Putman joins Communication Arts Department staff
By Josh M. Shepherd

Of all the people who have recounted waiting years, working hard and saving to attend ORU, Mrs. Chris Putman's story stands out as singular. Forty years after innocently asking her mother, "Can we go to that place?" Putman has joined the ORU faculty as the Communication Arts Department's newest instructor, coming full circle after years in business and being on both sides of the educator's desk.

"When I was a little girl in California, my parents weren't saved," Putman recalled. "I remember having this hunger for God. I didn't know what to do about it-nobody could give me any answers because I wasn't around church people. On Sunday mornings, I would turn on the TV and all by myself watch the ORU campus and hear the Discovery singers. It would make me feel better. It was the only thing that brought me any kind of peace."

Her story only gets more amazing from there. "When I was getting ready to go into high school, my dad retired from his business in California and we moved to Oklahoma," Putman continued. "It was my senior summer that I got saved. When I was graduating from high school, my parents never guided me to go to college. That wasn't something women did at that point in time-they usually stayed home, had families, etc. But that is not how I am made up."

No, indeed. With only a one-year business certificate, Putman and her then-future husband ("at that point we were just best friends," she said offhandedly) began doing public relations (PR) work for a thriving church, a different sort of local fellowship that was deeply involved in the arts.

"We'd promote acts like Andraé Crouch and the Disciples, fill up a house, invite them in and watch everybody get blessed," Putman said with a sparkle in her eyes, conveying in more than words what good times those were. Wesley Brainard, the former ORU Communication Arts teacher whose mime act was always a hit with students, performed at Putman's church back in the 1980s. People heard about it through her advertising. "I didn't have a clue what I was doing. You know how [with] some things it's just like falling into a hole? That's how PR was for me."

Soon Putman was designing ads, taking photos and writing press releases for larger audiences than just her church (including an article in The Daily Oklahoman, the state's largest newspaper). She had a successful PR business for 20 years-and still would if God had not thrown a wrench into the system. "When I hit 40, the mid-life crisis hit and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, if I'm going to do something, I had better do it now.' It was a big wake-up call."

Northeastern State University (NSU) in Tahlequah, Okla., accepted Putman at the undergraduate level in 1994. "I went through a self-imposed accelerated program where I doubled up my loads even in summers, taking classes anytime I could get my hands on them. I got my bachelor's, master's and started a doctorate in four years." Putman brushed aside any amazement at her academic fast track. "I was making up for lost time," she countered.

After four years of "doing time," Putman fully expected to go back into PR full force. Her knack for design had already been honed over many years and, she said with a smile, "Now I've got the certificate that says I can do it." The faculty of NSU enjoyed her style and tried to convince the businesswoman to stay and teach, but there were no openings. "Everybody was secure in the positions they were in. Then [a professor] got promoted and they asked me to stay. Actually, that was the hand of God allowing me to get some [teaching] experience."

For three years NSU students learned from the bright "Mrs. Putman" until she moved on to Connor State College as the Director of Admissions. "My title was elusive. What I did was PR, marketing and recruitment-the same things I'd always done. I told my husband I would never leave because I enjoyed what I was doing so much, reaching kids. 'Unless,' I added in an off-hand, joking way, 'there was a position that came open at ORU. That's the only place I would leave for.'"

This summer Putman got that call from ORU and, in early August, she began moving into her new office. Has ORU life been all that she dreamed? "Absolutely. You know at the state schools, the first day it's like, 'Good luck, you're on your own.' Here I've been assigned a mentor-teacher who has helped me get adjusted and pointed me in the right direction. The other faculty, on their own, have stepped in and said, 'Is there anything I can do for you? Can I help you?' They've just been great."

Students, too, she lavishes with praise: "Through my recruitment work I've been in the classrooms of 189 high schools, talked to kids and gotten a good feel for the different types of student bodies. Coming here, I'm blown away. The students are of far better quality. They're open, warm, caring and supportive. Each one is a delight to talk to and a delight to have in the classroom. I love watching them worship in chapel."

Her road has had quite a few turns, but Putman knows that God has been in the driver's seat of her life. "Two things I hold dear to my heart," she said near the end of our interview. "The Lord and His will for my life, and education. I thoroughly love education because it turned my life around. Really both things turned my life around-and it's all wrapped up in one package here. I'm loving every minute of it."

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