Northwestern Oklahoma State University

In 1895, only two years after the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, the first bill to establish a normal school at Alva was introduced in the territorial legislature. The first effort was defeated; however, the next legislature passed a bill establishing the Northwestern Territorial Normal School at Alva, the second such school in Oklahoma Territory.

In a meeting on August 8, 1897, a newly-formed Board of Regents for Normal Schools named James E. Ament of Illinois as Northwestern's first president. He and two teachers, Mary DeLisle and Sarah Bosworth, comprised the first faculty.

Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) is a public university in Alva, Oklahoma, with satellite campuses in Enid and Woodward. It offers both bachelor's and master's degrees.