Diversity at OU: 1950s

 

1959: First OU "For Credit" Classes

diversityproject_021First "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

Lynn E. Anderson First OU StudentChosen 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

diversityproject_030diversityproject_024OU 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.