For Ellen Adelson, learning never stops. In fact, learning and an almost reverent appreciation for the power of education are priorities in her life, values she acquired from her parents and grandparents. When she was honored with The University of Tulsa’s 2006 J. Paschal Twyman Award, Adelson noted that her immigrant grandparents prized education above all else, and along with her parents, Herbert and Roseline Gussman, instilled in her the responsibility of giving back.
Generosity has become her forte, especially on behalf of TU. She served as a Trustee for 25 years (1994-2019) and initiated the establishment of key university programs, such as the TURC Fellows Advisory Board and the McFarlin Fellows. She also is a longtime member of the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors, and she serves on the advisory board of the Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry.
Ellen and her husband, the late Dr. Stephen “Steve” Adelson, funded or helped fund several important programs and endowments, including the Ellen and Stephen Adelson Endowed Scholarship Fund for the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences, the Adelson Family Arts and Sciences Presidential Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Adelson Family Endowment for Arts and Sciences, the Adelson Family Endowment for Engineering and Natural Sciences, the Gussman Juried Student Exhibition Endowment Fund for the School of Art, Design and Art History (established by Ellen and her sister, Barbara Heyman, in honor of their father, Herb Gussman, who first funded these awards for outstanding art students more than 50 years ago), the Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights Lecture Series, the Bob and Marcy Lawless Presidential Scholarship Fund, and the Herbert Gussman Presidential Scholarship Fund, among many other initiatives.
The Adelsons also played a leading role when The Roxana Rózsa and Robert Eugene Lorton Performance Center was built by funding the Herbert and Roseline Gussman Concert Hall, creating a lasting tribute to Ellen’s parents. TU named the Ellen G. Adelson Auditorium in Ellen’s honor in Tyrrell Hall, and the Steve and Ellen Adelson Endowed Presidential Scholarship Fund was established by the couple’s son and daughter-in-law (James and Susannah Adelson) as a tribute to these remarkable friends of TU.
In recognition of their exceptional loyalty and devotion to TU, Steve and Ellen Adelson have been acknowledged as members of the Circle Society, the Chapman Legacy Society, and the President’s Council, and Ellen Adelson received the J. Paschal Twyman Award in 2006, was inducted into the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences Hall of Fame in 2004-05, and was an honorary inductee into The University of Tulsa Beta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 2003.
A clinical social worker, Adelson is a prominent civic leader in Tulsa. She says her biggest reward is helping others achieve their potential. The mother of four grown sons, David, Robert, Thomas, and James Adelson, she earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in sociology and anthropology from Cornell University in 1958 and a Master of Social Work in clinical social work from the University of Oklahoma in 1976. Steve Adelson enjoyed a fulfilling career as one of Tulsa’s most respected pediatricians.
Jim Adelson was a longtime member of the TU Board of Trustees (2006-2019), and he served on the Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry board.
In 2021, Tom Adelson was named TU’s Chief Innovation Officer by President Brad Carson. In this role, Mr. Adelson advises the university on rapidly emerging ed-tech trends, bringing his expertise in this area to the TU community.
Ellen’s father, Herbert “Herb” Gussman, was a renowned Tulsa business and community leader, who founded Nadel and Gussman with his father-in-law, Isadore Nadel, in the 1930s. Ellen’s mother, Roseline Nadel Gussman, was a tireless civic volunteer who served as a leader for many years in the Hadassah organization in Tulsa.
Herb Gussman was an enthusiastic patron of the arts, and in 1968, he established the annual Gussman Juried Student Art Competition, which is held each spring at TU. A nationally renowned juror selects works of art submitted for consideration by any TU student who has completed art classes in the past academic year. Works are exhibited in the Alexandre Hogue Gallery, and generous prizes are awarded. The exhibition includes all art media: drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics, sculpture, installation, performance, motion graphics, animation, and film.
In 2019, the Gussman Juried Student Exhibition Endowment Fund for the School of Art, Design and Art History was established by Ellen Adelson and her sister, Barbara Heyman, to ensure that this art competition will be funded in perpetuity, recognizing aspiring artists at TU for generations to come while honoring the legacy of their father.
