Jared Buswell

Background

About Jared Buswell

For 20 years, I have been serving people who are doing critically important work needed here in Tulsa and around the world. My sweet spot on teams is to know a little bit about everything and bring a tremendously informed, accurate perspective to any discussion. I'm always seeking the root reality of every matter and changing my mind as I learn new perspectives from others, organizing ideas into a coherent, whole view of life as it really is. I have lived in west Tulsa since 2007 and arrived as an ORU student in 2001. As a National Merit Scholar who completed 36 credit hours in high school (including Calculus 1, 2, 3, and Differential Equations), I made the most of the 4-year scholarship given to me to complete a diverse set of programs from four different departments (Comm. Arts, Music, Theology, and English). ORU provided my first full-time job teaching, including the senior capstone course for mass media majors. During this time, I started a VR technology business and pivoted to strictly the commercial photography side by 2012. By summer 2023, I will have been producing panoramas for 20 years and will remain Oklahoma's longest-serving VR photographer. Favor International has been my entrepreneurial focus since 2012. We train and serve indigenous African educators and counselors working among war-affected communities throughout S. Sudan and surrounding nations. Before running for school board, I had spent more time with African politicians than I had in the United States. Education is the universal component of our work transforming whole communities at a time. I've learned countless best practices for effective training in mind-bogglingly difficult circumstances. My wife and I are nearing 17 years of marriage. She is a storyteller, communicator, and works as an author and executive director of an organization serving writers to bring their visions to publication. She teaches children at Bible Study Fellowship, and we are active in the lives of our 16 nieces and nephews (who are all 11 and under). Her sister's family literally drives a school bus to go to the grocery store. We have served on the Prayer Leadership team at Asbury Church for 5 years. Education and leadership are my vocation. From writing curriculum, to designing online courses, to teaching, running national and local boards, leading the 2010 federal census crew that surveyed southwest Tulsa, and reading more books than I can keep track of, I love schools and the powerful services they provide for our most important people in our community: our future leaders and world-changers.