Hall of Fame Member Biographies

William Bennett Bizzell

William Bennett Bizzell served as the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma from 1925 to 1941. He was a recognized scholar and the author of a number of books before being appointed president of OU. He first emphasized the importance of the university’s three-fold mission: teaching, research, and public service. His legacy includes the Bizzell Memorial Library, the establishment of the University of Oklahoma Press, and the early development of the medical center in Oklahoma City. Bizzell was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1936. He died in 1944, and was inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 1997.