Retired OCCC professor Lyn McDonald died Friday, April 3, of COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The former graphic communications professor and program adviser was remembered by some on campus who knew her well.

McDonald is said to have pioneered OCCC’s graphic communications program.

The Communications Lab is not just for help with English essays and papers. It’s for help with any writing assignment, said Student Receptionist Rachael Colbart.

“Students can come in to use computers and get help with any form of communication including psychology, history, and sociology, among others,” she said.

Colbart said it’s a lab with friendly instructors and assistants who find various ways to lend a helping hand.

One-on-one tutor sessions are available for free after checking in at the front desk, she said. Assignment guidelines, outlines, and brainstorming sessions are used to help get students on the right track.

Online tutoring is available for students who can submit their essays and have them reviewed through Echo 2.0 service. Echo 2.0 helps students through video chat sessions as an alternative to visiting the Communications Lab.

The number one cause of weather-related deaths is from people driving into high waters on the road and getting swept away, said meteorologist David Payne in a speech on campus earlier this month. He said being washed away by high water kills more people than the combination of  hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, and hail,

Payne, Emmy Award winning meteorologist for News 9, talked about how best to stay safe in Oklahoma’s ever-changing weather season.

Payne said too many drivers are unaware of the dangers of flooded streets.

Seventy years ago, in 1945, the Auschwitz concentration camp near Krakow, Poland, was liberated at the end of World War II.

The site of that dark period of European history is on the itinerary of an Oklahoma Study Abroad program being offered from June 27 to July 11.

This trip to Central Europe will include Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, and Budapest.

International students who want to upgrade their English-speaking skills can now attend the ESL Conversation Club from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in room 146 of the Visual and Performing Arts Center

James Sellers, full-time assistant in the Communications Lab, leads the group. He said students can attend the meetings either or both days.

“We decided to open the group on Tuesday … because there are five to six new students who want to join,” he said. “This club is absolutely free for everyone, and easy to attend. All people have to do is show up.”

In 2014, OCCC added 217 newly graduated registered nurses to the workforce, said Deborah Myers, nursing program director. The students passed the national NCLEX-RN licensure exam at a rate of 89.40 percent, compared to the national average pass rate of 81.79 percent, and a state average of 83.55 percent.

“We are a very large program, and we do very well,” Myers said. “We always aspire to be above the state and the national passing rate.”

Myers said the statistics are based on the first time students take the test.

“In  December, we graduated 63 students of whom 53 took the NCLEX-RN test, and we have 100 percent passing rate so far,” Myers said. “They will count in the 2015 nursing board report.”

Myers said nursing schools can’t graduate enough registered nurses to match the rate that hospitals are hiring.