The Chesapeake Energy Corporation Student Lounge on the first floor of Sarkeys gives students a comfortable study area or place to meet friends.

S everal gifts of $1 million or more have provided the cornerstone of an $8.5 million project to renovate the 15-story Sarkeys Energy Center Tower on the Norman campus. The Sarkeys project was born from a need to update the 21-year-old facility and an opportunity to unite the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy under one roof. The opening of the National Weather Center south of Norman vacated five floors previously used by the School of Meteorology, freeing space in the Energy Center for the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering. Individual projects currently funded in the Sarkeys renovation include:

• School of Geology and Geophysics Director’s Suite named for ConocoPhillips, as part of its $6 million gift to name the school;
• The Gene Van Dyke Plaza, a newly renovated third-floor common space, which includes a formal conference room and three computer lab classrooms, funded by OU geological engineering alumnus Gene Van Dyke of Houston;
• The Chesapeake Energy Student Services Center, a 655-square-foot facility serving as an academic and career resource to provide students with a high level of personal guidance and support;
• The Chesapeake Energy Student Study Area, a 4,000-square-foot student area designed to accommodate individual and team-learning activities;
• The Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy James C. and Teresa Day Dean’s Suite, funded by the Noble Corporation, establishing the college’s “front door” with a new conference room, reception area and six offices for the dean and administrative staff;
• The Samson and Questar Corporation Classrooms, funded by Earth and Energy alumni and built to accommodate 100 students each in general-education courses;
• W.P. and Natalie Buckthal ConocoPhillips Geology and Geophysics Sedimentology/Stratigraphy Laboratory;
• Ed and Lou Ackman ConocoPhillips Geology and Geophysics Paleontology Laboratory;
• Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Director’s Suite, funded by Curtis Mewbourne; and
• Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Fluids Lab, funded by MI/SWACO.