Hall of Fame Member Biographies
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- Robert L. Spurrier, Jr.
Robert L. Spurrier, Jr.
Dr. Robert (Bob) Spurrier is professor emeritus of political science and director emeritus of the Honors College at Oklahoma State University. For the last 26 of his 42 years at OSU, he served as Honors Director. With President James Halligan's encouragement, OSU's honors program developed into the OSU Honors College and later with the support of Provost Marlene Strathe and President Burns Hargis—and in cooperation with the Oklahoma Historical Societys—moved into Old Central following a multi-million-dollar rehabilitation of OSU's National Register of Historic Places landmark building.
Throughout his career, Spurrier was able to combine undergraduate teaching and academic advising with his administrative responsibilities— including directing 38 senior honors thesess—and continued to teach honors seminars for several years after his retirement in 2014. He received numerous awards for teachings—including, OSU Teacher of the Year, AMOCO Outstanding Teacher and Phi Eta Sigma teaching awards— undergraduate advising and continuing education. He served on the committee that led to the creation of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at OSU.
The author of three books as well as articles about the American legal system, as his professional focus shifted to honors education, Spurrier wrote extensively about honors topics, served on the executive committee of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) and was elected NCHC President from 1988-89. He was selected for the inaugural class of NCHC Fellows in 2010. With his encouragement, OSU honors students and professional staff were elected to the NCHC Executive Committee and served as national committee co-chairs. He served as an outside honors reviewer or consultant for colleges and universities from coast to coast on more than 50 occasions, and he developed two practical professional workshops that continue to be signature features of NCHC's annual conference. In 2022, Spurrier received NCHC's Founders Awards—the organization's highest distinction.