Toby Keith, Tom E. Love, Barbara Ann Posey Jones and David Proctor will be awarded honorary degrees at this year’s commencement ceremonies.
Keith was an award-winning singer and songwriter from Moore. He was a longtime donor to OU before his death earlier this year, frequently attending OU sporting events and sitting on the sidelines with members of university administration. Keith helped raise millions of dollars for survivors of the 2013 Moore tornado and for children with cancer. In 2015, Keith bought and renovated the restaurant Hollywood Corners. He also opened his own restaurant, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, with locations in Bricktown and Moore. In 2004, he became the co-owner of Belmar Golf Club. Keith died at 62 in February 2024.
Love was the founder of Love's Travel Stops and a longtime donor to the university. He started his gas station company in 1964, which today has 644 locations across 42 states, employing almost 40,000 people. In 2018, the Tom and Judy Love Foundation gave a leadership gift to support entrepreneurship initiatives in the Price College of Business. In 2021, Love’s Travel Stops donated $9 million which helped build OU’s new softball stadium, Love’s Field. Love died at age 85 in March 2023.
Jones is an American economist and Oklahoma City native. In high school, she led sit-ins at various restaurants, including the famous Katz Drug Store sit-in of 1958. Jones helped push for desegregation across the country and has continued her work as a lifelong activist. She graduated from OU in 1963 with a degree in mathematics, economics and political science. She earned a master's from the University of Illinois in 1966 and a doctorate from Georgia State University in 1973. She worked as a professor of economics until her retirement in 2016.
Proctor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work on the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 missions. Proctor earned his bachelor's in mathematics from OU. Proctor and his wife Judi were longtime supporters of the university, donating to his former department and the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. The David and Judi Proctor Department of Mathematics was named in their honor in recognition of a $7 million gift in 2022.
“Through their exceptional talents, transformative leadership and unwavering commitment to serving others, each of this year’s Honorary Degree recipients has left an indelible mark on the world,” OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote in a press release. “Their profound dedication has touched countless lives, and we take great pride in conferring the university’s highest honor upon them.”
OU defines an honorary degree as intended to honor individuals who have made sustained achievements of lasting significance. It is given to recognize outstanding contributions to the enrichment of the university, the state, the nation or the world.
Love and Jones will be honored at 7 p.m. on May 10. Keith and Proctor will be honored at 9 a.m. on May 11. Both ceremonies will be held at Lloyd Noble Center.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Peggy Dodd and Ismael Lele. Lily Grace Battles and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
