Hall of Fame Member Biographies

G.W. Austin

George Washington Austin was the fourth president of the Oklahoma College for Women, and the founder of its saga. Arriving on campus in 1914, he found only one academic building and a small dormitory located on 20 acres. When he died of a heart attack in 1926, there were seven buildings on a 45-acre campus. Six buildings were built in collaboration with Oklahoma's foremost architect, Solomon Andrew Layton, designer of the Oklahoma State Capitol. Those structures form the nucleus of the Oklahoma College for Women National Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in 2001. He was inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2004.