Oklahoma Private School Association (OPSA) is an organization of proprietary postsecondary schools and colleges dedicated to a higher quality of education for Oklahoma's technical and vocational workforce. Training at OPSA schools include computer technology, computer programming, medical assistant, LPN, surgical technician, dental hygiene, medical billing and coding, computerized accounting, transcription, court reporting, electircal, heating and air conditioning, just to name a few.
In 2005 there were 42 accredited proprietary postsecondary schools and colleges in Oklahoma that employed 1,179 staff and faculty and produced 5,646 graduates. A recent study by Imagine America estimates career schools in Oklahoma contribute $108 million yearly to the Oklahoma economy.
Almost all of OPSA member schools are in either Tulsa or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma's two largest cities. In Oklahoma City, member schools include Platt College, Oklahoma Technical Institute, Vatterott College, Heritage College, ITT, Oklahoma Health Academy, ATI, and University of Phoenix. In Tulsa, member schools include Community Care College, Platt College, Oklahoma Health Academy, American Institute of Medical Technology, and University of Phoenix.
Dr. Paul Shuler, has been the President of OPSA since 2005. Jerry McGinnis, Oklahoma College of Construction, is the immediate Past President.
Famous quotes containing the words oklahoma, private, school and/or association:
“I know only one person who ever crossed the ocean without feeling it, either spiritually or physically.... he went from Oklahoma to France and back again ... without ever getting off dry land. He remembers several places I remember too, and several French words, but he says firmly, “We must of went different ways. I don’t rightly recollect no water, ever.””
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“Madam, I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damn business.”
—Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886)
“School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.”
—Ivan Illich (b. 1926)
“It is not merely the likeness which is precious ... but the association and the sense of nearness involved in the thing ... the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever! It is the very sanctification of portraits I think—and it is not at all monstrous in me to say ... that I would rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest Artist’s work ever produced.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)