Celebrating 50 Years of Rising with Rose Published January 2, 2020 by Dr. Jeanie Webb, Rose State College President

In 2020, Rose State College proudly celebrates our 50^th anniversary – it will be an exciting year with many events celebrating the future of this great college.  

Rose State opened its doors in 1970 because a small group of visionary leaders and educators realized access to higher education was critical to the economic future and quality of life in our community. The campus opened as Oscar Rose Junior College with only one building and several hundred students. Throughout the last 50 years, Rose State has welcomed more than 270,000 students to our expanded campus of 22 buildings, with students coming from 66 counties in Oklahoma, 34 U.S. states and 25 countries. 

We’ve committed to preparing students to enter the workforce equipped with a degree or certificate in addition to the students that transfer directly to our partner universities. 

We have aggressively pursued partnerships with our community, state agencies, sister colleges and universities, career technology centers, Tinker Airforce Base – located directly across the street from Rose State College – and many of our neighbors in aerospace and other industrial partners. We can never forget about the many industries in our state – we work with the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance and serve as the Oklahoma City Small Business Development Center. 

Rose State has more than 50 degrees focusing on STEM, Aerospace, Cyber Security, Nursing, Medical Labs, Radiology, Dental Hygiene, Criminal Justice, Liberal Arts, Social Science, Accounting and more. With so many options, we have something for everyone.  

Just in the last few years, we have opened a new state-of-the-art Learning Resource Center. We’ve updated our campus and expanded our athletics. We are the only urban community college to offer on-campus housing and are now building the second phase of apartments set to open this fall during our 50^th anniversary. In 2020, we will open a brand new Student Union, as well. 

We are committed to changing lives and making college accessible to everyone whether you want to be a part-time student, take classes online or attend campus courses for a four-year experience at a two-year college with a student-to-faculty ratio of 20:1. Our goal is to serve first-generation, adult and traditional students as an open-door college that is completely focused on the needs of the students. 

We have come a long way from that first year and can't wait to see how we will achieve growth through visionary leadership in the next 50 years. There has never been a more exciting time to Rise with Rose and we look forward to celebrating our golden anniversary with you!