Growing up in an American castle Richard Wilson, Matilda’s and Alfred’s son, was adopted in 1930 at 18 months old and grew up at Meadow Brook Hall. A retired businessman now living in Florida, he returns to his childhood home just about every August for the Concours d’Elegance. Read More  |
A Labor of Love: Volunteering at the Hall It takes a lot of day-to-day work to maintain and operate Meadow Brook Hall. But as Barbara Thorpe, who was born on Matilda’s farm and has been a volunteer at the hall for going on 33 years, will tell you, “I miss it when I’m away too long. It feels like my second home.” Read More |
Remembering MatildaThe son of Matilda Wilson's maintenance man, OU's first employee and a local attorney who serves as a trustee of the Matilda R. Wilson Fund share fond memories of Wilson. Read More |
'Great homes need great gardens' That simple, but ultimately grand statement has led Robert Bresette through 10 years of planning, planting and fund raising with the Meadow Brook Hall Garden Club. She and the 104 other volunteers can take credit for designing, watering, planting, mulching, fertilizing and taking tender loving care of the 16 glorious beds of gardens and 42 urns that surround the hall. Read More |
Timeless - Meadow Brook Hall at 75 On a cold, wet November evening 75 years ago more than 850 friends, family members, socialites, dignitaries and auto industry movers and shakers made the long drive out from the city to what was then a place in the deep countryside — Matilda and Alfred Wilson’s spectacular new home. That gala housewarming party, just days after the terrible economic crash of 1929, was the first of many celebrations held at Meadow Brook Hall. Read More |
Still Going Strong If, as former U.S. Secretary of State John Hay once asserted, “friends are the sunshine of life,” then an engaging group of OU alumni is pretty much on the sunny side of the street most of the time. Members are just friends. Make that Just Friends, because that’s the name these African American former students have been operating under for two decades. Read More |
Ryder Cup Week at Oakland University Talk about a link to the links! This year’s Ryder Cup week put Oakland University and the Golf and Learning Center right in the internationally charged swing of things. Chosen by sponsor Buick, the campus started off the week on Monday, Sept. 13, in the national spotlight when golf super legend Tiger Woods held an hour-long golf clinic for more than 1,700 fans at the university’s driving range. Read More |
Hoops Abroad While graduating Oakland players haven’t yet netted NBA or WNBA contracts, many are posting up with professional teams in other countries. In all, OU has had 15 of its former starters play international hoops. Three of those players — Brad Buddenborg, Eric Taylor and Katie Wolfe — are featured here. Read More |
Honoring the work of Robert AtkinsThe late Dr. Robert Atkins, famous author of the Atkins Diet and a pioneer in understanding the role of carbohydrates in weight gain and obesity, was honored at Oakland University’s First National Congress on Pre-Symptom Medicine with the National Pre-Symptom Medicine Impact Award. His wife, Veronica, accepted the award on his behalf. Read More |
South Beach Diet doctor headlines at OU This past June, Oakland University’s First National Congress on Pre-Symptom Medicine brought leading experts together to discuss advances in diagnosing and treating disease long before symptoms occur — a topic at the very frontier of medical thought. Read More |
All Revved Up! A love of engineering and cars is the driving force behind a group of Oakland University students participating in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula competition, a contest as challenging as a 200-mile tire burner at Daytona. Read More |
War’s Saving Graces Dr. Lisa Flynn recently has come back from the end of the world — her words for being as far away as it gets from Leonard, Mich., the one-mile square town where she grew up. Her words too, for describing her hyper-charged, sometimes arduous, often make-do and always dangerous tour as a trauma surgeon trying to save lives in a bombed-out hospital in Iraq. Read More |
Scholarship honors President Fox, MexicoIn honor of the presidential visit, Oakland University established the Vicente Fox Quesada Endowed Scholarship Fund. The scholarship provides annual cash awards to OU students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees, continuing education opportunities, international study or cross-cultural opportunities in Mexico or the United States. Read More |
Voices of Hope, Promise and Opportunity A cheering crowd of visitors, staff, faculty, alumni and students greeted Mexican President Vicente Fox and First Lady Martha Sahagún de Fox on Friday, June 18, at Oakland’s Athletics Center. The Mariachi Especial Alma De Mexico band kicked off the event with traditional Mexican music and Parvati Del Razo, an Oakland University student from Mexico pursuing a Ph.D. in educational leadership, introduced the honored guests. Read More |
At Long Last. . . Love?Let’s say you are (as Brian Murphy was last April) asked to give a last lecture. In effect they say to you: OK, you have spent all your life in schools, you have read walls of books, and maybe even written some; you have taught thousands of students in hundreds of courses . . . so what, at long last, do you have to say for yourself? Read More |
Lights, Camera, Vision “Nothing original here,” says Bob Eberwein. He says it often about his work. He’s wrong. There’s a lot that’s original about Eberwein, his work and his thoughts on film — and while Oakland University named him a Distinguished Professor this April, his body of work had already set him apart. Read More |