as the first MSUO student.
Image: Oakland University Archives
1959: OU's First International Students
OU enrolls its first international student, Aydin Ilgaz, a 19-year old male from Istanbul, Turkey (1). Dang Xich Lan (above right), a 29 year old from Vietnam, enrolls in January 1960 (2).
1. "MSU-O Has First Foreign Student," The Oakland Observer, 11 December 1959, p. 5.
2. "Vietnam Student Enrolls at MSUO," The Oakland Observer, 29 January 1960, p. 1.
Images: Oakland University Archives
Photos courtesy of the Oakland University Archives.
Project credits: original research by Johnnie Blunt; updates by Dominique Daniel and Cheyanne Kramer
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