Kenneth J. Levit, Executive Director of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, will present Rogers State University’s Maurice Meyer Distinguished Endowed Lecture on Thursday, April 3, 2014.
He will present his remarks entitled “The American Dream: Alive and Well or Slipping Away?” at 11 a.m. in the Will Rogers Auditorium on RSU’s Claremore campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Prior to taking on the leadership role at the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Levit served as president of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa from 2001-2006. From early 1998 through 2000, he served as Special Counsel to George Tenet, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Levit practiced corporate law at the firm of Crowe and Dunlevy in Tulsa from 1995-1998. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1994 and received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1987.
He is married to Janet Koven Levit of Chicago. They have a son, Nathan, and a daughter, Rebecca.
The Maurice Meyer Endowed Lectureship was established at RSU by Mr. Irvin Frank in honor of his uncle, Sergeant Maurice Meyer. Maurice Meyer was a member of Company A, 357 Regiment. He served with distinction as an officer of the 90th Division during the St. Mihiel campaign in France during World War I. He was wounded by German shrapnel on Sept. 23, 1918. He died the following day and was accorded a hero’s funeral in Tulsa on May 3, 1922.
In 1920, the first barracks were built on the campus of the Oklahoma Military Academy (RSU’s predecessor institution). The building was named the Maurice Meyer Barracks in honor of Oklahoma’s fallen war hero. Today, the same building, now Meyer Hall, houses the RSU president’s offices and the Oklahoma Military Academy Museum.
The Maurice Meyer Distinguished Endowed Lectureship is held annually to honor the legacy of the Meyer family and the life of an American who died defending freedom and democracy. The goal of the lectureship is to foster an appreciation for diversity and humanity and to promote tolerance and understanding of other cultures, people and ideas.
For more information call 918-343-6833.