Dr. Carolyn Taylor, political science professor and strategic initiatives coordinator at Rogers State University, has been named to the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame.
Dr. Taylor was selected for the Hall of Fame along with eight other distinguished inductees by the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women. The new members of the Hall of Fame will be honored at a special ceremony at the State Capitol at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 29.
Dr. Taylor, who lives in Claremore, will be inducted along with Ginny Creveling of Tulsa; Sherri Coale of Norman; Joe Anna Hibler of Weatherford; Sen. Maxine Horner of Tulsa; Kay Martin of Oklahoma City; Terry Neese of Oklahoma City; the late Claudia Tarrington of Tulsa; and Della Warrior of Red Rock and Santa Fe, N.M.
Taylor also is coordinator of the Washington Center Internship Program, a prestigious program in which students earn credit for completing internships at public, private and non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C., and the RSU President’s Leadership Class, a scholarship program for students to develop their leadership skills by participating in campus and community service projects.
“Dr. Taylor has devoted her life to the advancement of women and families in the state through education, health and career awareness and is the embodiment of the independent and ‘can do’ Oklahoma spirit,” said RSU President Dr. Joe Wiley. “We are proud of Dr. Taylor and are fortunate to have a leader of her stature serving at the university.”
As a Member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992, Taylor was the principal author of legislation establishing a statewide prenatal care program; a family leave policy for state employees; funding for the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History; environmental and geography education programs; scholarship and endowed chair programs and increased funding for higher education; training and standards for Boards of Regents; multiple education reforms and increased funding for pre-K through high school; college internship programs; and Sooner Start, a collaborative multi-agency early intervention program for children with disabilities.
As a legislator, she served on several legislative committees including Appropriations and Budget (Education Subcommittee Chair), Education (Chair), Economic Development, and Mental Health.
As the RSU strategic initiatives coordinator, she has provided leadership for the university’s strategic planning and self-study accreditation processes. At RSU, she has worked tirelessly to expand the number of Oklahoma young people who have access to an affordable public education.
She received her doctorate in political science from Oklahoma State University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma.
She is the co-author, along with three of her colleagues, of “Voices from the Heartland,” a book chronicling the experience of women in Oklahoma, to be published by the University of Oklahoma Press this year.
She was the recipient of the Pinnacle Award from the Tulsa Commission on the Status of Women in 1995 and was named to the Child Advocates Hall of Fame by the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy in 2003.
She has received countless honors and awards from local, state, and national organizations for her work on behalf of women and families in Oklahoma.
She and her husband, Sen. Stratton Taylor, who also is a former member of the Oklahoma Legislature and is founder of the largest law firm in Rogers County, live in Claremore with their two children.