Thanks to the generous donations of the Larason family, the A.R. Bert Larason Public Service Scholarship will soon be available to College of Liberal Studies students pursuing degrees that involve social work. Established by Margaret Larason, Timothy Larason, Anne Larason Schneider, and Linda Larason Edmondson to honor their husband and father, A.R. “Bert” Larason, the scholarship was created to help undergraduate students pursuing higher education in the fields of history, politics or social work.
World Cultural Studies faculty member and longtime public service advocate, Dr. Robert Edmondson, was instrumental in facilitating this opportunity for Liberal Studies students. “Because many of our graduates’ career goals involve public and social service, I discussed with my family the possibility of opening the scholarship to CLS students. They were enthusiastic, noting further that my grandparents would have enjoyed providing opportunities for nontraditional students in general, and military service members in particular. They valued the principle of gaining a broad range of knowledge in college, regardless of a selected major field of study, and would have been delighted to learn that CLS emphasizes interdisciplinarity.”
Bert Larason was from Fargo, Oklahoma, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1930. He served in the Pacific Theater as commander of the First Field Artillery, Sixth Infantry Division during the landings on New Guinea and the Philippines and went on to become a 10-term member of the Oklahoma House.
Update: The College of Liberal Studies was renamed the College of Professional and Continuing Studies in 2017.
