S25F-211 Stillwater Town Hall
Stillwater | FULL (Membership Required)
Join us for an eclectic mix of weekly speakers who will present interesting and relevant information you’ve come to expect from Osher programming. A full list of presenters and topics is available on the OLLI course enrollment page.
Francis Epplin
Dr. Francis Epplin grew up on an Illinois farm. After completing requirements for a B.S. degree, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served as an artillery fire direction controller in Vietnam. After returning from the war, he earned an M.S. degree from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He served as a member of the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Economics faculty for 38 years.
Doug Aichele
Dr. Doug Aichele earned three degrees in mathematics from the University of Missouri-Columbia: an AB in 1964, an MA in 1966, and an EdD in 1969. In the summer of 1975, they served as a Visiting Associate Professor at the same institution.
From 1969 to 2013, Dr. Aichele was a faculty member at Oklahoma State University. They served as Head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction from 1979 to 1992, and were honored with the OSU Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award in 1976. In 1989, they were named Regents Professor, and from 1999 to 2013, they held the position of Associate Head in the Department of Mathematics.
Internationally, He was a Visiting Professor of Mathematics at Universidad de Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela, during the spring semesters from 1971 to 1973.
Throughout their career, Dr. Aichele engaged in numerous national and international service activities, both within and beyond Oklahoma State University.
Dawn Dodson
Chief Public Affairs Officer
Diana Emerson
Diana Emerson is the Community Resources Coordinator at the Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Deaf and Elementary Education from the University of Tulsa and a master’s degree in human relations from OU-Tulsa. Diana began her career teaching language arts to hearing children before joining a nonprofit dedicated to serving deaf individuals in 1988. She became a state-certified sign language interpreter in the early 1990s and has been nationally certified for over 20 years through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. With a career spanning 36 years, Diana has worked in community relations roles supporting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, primarily through the Tulsa Speech and Hearing Association and now at the Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges. She has also facilitated a monthly support group for individuals who have lost their hearing later in life, a group she credits with enriching her understanding and approach to advocacy and education.
Joshua Hawkins
Assistant Director, Accessibility Programs
ABLE Tech & Student Accessibility Services
Rachel Hubbard
Rachel Hubbard is a news veteran of more than 20 years and serves as KOSU's executive director.
In 2024, she was elected to the NPR Board of Directors.
She began her radio career while still in high school, reading obituary and hospital reports as a part-time announcer and board operator at KTJS in Hobart, Oklahoma. Hubbard continued her radio career in 1999, joining KOSU as a student reporter. Following graduation from Oklahoma State University in 2003, Hubbard served as the station’s state capitol reporter and news director. She was promoted to associate director in 2007, managing the day to day programming and news operations of KOSU. During her tenure at KOSU, Hubbard has won national awards for her news coverage from the Public Media Journalists Association, the Scripps Howard Foundation and Society for Professional Journalists. Hubbard holds a Master’s of Entrepreneurship and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Communications from Oklahoma State University.
Pierce Taylor
Emergency Management Director, Payne County
Pierce Taylor grew up in Virginia and began volunteering in Fire and EMS during college. After relocating to Kansas, he worked in EMS before moving to Stillwater to pursue graduate studies in Fire and Emergency Management while working full-time. Upon graduation, he served as a firefighter in Manhattan, Kansas, and later returned to Stillwater to work as a disaster specialist for the Red Cross. He has been serving as the Payne County Emergency Manager for approximately a year and a half and brings a strong passion for emergency management to the role.