George Henderson, an OU faculty member since 1967, sits smiling in his seventh-floor office overlooking the snow-covered campus.

Henderson, his hair gray from the years spent at OU, suggests his smile is from his interaction with developing minds. The winds of change are blowing in Norman. This will be his final winter spent at OU.

Henderson, the third black full-time faculty member at OU, said he will notify OU officials of his formal plans to retire in early January and will leave OU at the end of this academic year.

Henderson, 73, said he decided to retire after he reflected on his life, his accomplishments and how he wanted to spend the coming years.

"I firmly believe that I've given as much as I possibly can or should at the expense of wife, my grandchildren and my great grandson," Henderson said. "I honestly came to the conclusion that their time had come."

Henderson was the first black professor in Oklahoma to occupy an endowed chair.

He was also the first black professor to become a dean at OU when he was appointed dean of the College of Liberal Studies in 1996.

In 2003, Henderson was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Kimberly Rutland, assistant director for Student Life and a former student in Henderson's Current Problems class, said the professor will be sorely missed.

"I am saddened that he is retiring," Rutland said. "It is a great loss for the OU community."

OU President David L. Boren said OU will remember what Henderson has done.

"Few people in the history of the university have made such a meaningful contribution to the strength of our university and community than Dr. George Henderson," Boren said. "He will always be a member of our university family."

Over the years, Henderson has taught a variety of sociology and education courses along with writing 28 books on the side. He donated the royalties of his most recent book to scholarships for low-income students.

Rutland said Henderson is a pioneer.

"Dr. Henderson gives us the courage to step out of our comfort zone on a daily basis," Rutland said. "He came to Oklahoma when African Americans did not even own homes in Norman."

Henderson and his wife Barbara were the first black couple to purchase a home in Norman.

Shanel Norwood, president of the Black Student Association and elementary education senior, said Henderson is a source of strength. Norwood said when Henderson would speak at various campus functions, students would draw inspiration from his anecdotes of what he's been through.

Henderson was one of the BSA's first co-advisers along with Melvin Tolson Jr.

Henderson also helped create the Human Relations Program at OU; a task that he said was very difficult.

Henderson said he created the department at a time when human relations wasn't widely respected as an academic discipline. He said the department had to overcome the public's perception of the subject so that it could grow.

"[Human relations] was a very difficult concept to grasp here," he said.

Henderson said his accomplishments over the years have always been secondary to his main goal of teaching.

"I'm gratified through the classroom. I've had the opportunity to help shape the minds of some of the most talented, some the most creative and potentially best students that one could find anywhere," Henderson said. "I exist in a classroom; I'm most alive there. I will miss those things."

Henderson said his legacy doesn't necessarily lie in direct community building or his own accomplishments.

"Those of us who teach leave a legacy of students whose lives we touched," Henderson said. "In terms of my legacy, my legacy will be the accomplishments of those that I've influenced directly or indirectly."

Henderson said the staff and students at OU have given him so much in return for his work. Henderson said teaching and classroom work have become part of him.

"It's a job that has become part of my being. I believe that my life has been extended because of the contributions, the nourishment and the things that I've learned from students. Even though I've been a teacher all of these years, I've always been a learner," Henderson said. "I've had a good run here, a very good run."
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