Education
Specific, checkable academic distinctions across the metro's three universities: an internationally accredited aviation college, the state's only ALA-accredited library program, a standalone forensic science institute, and a Shawnee university with ten national championship banners.
Oklahoma Baptist University
Oklahoma Baptist University, founded in Shawnee in 1910, has won ten NAIA national championships across its athletic programs, including men's basketball titles in 1966 and 2010. Owned and supported by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, OBU now competes in NCAA Division II's Great American Conference on a 200-plus-acre campus, with an endowment that reached $140 million in 2019.
University of Central Oklahoma
The University of Central Oklahoma, in Edmond, houses a dedicated Forensic Science Institute among its academic divisions — a standalone program most regional universities don't offer. UCO's jazz studies program, established in 1974, has its own track record: its Dixieland band was ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1983, and its Jazz Ensemble I won "Outstanding University Jazz Ensemble" at the University of North Texas Jazz Festival in both 2006 and 2008.
University of Oklahoma College of Aviation
The University of Oklahoma's College of Aviation, in Norman, is one of only 29 colleges worldwide accredited by the Aviation Accreditation Board International — a specific, internationally recognized accreditation most university aviation programs don't carry.
University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies
OU's School of Library and Information Studies, ranked 28th nationally, is the only American Library Association-accredited library science program in Oklahoma — anyone in the state pursuing an ALA-accredited MLIS degree has exactly one in-state option.