[5] Some of its more prominent alumni include former Microsoft COO B. Kevin Turner, Modernist painter Leon Polk Smith, former NFL player Mark Gastineau, past governors Robert S. Kerr and George Nigh, former U.S. Representative Lyle Boren, Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Tom Colbert, and U.S. Army General James D. Thurman.

Today the campus consists of 37 buildings on 135 acres (55 ha); the university typically enrolls more than 3,500 students per semester from more than 30 countries and 25 states.

[6] The club raised funds for faculty salaries so classes could begin that fall in local churches and public school classrooms.

There are Distance Education sites located in Shawnee, OK, through the Gordon Cooper Technology Center and McAlester, OK through the Eastern Oklahoma State College.

Among them are a local chapter of Alpha Psi Omega and Pi Kappa Delta as well as the Student Government Association and Campus Activity Board.

In addition, there are five Greek organizations at ECU divided among the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Panhellenic Association (PHA): East Central's athletic teams (the "Tigers") have competed in the NCAA Division II Great American Conference (GAC) since 2011, after competing in the Lone Star Conference of the NCAA from 1997 to 2011.