Commencement Speaker
Fall 2022 Commencement
Frank Lucas
United States Representative
Congressman Frank Lucas is a fifth-generation Oklahoman whose family has lived and farmed in Oklahoma for more than a century. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1982 with a degree in agricultural economics. As an undergraduate at OSU, he served as the chair of the College Republicans.
In 1988, Lucas was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, serving three terms from 1989 to 1994. During his service to Blaine, Dewey, Ellis, Harper, Roger Mills and Woodward Counties in the Oklahoma State House, Lucas also served as the House Republican Caucus Secretary and later as the Caucus Chairman.
He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in a special election in 1994. Lucas represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District, which includes all or portions of 32 counties in northern and western Oklahoma, stretching from the Oklahoma Panhandle to parts of Tulsa, and from Yukon to Altus in the southwest. It takes up almost half the state’s land mass and is one of the largest agricultural regions in the nation.
Since elected, Lucas has been a crusader for the American farmer. He currently serves as the ranking member on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, where he advocates for Oklahoma’s energy, technology and aerospace industries. He’s committed to ensuring that the nation harnesses American innovation; improves energy efficiency and effectiveness; supports research and basic science labs; improves access to STEM education; builds the American STEM workforce; and maintains American global leadership in space exploration.
As a senior member, and the longest serving Republican on the House Committee on Financial Services, Lucas is committed to ensuring that rural Oklahomans have access to what they need to build a business like credit and capital.
Lucas is a wheat farmer and cattle rancher, carrying on the legacy of his father. In January 2011, he made history as the first Oklahoman to be elected as Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture.
Lucas prides himself on a common-sense approach to government, and led the committee in passing the 2014 Farm Bill which reformed food stamps and repealed or consolidated nearly 100 government programs.
Lucas and his wife, Lynda, have three children and three grandchildren. They call Cheyenne, Oklahoma, home.