Oakland University

Like many other universities and colleges, Oakland University (OU) began at a time when the launch of Sputnik prompted political and popular support to expand and strengthen America's higher education and research programs. Yet the circumstances of OU's creation are unique. This book explores the distinct character of OU through photographs illustrating central themes of its history, including people (leaders, faculty, staff, and students), the making of the physical campus, teaching and learning, an increasingly distinctive identity in a regional setting that shifted from rural to suburban, and the transformation of the university from a small liberal arts college to a metropolitan research university.