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Developing Whole Leaders for the whole World

ORU Athletic Director Receives Professional Achievement Award

By McKensie Garber

Mike CarterOral Roberts University Athletic Director Mike Carter was recently honored with a Significant Sig Award for his professional achievements. Significant Sig Awards are one of the highest honors given by the Sigma Chi Fraternity. The award recognizes “those alumni members whose achievements in their fields of endeavor have brought honor and prestige to the name of Sigma Chi.”

“I am humbled and honored to be recognized by my fraternity brothers around the United States through this award,” said Carter. “There are so many deserving people, particularly in the Tulsa area. I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunities my career has provided to serve the local community as well as collegiate athletics.”

Sigma Chi was founded in 1855 and has recognized more than 1,500 brothers for their professional, occupational or service work since the Significant Sig Award’s inception at the 1935 Grand Chapter.

Carter practiced business and sports law in Tulsa for 21 years prior to becoming the athletic director at ORU. Under Carter’s leadership, ORU has won 142 conference championships, made 79 NCAA appearances, produced 85 All-Americans and had 3 NCAA Track Champions.  The overall GPA of the student-athletes has been 3.0 or higher for 16 of the last 17 years.  Since 2003, the athletic department has raised funds and made over $5 million in facility improvements including the Case Soccer Complex, Burkhart Strength and Conditioning Center and Chapman Indoor Practice Facility.

Carter served as chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Committee in 2002 and 2003, and was recently reappointed as chair of the committee after volunteering for eight years. In 2012, he was named the NCAA Division I Athletic Director of the Year for the Central Region. He chaired the marshal committees for the 2001 Golf U.S. Open, the 2007 PGA Championship and the 2009 U.S. Amateur.

Carter is a past director of Leadership Tulsa, Operation Aware, the Oklahoma Golf Association, Theater Tulsa and NABC Coaches vs. Cancer Board of Advisors. He has served on the Southern Hills Country Club Board of Governors and the Mayor’s Vision 2025 Recreation and Leisure Committee. Carter is a member of the executive committee for the Tulsa Sports Commission, and in 2006, was honored as their Sportsman of the Year.

He and his wife, Paula, have been married 43 years and have two grown children, Lizz and Cason, and three grandchildren. Their son Scott died in 1993 of childhood cancer. Carter serves as a member of the CureSearch for Childhood Cancer Board of Trustees. He and his wife are the trustees of the Scott Carter Foundation, which raises funds for children’s cancer research.

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