HON: What year did you graduate from OU? Did you graduate with distinction, magna, or summa cum laude?
RM: I graduated in 2007, summa cum laude. I received the Horace C. Peterson Memorial Scholarship, awarded to the outstanding senior history major.
HON: What was/were your major(s)/minor(s)?
RM: I majored in history and minored in linguistics. Although I'm Cherokee myself, I wrote my honors thesis on Creek diplomacy in the 18th century, and studied Choctaw linguistics.
HON: What OU clubs, student groups or activities were you involved in?
RM: I was never super active in clubs or activities, but did participate in Linguistics Club activities, Phi Kappa Phi honor society events, and tried to make as many star parties at the OU Observatory as the weather allowed.
HON: Do you have any favorite memories/experiences of the Honors college?
RM: I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend the Honors College. The combination of small class size and high expectations created exactly the right environment to encourage intellectual growth. I worked closely with several professors, each of whom shaped not just my time at OU, but the trajectory of my life afterward. David Ray's courses on American government provided a framework for understanding political life in the US, but it was his general insistence on the importance of reading—critically and unceasingly— that stuck with me most. Josh Piker, who supervised my honors thesis, taught me how to think like a historian, trusted me as a research assistant for his own work, and helped me navigate the academic world beyond my undergraduate years.
HON: How did your time at the Honors College prepare you for your life after graduation? To you, what was the value of graduating with Honors?
RM: Immediately after graduation, I was accepted into the PhD program in History at Harvard University. My experience at the Honors College prepared me for that transition, as I had already taken on a few substantive, rigorous research projects. More broadly speaking, the Honors College provided me with a foundation for how to learn independently, share knowledge, and pay attention to the world around me. These are not skills that one can only get through the Honors College, but in my experience, it was an environment that amplified those abilities.
HON: What have been your biggest achievements since graduating from OU? What is your current occupation?
RM: I am currently the manager of the archives at the Cherokee National Research Center in Tahlequah, home of the Cherokee Nation's collection of art artifacts, and archives. After 15 years in New England, I returned to Oklahoma to take this position in 2022. As the Research Center grows, I am eager to build relationships with other institutions in Oklahoma and beyond, including OU, its faculty, and its current student body.
HON: What year did you graduate from OU? Did you graduate with distinction, magna, or summa cum laude?
RG: I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma in 2013.
HON: What were your major(s)/minor(s)?
RG: My major was Multidisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Biological Sciences. My minors were Chemistry, History and Psychology.
HON: What OU clubs, student groups or activities were you involved in?
RG: I held a leadership position in Green Week, and I was a member of the Democrats Club and the Pre-Medicine Club.
HON: Do you have any favorite memories/experiences of the Honors college?
RG: My favorite part of being in the Honors College was getting to meet so many incredible people. I formed a lifelong study group with people who all had very diverse strengths. We complemented each other's abilities well and were able to help when some of us were struggling. Having a core group of studious friends made my college experience much smoother.
I remember taking Dr. Marie Dallam's American Religions/Margins course. It was a very interesting breath of fresh air amongst my medical science-heavy schedule. Delving into what makes a religious movement marginalized sparked an interest in me that continues to this day. Currently I study the psychopathology of cults from a forensic psychiatry lens. I teach medical students, psychiatry residents, forensic psychiatry fellows, and forensic psychiatrists about what constitutes a cult and what makes a cult leader.
HON: How did your time at the Honors College prepare you for your life after graduation? To you, what was the value of graduating with Honors?
RG: Learning in the Honors College led me to think more critically about a wide variety of topics. It plucked me out of my comfort zone of memorizing scientific theories and allowed me to broaden my horizons and cognitive abilities. Studying topics that were more foreign to me and less black and white provided me the opportunity to develop more abstract understandings of my world.
HON: What have been your biggest achievements since graduating from OU? What is your current occupation?
RG: Since graduating from OU I earned my dream job in forensic psychiatry. Currently I am a treating psychiatrist at a forensic hospital, a forensic evaluator for the court system, and an attending physician for training psychiatrists.
