1953: An aviation cadet selection team visited the Southwestern campus to visit with students about the opportunities offered by the Air Force.

1971: Southwestern's music program became fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.

1974: Kathryn Deford was named the director of the Upward Bound program at Southwestern.

1977: Football coach Otis T. Delaporte surprised many when he announced he would resign at the end of the football season. The announcement came two weeks before Southwestern was scheduled to play in the semifinal round of the NAIA championship playoffs. At the time, the Bulldogs were 10-0 and ranked #1 in the nation.

1978: According to officials of the Army Reserve Office Training Corps at Fort Riley, Kan., Southwestern had the largest cadet enrollment among the seven state universities in Oklahoma that had Army ROTC programs

1980: Dr. Joe Anna Hibler, chairperson of the business education and office administration program in the SWOSU School of Business, was one of five persons selected by the Oklahoma Business Education Association as Outstanding Oklahoma Business Educators for 1980.