Press Release
March 4, 2025
Contact: Jessica Brogdon
Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-0780
jessica.brogdon@history.ok.gov
www.okhistory.org/awardsbanquet
OSU Graduate to Receive Award From Oklahoma Historical Society
OKLAHOMA CITY — Sheldon Yeakley, a 2024 graduate of Oklahoma State University’s doctoral program in history, will be honored by the Oklahoma Historical Society for his doctoral dissertation. The Linda Williams Reese Award will be presented to Yeakley at the Oklahoma Historical Society’s annual awards banquet on Thursday, March 20, at 6 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Yeakley will receive $500 and a plaque of recognition.
Yeakley’s dissertation was titled “Indian Removal and the Native Nations of Northeast Oklahoma.” It studied the multiple removals of tribes, including the Miami, Quapaw, Peoria, and Delaware nations. In a nomination letter, Richard J. Boles, Ph.D., said this dissertation was “thoroughly researched, beautifully written and historiographically significant.” Boles went on to say that Yeakley is “one of the best and most promising young scholars that I have taught during the last decade...in terms of scholarly achievement, motivation and professionalism.”
The award is named after Linda Williams Reese, who joined the faculty at East Central University in 1994, where she served as chair of the history department, director of the Oklahoma Studies Program and director of the Teaching American History Grant. The college recognized her teaching ability, presenting her with the Exemplary Faculty Award, Teaching Excellence Award and Outstanding History Professor Award. Reese wrote several books, articles, encyclopedia entries and book reviews. In 2014, the OHS inducted Dr. Reese into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame.
Tickets to the Oklahoma Historical Society Awards Banquet can be purchased online. Guests are asked to RSVP by Monday, March 10. Dr. AJ Griffin will be the keynote speaker. Griffin spent six years in the Oklahoma State Senate and is now the CEO of the Potts Family Foundation. Joe Dorman, a former state representative and current CEO of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, will serve as emcee for this event.
The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
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