Who makes our mission possible?
Heroes like you.
Being a hero doesn’t require rushing into a burning building to save lives. The definition is a bit broader than that and requires only the selfless attempt (and intent) to benefit others through some amount of personal sacrifice. When you give your assets to support our mission, you become a hero—at least to the students whose lives are changed during their years at OCU.
What does a hero look like? Here are just a few of the supporters who have helped ensure the success of our students.
Donor Spotlight: Lynnell Mandl
“Planned giving allows me to support OCU in a thoughtful and intentional way.”
— Lynnell Mandl
A Graduate Experience That Opened Doors
When Lynnell Mandl enrolled in the Meinders School of Business, she was already building her career as a full time accountant—a demanding schedule that required both discipline and vision. OCU’s MBA program offered exactly what she needed: academic rigor, flexible evening classes, and a path to continue advancing professionally without pausing her life.
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Earning her MBA with a concentration in Accounting and Finance in 2004, Lynnell found not only a strong graduate curriculum but also a community that energized her. Despite attending classes in the evenings, she connected deeply with campus life, especially through OCU’s thriving arts culture and memorable student performances at the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center.
How OCU Shaped a Career and a Calling
Lynnell credits OCU with strengthening the qualities that would define her work as a CPA—analytical reasoning, technical expertise, resilience, and the ability to collaborate across diverse teams. The advanced degree opened doors, expanded her professional horizons, and helped her grow in ways that still guide her today.
Originally from Fort Worth, she continues to live in the DFW area, where the influence of her OCU education remains a meaningful part of her personal and professional life.
A Legacy Rooted in Gratitude and Purpose
Including Oklahoma City University in her estate plans is Lynnell’s way of honoring the university that helped shape her journey. Her planned gift reflects a deep sense of gratitude—from the confidence she gained as a working professional balancing school and career to the relationships and opportunities that grew from her time at OCU.
By planning ahead, she ensures her values and intentions align with long term impact, helping future students access the same transformative experience she had. Her legacy gift supports both the liberal arts and career focused programs that define OCU’s distinctive blend of education.
Advice for Today’s Stars
Lynnell encourages current students to make the most of OCU’s exceptional faculty—educators who she remembers as dedicated, generous, and genuinely invested in student success.
Her advice is simple and timeless:
“Learning should continue throughout life and not be limited by graduation. Invest in yourself whenever possible.”
Making Study Abroad Possible
Alumna Creates Scholarship Through Her Will and Trust, Paving the Way for Transformative Experiences
BY APRIL MARCISZEWSKI
When Karen Hunold was a high school senior in rural Maryland, a brochure for Oklahoma City University showed up at the guidance counselor’s office. It checked several boxes: her own travel bug and her parents’ desire for her to have a safe college experience, since she’d be living in the all-girls’ Walker Hall with a curfew.
She packed everything she could in a suitcase and took her first flight ever, to Oklahoma.
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“I lived in the dorms and made friends pretty quickly,” Hunold, BA ’79, remembered. One of her best friends brought her home for Thanksgiving. “It was a small community. I started making friends in the German department.”
Longtime OCU Modern Languages Professor Christiane Faris had established an exchange program with a German university. Still, Hunold “did not have on my BINGO card ‘Go Overseas for Junior Year.’ It wasn’t even in my sights.”
She became close friends with the German exchange students and learned about the exchange scholarship. “I wanted it so much,” she said. Faris had a conversation in German with Hunold to test her, as the field was competitive, and Hunold was chosen. “It was a dream come true.”
Studying abroad shaped Hunold’s understanding of life itself, along with enhancing her understanding of history and international relationships.
“It changed the trajectory of my life because I got all of these experiences that helped me understand that the way I had been raised was one of many ways of moving through life,” she said. “My ambitions and my experiences both were very beneficially impacted by having gone abroad that year.”
Hunold went on to earn a doctorate in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley and then a law degree from Stanford University. She was immediately hired into the Attorney General’s Honors Program and then worked for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She later practiced law in Massachusetts and ran her own business as a trust and estate attorney. She and her husband, David Brahm, are both retired and splitting time between Virginia and Massachusetts, near their respective families.
“We both found our education experiences to be quite valuable,” she said. This year, the couple set up their will and trust, putting in place charitable giving for five of their alma maters, to be fulfilled upon their deaths. At OCU, Hunold established the Karen Ann Hunold Endowed Scholar Award Fund. The award will benefit students with financial need who study abroad and learn a modern language while there.
“If I can help other people have that type of transformative experience, I think that’s a wonderful thing to leave behind,” she said.
Hunold appreciates OCU’s connection to the United Methodist Church — “I’ve always been very respectful and inclusive of all people” — and she considers OCU small but mighty. “It’s a small school, and it does so many things right.”
During the latest Giving Day, OCU raised more than $10,000 for study abroad as the university develops new offerings. Study abroad is a priority of OCU President Ken Evans, and three current and former provosts and a former OCU first lady provided matching gifts for the fundraising effort.
“We want our students to gain exposure outside the country,” Assistant Provost Adam Ryburn said.
Faculty regularly lead students on shorter trips abroad, and students can also intern abroad. Every time OCU sets up an informational table about study abroad outside the cafeteria, students express “so much enthusiasm and excitement,” he said.
But, “for an experience so impactful, it’s expensive, so that’s where giving is so important,” Ryburn said. Students often get stuck in sticker shock. “The biggest hurdle to students realizing this is the expense.”
Hunold remembers flying overseas and living in a dorm whose name she couldn’t pronounce. In the dorm, every student took shifts answering the phone. “I had to take my turn, just like everybody else. People would try to get me to understand who they wanted to talk to, and I would try to find them.”
By the time she left Germany, her newly proficient language skills confused people—they didn’t expect to find an American fluent in their language, she said. She remembers Faris dropping by to visit her abroad. “She surreptitiously tested my German by asking where the lady’s room was, and when I answered promptly and correctly, her eyes glinted, ‘Oh yes, we chose well.’”
Hunold’s love of languages has never ceased. In Berkeley, she met students delving into Native American languages, hieroglyphics and more. “I would talk to people for hours, and they would tell me about their field work.”
Travel has continued to be a theme of her life with Brahm— they have visited all 50 states and many countries—and she watches TV shows in other languages—Italian, French and German, currently.
“The differences can be quite profound, but people are human everywhere you go,” Hunold said. “You can really make some profound connections.”
Philanthropist Herman Meinders leaves $18 million gift to OCU
OKLAHOMA CITY – During his lifetime, Herman Meinders set the standard for giving to Oklahoma City University, easily becoming the institution’s most prolific donor.
Though he passed away in March, Meinders has ensured that his philanthropic impact will be felt at the university for years to come.
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University officials today announced an $18 million gift to OCU from The Meinders Foundation. The funds will be held in the Herman Meinders Endowment at the OKC Community Foundation, with an annual distribution of nearly $1 million that will benefit the university in perpetuity.
This gift matches the previous single largest contribution the philanthropist had made to the university – an $18 million gift that funded construction of the Meinders School of Business building, which opened in 2004 on the northeast corner of the OCU campus.
The new $18 million endowed gift comes on the heels of a $4 million cash gift provided by The Meinders Foundation last fiscal year, following Meinders’ passing. Combined, these gifts push Meinders’ total giving to OCU over the $75 million mark.
“What more is there to say about the generosity of Herman Meinders,” OCU President Kenneth Evans said. “He demonstrated over and over his commitment to Oklahoma City University and now has further cemented his legacy as a true OCU great.”
Approximately two-thirds of the annual endowment disbursement has been earmarked to support scholarships and operations at the Meinders School of Business.
The school’s interim dean, Bob Greve, said that Meinders’ support has had and will continue to have a transformational impact on the local business community.
“Many of our community’s business leaders got their footing in the business world thanks to Herman Meinders’ generosity,” Greve said. “We are thrilled to see this impact continue for future generations of business students.”
The remainder of the disbursement will support scholarships and operations at the Kramer School of Nursing – the school is named after the parents of Meinders’ late wife, LaDonna – and the Wanda L. Bass School of Music.
Evans noted that the distribution of the endowment gift to several areas of the university is consistent with Meinders’ wide-reaching impact at OCU.
“Certainly, Herman will be remembered through the business school,” Evans said. “But there are few – if any – parts of the university that have not been improved or enriched through his philanthropy.”
Originally from Pipestone, Minnesota, Meinders attended OCU in the 1950s and worked toward a business degree. In 1970 he founded American Floral Services, Inc., an international flowers-by-wire service based in Oklahoma City. Meinders later earned an honorary doctorate of commercial science from OCU.
More information about the life and legacy of Herman Meinders can be found here.
Matt and Jill’s Legacy of Gratitude and Giving Back to OCU
BY AMANDA GONZALEZ
Oklahoma City University is more than just a school—it’s a place where lives are shaped and lasting connections are made. For Matt and Jill Epperson, OCU was not only the backdrop for their academic journey but also where they first met and began a lifelong partnership with each other and their alma mater. They initially established the Cowden-Epperson Endowed Scholarship in 2001, providing tuition assistance to students in need. “We wanted to ensure future students, especially those pursuing careers in ministry or social work, have the same opportunities we did,” Matt and Jill shared. They also went on to establish a planned gift to the university, which upholds their commitment to continuing a tradition of support.
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Matt and Jill both grew up in the United Methodist Church and shared a calling for ministry, leading each of them to OCU. Their paths first crossed in the waiting room of the Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel during their scholarship interviews—an unexpected moment that sparked an initial connection. As they pursued religion degrees, Matt joined Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Theta Epsilon, and the United Methodist Student Fellowship, while Jill engaged with Alpha Chi Omega, Kappa Phi, and the United Methodist Student Fellowship. Amid classes, campus activities and work-study jobs, they laid the groundwork for a life together that extended far beyond the OCU campus. 
Matt and Jill both graduated in 1994, with Matt earning his MBA at Oklahoma State University upon graduation. The couple married in the spring of 1996 and made a home in Bartlesville, Okla., where they began raising their two children, Erin and Luke. Later, Matt’s job took the family overseas, where he had the opportunity to work with diverse cultures across Asia. “The unique education I received at OCU was instrumental in helping me navigate and succeed in these diverse environments,” Matt expressed. Jill found her calling in social work, helping children and families within the foster care system. Their shared commitment to service and leadership was something they credited directly to their time at OCU, where each learned to apply their faith in ways that would make an impact on the world around them.
For Matt and Jill, supporting OCU was a natural decision. “We have always believed that giving back to the church and our community is important. As we reflected on our lives and the blessings we’ve received, we felt a deep sense of gratitude towards OCU,” they shared. It’s not just about the financial support they provide but the lasting example they are setting for their children, as well as future generations to come. “By contributing to the university, we hope to help provide opportunities for others to have the same enriching experiences that we did. We hope our planned gift will continue OCU’s tradition of excellence and ensure that the values and education we cherish will thrive.”
Their advice for OCU students? “Work hard, and fully embrace every opportunity. Your experiences now will shape your future. And who knows, you might find the love of your life!”
