C of O VP reveals fall speaker lineup

Last edited 8:33 a.m., Aug. 17, 2016

College of the Ozarks Vice President for Cultural Affairs Sue Head today revealed a star-studded political lineup for the Point Lookout school’s fall speaker series.

Speaking for Springfield Business Journal’s live interview series 12 People You Need to Know, Head said Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich would headline events in the coming months.

Former Republican presidential hopeful Carson will headline a national symposium on religious liberty to be held at C of O’s Howell W. Keeter Athletic Complex in partnership with the Pensmore Foundation. He’ll be joined by Liberty Institute President and CEO Kelly Shackelford and others.  

“They’ll be speaking on this very important topic to us, especially in this current election cycle,” Head said of the event scheduled Oct. 7.

Gingrich, former U.S. House speaker who also has been a Republican hopeful, is scheduled to speak Nov. 1, she said.

Carson and Gingrich join other high-level speakers who have visited C of O, including President George W. Bush, Great Britain Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy and, recently, NFL quarterback Tim Tebow.

While at C of O, speakers are encouraged to stay at the student-run Keeter Center, a lodging facility and restaurant that receives about 300,000 visitors a year, said Head, who’s also dean of character education.

Head said C of O typically works with the Washington Speakers Bureau and other organizations to bring speakers to the college.

“It’s so fun to watch them come on campus,” she said. “They absolutely are flabbergasted by what they find here.”

Dubbed Hard Work U by The Wall Street Journal, the Christian college requires all students to work on campus to cover their tuition. With an 8-10 percent acceptance rate, the school currently has a student body of around 1,500 and an endowment of $450 million.

“About 90 percent of our students must demonstrate financial need,” Head said, noting preference also is given to students in the Ozarks.

The same is true of School of the Ozarks, a K-12 college-prep program Head was instrumental in developing.

About 300 students attend the school, where they learn C of O’s mission statement of Christian values and character, hard work and financial responsibility.

“People don’t give us money to be like everybody else,” she said.