were allowed to offer graduate degrees. By 1974, the state legislature renamed the state colleges, and it became "East Central Oklahoma State University"—a name it retained until 1985 when it gained its present name.
== Academics ==
ECU serves around 4,000 students and is perhaps best known for its Environmental Health Science Program, one of only 30 programs nationally accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council.
East Central is divided into 5 academic units (three colleges and two schools) with 70 degree programs. They are:
College of Education and Psychology
College of Health and Sciences
School of Nursing
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
School of Fine Arts
The Harland C. Stonecipher School of Business
School of Graduate Studies
== Other campuses ==
East Central is no longer one of four participating institutions offering courses at the Ardmore Higher Education Center. There are Distance Education sites located in Shawnee, OK, through the Gordon …
