OFE News Release
Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence Announces New Trustees
September 22, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence has announced the addition of five new members to its Board of Trustees.
Appointed to serve three-year terms are: Michael J. Gibbens, attorney, Crowe & Dunlevy, TULSA; Caroline Gist, executive director, Putnam City Public Schools Foundation, OKLAHOMA CITY; Paige L. Johnson, nanotechnology research associate, the University of Tulsa, COLLINSVILLE; Stephen Payne Jr., chairman, Heritage Trust, OKLAHOMA CITY; and Molly Tolbert, advisory director, Crowe & Dunlevy, OKLAHOMA CITY.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is a non-profit, charitable organization founded by former U.S. Sen. David L. Boren in 1985 to recognize and encourage academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools. The foundation’s Academic Awards Program provides more than $190,000 in scholarships and cash awards annually to honor outstanding public school students and 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 grants for schools to receive subscriptions to the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip series, bringing history to life in the classroom.
The foundation also awards Teacher Scholarships for Professional Development and Fund for Teachers grants, and coordinates the David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative, which draws on the statewide resources of the foundation to promote the establishment and growth of school-based mentoring programs in Oklahoma.
(EDITORS: New trustees are listed below by hometown.)
COLLINSVILLE – Paige L. Johnson, a 1987 Academic All-Stater, is a nanotechnology research associate with the University of Tulsa. An active member of the foundation, Johnson has served as coordinator of its Schusterman Mentor Program and as a member of the Selection Committee. As president of the Oklahoma Microscopy Society, Johnson founded the Ugly Bug Contest, a science outreach program that has involved more than 30,000 Oklahoma elementary school children in the past 10 years.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Caroline Gist, executive director of the Putnam City Public Schools Foundation, serves as treasurer of the Northwest Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is also a member of the Junior League of Oklahoma City, Leadership OKC and Kappa Kappa Gamma alumni association. Gist currently serves as chair of the foundation’s Fall Forum Committee.
Stephen Payne Jr., co-founder and chairman of Heritage Trust, is a trustee of the Oklahoma Heritage Association, Oklahoma State University Foundation, Oklahoma Health Center Foundation and the St. Anthony Hospital Foundation. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Payne is also president of the Harn Homestead Board of Directors and past president of the Oklahoma City Downtown Club.
Crowe & Dunlevy advisory director Molly Tolbert is a member of the American Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association and the Oklahoma County Bar Association. She is also director of the Historical Society of the Tenth Circuit and volunteers for Oklahoma Lawyers for Children. Tolbert serves as a board member for the Harn Homestead and as a member of the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee.
TULSA – Attorney Michael J. Gibbens is a shareholder and member of the executive committee of the law firm of Crowe & Dunlevy. A former board member of the Chamber Music Tulsa’s Concertime, Gibbens also served as a law clerk to The Honorable William J. Holloway, circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.