2019 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
Jack Evans (BBA '94)
In 2003, Jack Evans founded and became managing partner of Oklahoma City-based TimberCraft Homes, whose communities include Chisolm Creek Farms and Princeton Park in Edmond as well as two communities in Mustang and two communities in Yukon.
Evans graduated from UCO in 1994 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance. He has previously served as the event chairman for the OKC's annual Parade of Homes, coordinated by the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association of which he is a member. TimberCraft Homes has also constructed multiple custom-built homes for the annual St. Jude Dream Home fundraising program, which benefits the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He and his wife, Theresa, live in Edmond.
Linda T. Hohenberger Fanning (BS '80)
Linda T. Hohenberger Fanning received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from UCO in 1980. She recently served as vice president and chief nursing officer of INTEGRIS Deaconess, a 238-bed acute-care hospital that is part of INTEGRIS Health, Oklahoma's largest health system. She received her Master of Science in nursing in 1998 from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and plans to receive her doctorate in nursing practice for advanced practice nurses and nurse executives from the MGH Institute of Health Professions graduate program in Boston.
Hohenberger Fanning's career in nursing administration began in 1996 when she became director of quality resource management at Deaconess Hospital in Oklahoma City. She would spend 11 years with the Mercy Hospital system before returning to Deaconess in 2015 as chief nursing officer. In 2018, she was promoted to vice president and chief nursing officer when INTEGRIS acquired Deaconess. She and her husband Tom live in Oklahoma City.
Tom Friedemann (M.Ed. '74)
Tom Friedemann, Ed.D., retired in June 2019 as the superintendent and CEO of Francis Tuttle Technology Center after serving a decade in the role. He began his career as a marketing education teacher at Putnam City West High School before serving as assistant superintendent at Great Plains Technology Center in Lawton, Oklahoma. He then served nearly 20 years for the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education before joining Francis Tuttle as chief of staff in 1997.
Friedemann graduated from Central in 1974 with a Master of Education in counseling psychology. He received his Ed.D. in occupational and adult education from Oklahoma State University in 1991. He and his wife Cindy reside in Oklahoma City.
Oren Lee Peters (BS '50)
Retired Lt. Col. Oren Lee Peters graduated from Central with a Bachelor of Science in education in 1950, when the university was known as Central State College. Peters was a teacher and football, track and basketball coach at Edmond High School from 1945-47. He has also experienced a long and honorable career with the U.S. military and has built a respected reputation through his civic and community service.
A World War II and Korean War veteran, Peters joined the U.S. Army National Guard in high school and has been awarded more than 20 honors related to his service, including the Purple Heart and Silver Star. He has also earned the title of distinguished Eagle Scout through his more than 80 years with the Boy Scouts of America. Peters and his wife Lucille were married for 53 years before she passed away in 2006. He resides in Edmond and has four children, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Shannon Beavers Price (BA '91)
Shannon Price is the executive director for the Fine Arts Institute in Edmond, Oklahoma. Over the past 26 years, she has held many positions at the Fine Arts Institute including art instructor, special events coordinator and assistant director. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design, a minor in advertising and a K-12 teaching certificate in 1991 from Central.
Price is involved with a variety of organizations including Oklahoma Leadership Arts, Executive Women’s Forum, Oklahomans for the Arts, Leadership Edmond Alumni, Edmond Rotary Club and the Oklahoma Arts Council Statewide Learning Advisory Committee. She was recognized as the 2017 Woman of the Year by the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband Cris live in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Lance Robertson (MPA '15)
Lance Robertson graduated from Central in 2015 with a Master of Public Administration. He began serving as the Assistant Secretary for Aging and administrator for the Administration for Community Living for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in August 2017. Prior to this role, he served as the Director of Aging Services for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services from 2007-17.
Robertson was an administrator for 12 years at Oklahoma State University, where he co-founded the Gerontology Institute and directed the regional professional association, Partnerships for Aging. He is past president of the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities. He and his wife Lori reside in Washington D.C.