OFE News Release
TERESA ADWAN NAMED PRESIDENT OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE
October 3, 2005
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Teresa B. Adwan, a TULSA civic leader and retired attorney, has been named president of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
The foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma's public schools. Adwan joined the foundation as one of its trustees in 1988.
“It is an especially great privilege to serve as president of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence as it commences its 20th anniversary year, both because it’s an occasion to celebrate the foundation’s remarkable accomplishments over the past two decades and because it’s an opportunity to focus on important future projects to help public education in Oklahoma,” Adwan said.
Through its Academic Awards Program, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence provides more than $190,000 in scholarships and cash awards annually to honor outstanding graduating seniors and top educators. It provides technical support and training to local education foundations across the state and sponsors the annual Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations, held each October on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus.
Among its other initiatives, the Foundation for Excellence coordinates a program to send Oklahoma teachers to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute each summer and provides scholarships for schools to receive Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips, bringing history to life in the classroom. The foundation also awards Teacher Scholarships for Professional Development and administers the Schusterman Mentor Program, which pairs Academic All-State alumni with under-achieving elementary school students in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Stillwater, Norman and Weatherford.
Adwan, who retired from Gable & Gotwals in 2001, actively serves in many educational and philanthropic areas. In 2004, she was appointed to the Board of Regents for the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. From 1999 to 2005, Adwan served on the board of the Margaret Hudson Program, chairing its capital campaign. In 2001, she joined the Gillies and the Thomas Gilcrease Museum Association Board, and she currently serves as an officer of each association. She is also a trustee for the Sarkeys Foundation.
During her law career, Adwan became a member of the Tulsa County Bar Association and the Oklahoma Bar Association. She is also master emeritus for the Council Oak Chapter of the American Inns of Court, which honored Adwan with its distinguished Lion award in 2002.