On the first day of February, Oklahoma State lost one of its brightest stars.
Monica Dudley was killed in a car accident; she was at OSU completing school for her doctoral student in educational leadership. As someone who was a student and taught two classes (Diversity and Inclusion Leadership in the 21st Century, and Inclusion Leadership), you would think Monica would have no time to do anything else. Although she was already pushing her limits Monica also had a side project that she coordinated. Monica was the coordinator of RISE (an acronym meaning Retention Initiative for Student Excellence). RISE is a program designed for freshmen to make sure that they come back to OSU as sophomores and later on graduate.
In the program, students are required to maintain a GPA of 3.0 and have to turn in weekly study hours. It seems like hard work right? Well, Monica believed in the cause so much so that the program offers incentives. If students reach all of the requirements, they receive a stipend of $1,000.
Monica made sure she did all she could to make sure that the students succeeded. Even on her busy schedule, Monica made sure to have bi-weekly meetings with the students to check their progress, and she set up individual meetings with ALL of the students to make sure that not only their grades were good, but she would also make sure that their personal lives were intact.
I am a student in RISE, and I remember days where Monica and I would just talk to talk. When you wanted to talk to Monica no matter the situation, she made sure that she would find time for you. That is what I will personally miss most about her.
Other RISE students also commented on what they felt about Monica.
Kyndall Lewis, a currents RISE student said, “The best advice Monica gave me was to never let mistakes deter your progress. Just because you mess up, you should never stop trying.”
Lawrence McClure, a senior who knew Monica throughout the years said, “Monica and I were somewhat eye to eye on a lot. She would always encourage me and make me feel really good about myself. There would be times when I would have bad days and she would have such a joyful presence that I appreciated. She basically always told me to keep going forward.”
Monica impacted a lot of lives, and she will be deeply missed.