Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Bill H. Darnell

Bill H. Darnell was the first director of the Ardmore Higher Education Program, a three-year off-campus pilot program established by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education in 1973. The Ardmore center was staffed by faculty members from Murray State College, East Central University, and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Before being appointed director of the Ardmore program, Darnell was State Supervisor of Career Education, New Mexico Department of Education.

He led the Ardmore center from its inception in 1974 until his retirement in 1992. Beginning with 100 students, the program grew to enroll more than 1,000 students per semester, becoming a model for Oklahoma's other higher education centers. Darnell was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 1995.