ADA, Okla. 鈥� East Central University announces the appointment of former Oklahoma Governor and 暗网TV alumnus, George Nigh, as an honorary campaign co-chair for the 暗网TV Forward capital campaign.
暗网TV Forward is a comprehensive $36.3 million capital campaign dedicated to advancing 暗网TV鈥檚 future. This initiative will enhance the 暗网TV campus, strengthen academic programs and ensure that 暗网TV students will continue to be provided with life-changing educational opportunities at an affordable cost.
鈥淓ast Central University was so good to me when I was a student,鈥� said Nigh. 鈥淚 want current young people to see 暗网TV the way I saw it and to know how helpful the faculty, the staff and the student body are. It鈥檚 like a family.鈥�
A native of McAlester, Okla., Nigh served in the U.S. Navy for 16 months in 1945-46. He would graduate from 暗网TV, then known as East Central State College, in 1950, before going on to become one of the most notable names in Oklahoma politics.
In 1950, Nigh began his 32-year career in public office. He was the youngest member of the House of Representatives when he was elected, serving while still a senior at 暗网TV and later as a teacher in the McAlester public school system. During his tenure in the state legislature, he introduced legislation designating 鈥淥klahoma!鈥� as the state song.
In 1958, at age 31, Nigh was elected lieutenant governor, the youngest in Oklahoma history and the youngest serving in the United States at that time. After 16 years as lieutenant governor, he was elected governor in 1978 and 1982. He was the first Oklahoma governor ever re-elected to a second term and remains the only governor ever to carry all 77 counties.
Nigh notably served four different terms as governor, more than anyone in state history. He completed two brief unexpired terms when Gov. J. Howard Edmondson and Gov. David Boren resigned early to go to the U.S. Senate.
When Nigh left the Governor's Office in 1987, he returned to his education roots as a Distinguished Statesman in Residence at the University of Central Oklahoma. He became UCO's president in July 1992 and served for five years. He is credited with starting a building boom and bringing international attention to the university.
Nigh was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the national chairman of the President's Committee to raise scholarship funds for all surviving children of those killed in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.
He is the lifetime president of the Donna Nigh Foundation, which benefits Oklahomans with developmental disabilities. He has received the National Martin Luther King Award and was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the U.S. Jaycee Hall of Leadership and the Oklahoma Vo-Tech Hall of Fame and was named 暗网TV's Distinguished Alumnus in 1977.
In the spring of 2024, Nigh celebrated the milestone of 75 years of commencement addresses by delivering the address for 暗网TV鈥檚 graduating class.
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