Commencement Speaker
Fall 2023 Commencement
Major General (Ret.) Michael C. Thompson
26th Adjutant General - Oklahoma National Guard
18th Commissioner - Oklahoma Department of Public Safety
Major General Thompson joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 1983. Over the course of his career, he has commanded at the company, battalion and brigade levels. Major General Thompson was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and 2008.
In 2017, then Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin appointed him as the adjutant general for the Oklahoma National Guard. Thompson served as the top military advisor to the governor and commanded the Oklahoma Army and Air National Guard from November 2017 to November 2021.
Before being appointed as adjutant general, Thompson had a distinguished 28-year career with the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. Thompson joined DPS as an Oklahoma state trooper in 1990. He concluded his DPS career by serving as commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety and cabinet secretary for safety and security from 2011 to 2017. Thompson was inducted into the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2019 and received the Governor George Nigh Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Also that year, Thompson served as the deputy director for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
In 2023, he was inducted into the Oklahoma State University Hall of Fame.
Thompson is a proud graduate of Oklahoma’s only historic black college, Langston University. He also holds master’s degrees from Oklahoma State University and the United States Army War College. Major General Thompson is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the United States Secret Service Executive Seminar and the United States War College.
Thompson and his wife of 39 years, Debbie, have two adult children who are combat veterans of the United States Army and the Oklahoma Army National Guard. They also have a daughter-in-law who is a combat veteran with the United States Army.