ADA, Okla. – Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt will deliver the Annual Watkins Lecture, Tuesday Oct. 29 at 12:30 p.m. The event will take place in the ECU Foundation Hall, located inside the Chickasaw Business and Conference Center.
This event is free and open to the public. A reservation is required to participate in the luncheon portion of the event. Lunch will be served at 11:30 p.m.
Holt is the 38th Mayor of Oklahoma City and the 14th Dean of Oklahoma City University School of Law. Mayor Holt is a member of the Osage Nation and is Oklahoma City’s first Native American mayor.
He was first elected Mayor in 2018 with 78 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2022 with the second-most votes for a mayoral candidate in city history.
Mayor Holt has established a national profile and will be the President of the United States Conference of Mayors beginning in 2025. Die Zeit recently wrote that Holt is "anything but an ordinary politician," and TIME recently named Holt one of its "100 Next" most influential people in the world.
Mayor Holt’s achievements include the development and overwhelming voter approval of at least two major initiatives: MAPS 4, an ambitious, $1.1 billion package passed in 2019 that includes 16 quality-of-life projects; and his effort in 2023 to “Keep OKC Big League,” which secured a new arena for the city and a commitment from the NBA’s Thunder to remain in OKC for another 30 years.
Mayor Holt previously served in the Oklahoma Senate for eight years and also held staff positions in numerous federal, state and local offices, including the White House of President George W. Bush.
Dean Holt was named Dean of Oklahoma City’s only law school in the summer of 2023. In his first year, OCU Law has welcomed its highest-credentialed class since 1992, increased its first-time Bar passage rate by 15 points, and has announced two new programs focused on American Indian law and public service.
David Holt received his B.A. from The George Washington University and his J.D. from Oklahoma City University School of Law. His wife Rachel is the President & CEO of the United Way of Central Oklahoma and they reside in OKC with their two children.
The Watkins Lecture was created by Lou Watkins, chair of ECU’s Political Science Department from 1980 to 1991, and wife of former U.S. Representative Wes Watkins. She is also a Distinguished Former Faculty award winner.
The purpose of the lectureship is to bring recognized authorities to ECU to address subjects of public interest at the local, state or national level.
For more information or to RSVP, please email ECU professor Dr. Christine Pappas at cpappas@ecok.edu.
Cutline: OKC Mayor David Holt to deliver Annual Watkins Lecture
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