Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Richard W. Poole

Richard W. Poole served Oklahoma State University as dean of the College of Business Administration from 1965 to 1973 and as vice president from 1972 to 1988. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1952 with an MBA degree, and spent a brief career in the private sector before becoming Office Manager in Washington, D.C., for James E. Webb, the first director of NASA. Returning to Oklahoma in 1958, Poole went to OSU to work on a Ph. D. in Economics, awarded in 1960. He began his OSU career as an instructor, eventually rising to the rank of Regents Distinguished Service Professor. He retired in 1993 as Vice President Emeritus. Poole was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 1998.