Tulsans Honored at Global Vision, Headliners
Prominent Tulsans are being honored this spring for their service to the community. The Tulsa Press Club saluted Nancy Day of and Steve Turnbo of Schnake Turnbo Frank at the annual Headliners Dinner April 7, and for Tulsa Mayor M. Susan Savage and former Tulsa Community College President Dean VanTrease will be honored at the 16th Annual Global Vision Awards Tuesday, May 3 at the DoubleTree Downtown Hotel in Tulsa.
Savage is being honored by the Tulsa Global Alliance for forging relationships with three new Sister Cities during her ten-year term as Tulsa’s Mayor, and for her work toward making a significant and lasting contribution to global understanding and diplomacy as the Oklahoma Secretary of State. Rodger Randle, past Global Vision honoree, will introduce Savage at the ceremony.
She says “My first opportunities to experience life beyond Oklahoma and the U..S were connected to education. A summer in France at 17 to study literature and language was a unique opportunity to learn how to live with a second language and with unfamiliar environs and customs. Meals with French families who opened their doors, ordering in a restaurant, weekend excursions in the countryside all required me to listen, observe and perceive the world through a different lens. A semester abroad as a college student in one of the world’s great cities, London, was remarkable. I studied art history, architecture, music, and city design and planning, all of which established a foundation and appreciation for how diverse people live together. My lifelong love for cities, their complexity of issues and the opportunities to build places where people wish to live were shaped and enhanced through these experiences.”
Dr. Dean P. VanTrease is recognized as founder of the Oklahoma Global Education Consortium, and while president and of Tulsa Community College he promoted international intercultural education nationally while helping offer 14 international languages and their “International Campus.” Dr. Tom K. McKeon, current Tulsa Community College president and , will introduce VanTrease at the ceremony.
Looking back, he says “In 1959, I was a college dropout for one year, after my junior year at the University of Washington, and ended up sailing from Panama to New Zealand after driving a 1948 Willys Jeepster with a friend from the State of Washington to San Jose, Costa Rica. I was navigator on a 27- foot sailboat. Later, my wife Vesta and I quit our jobs in 1964 and traveled for five months in Europe, living in a VW Camper, which we eventually drove to Israel.
Both of these experiences had a significant impact on my interest in global education.”
The Tulsa Press Club has honored “Headliners” since 1956. This year’s Headliners are Nancy Day, executive director of the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, and Steve Turnbo, chairman emeritus of Schnake Turnbo Frank PR. They were recognized April 7 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tulsa.
Since being named executive director of in 1983, Day has been making headlines in her efforts to end bias, bigotry and racism in the community. Day has established as the voice of inclusion and tolerance in the Tulsa area.
Turnbo is well-known in public relations and media areas, not only for his professional expertise but also for his commitment to the community.
Since starting his firm more than 20 years ago, he’s been behind the scenes of some of the state’s biggest headlines, helping his clients make them and, sometimes, avoid them. His charitable work in the community has involved offering his time, talent and resources to countless organizations.
Turnbo was also honored this spring by the University of Tulsa, where he was inducted into the Communication Hall of Fame.
Updated 04-19-2011
READER COMMENTS
