The signs of campus progress are everywhere in Norman, OKC and gearing up in Tulsa as hard hats become the order of the day.

By Carol J. Burr

Photos by Robert Taylor

One campus rumor over the summer months was that fans flocking into Oklahoma Memorial Stadium this fall would be issued hard hats. Not likely—but if such headgear were required, they probably could be obtained from the faculty and students of the newly completed Law Center—who might have gotten theirs from the staff of the Oklahoma Memorial Union or any one of dozens of building projects that have altered the campus landscape in the nearly eight years of the David Boren administration. Then the hats could be passed on to the would-be occupants of more than a dozen other ventures currently in some phase of construction. And that is just in Norman; similar undertakings are occurring on both the Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City and at OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center. Literally millions of square feet have been added to the three campuses. Completed construction and renovation in Norman are valued at more than $154.5 million, with another $123 million presently under construction and $235 million in various phases of planning. In Oklahoma City, more than $120 million worth of new facilities either are completed or in the planning, design, bidding and building stages. Classrooms are being renovated at the Schusterman Center, a facility purchased in 1999 for $24 million, and a comprehensive plan is in progress to determine the future needs of this newest OU campus. Boren expects $450 million in new construction to be under way in the next three to five years, bringing the grand total to $600 million since he became president. Years of dreaming, hoping and preparation precede groundbreaking for each of these projects. Funding requires ingenuity and perseverance as packages and partnerships are formed: combinations of public and private, individual and corporate, state and federal, bonds and appropriations. Private donors alone have contributed more than $73 million to capital projects during this building boom, and they have pledged another $66.5 million. This fall Boren expects to announce approximately $28.5 million in gifts and pledges toward future construction for a total of $95 million. But the quality most in demand in Norman this fall is patience. Another bumper crop of returning students, harried faculty and staff and the annual influx of frantic football fans and other visitors will encounter construction barricades on every hand, detours around closed streets and an evermore- challenging search for new parking places. The mammoth stadium/athletic complex project already complicates movement through the main campus, soon to be joined by obstacles created by new facilities for the art museum, journalism, music and business. Though faced with a gigantic packing and moving job, the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History staff could remain in tiny Stovall Museum during the three-year construction of the massive new Sam Noble Museum. Similarly, south campus development of the Multi-Purpose Research and Technology Facility and the National Weather Center will be minimally disruptive and conveniently out of the traffic flow. Renovations and expansions of present structures, however, may necessitate working in the hard-hat areas while construction progresses—as the lawyers did—or require imaginative relocation as the Athletics Department experienced last year. Stadium construction crews had from the last football game of 2001 to the first of 2002 to gut the north end zone structure and recreate a new entrance, enhanced quarters for athletic administration, development, the academic center, student center, media relations and other support offices. Meanwhile, their occupants were moved into existing stadium space—the sky suites, press box, lounge, cardiac care center and any other nook or cranny they could find. “They were like sardines in a can,” admits University architect Michael K. Moorman, who as director of Architectural and Engineering Services coordinates this construction jigsaw puzzle with amazing aplomb. The Athletic Ticket Office is temporarily housed in former basketball coaches’ offices in the recently enlarged Lloyd Noble Center, which comes with abundant workday parking, recently expanded for LNC events. The spacious new Ticket Office will be located on the Asp Avenue Parking Facility’s plaza level. Moorman finds fascinating another game of musical offices being played out in the campus’ northwest quadrant. When the new Archie Dunham Conoco Student Leadership Wing was added to Oklahoma Memorial Union, the student organizations could vacate Ellison Hall, which then was completely renovated for the College of Arts and Sciences, who in September can leave its quarters in the Physical Sciences Building to the School of Music faculty as they are evicted by the restoration and expansion of historic Holmberg Hall. So for some time the campus population will continue to play detour-of-the-day and find-the-faculty. Moorman is grateful that at least three-fourths of the students became accustomed to the street closures, especially Jenkins Street, during the spring semester when the pace is less frenetic. In the fall, he explains, the students are out in their cars, soaking up the atmosphere, checking out their surroundings, testing parking availability, but eventually the traffic settles down. And if their patience needs a boost, visual sightings and published reports of progress toward long-awaited goals should do the job—and the proof positive is all around them in everything that already has been accomplished in less than eight short years. PROJECTS IN PLANNING OR CONSTRUCTION • Norman Campus Bizzell Memorial Library Roof The three phases of the library - the 1928 original, the 1958 north addition and the 1982 Doris W. Neustandt Wing on the west-will be reroofed as a whole for the first time. Collings Hall Completion of a new $630,000 computer laboratory is expected by the end of the fall semester. With 30 terminals, this College of Education facility will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced computer laboratories on the Norman campus. Named for its principal donor, Sandra O’Brien, of Houston, the new resources will emphasize special education needs. Gaylord Hall Since the $17 million new home of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication will replace a parking lot on the east side of Van Vleet Oval, just north of Lindsey, construction must await opening of the Asp Avenue Parking Facility in early 2003. Completion is targeted for summer 2004. The 59,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art media education facility is designed for future expansion. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art The 34,000-square-foot Howard and Mary Lester Wing on the museum's west side, which will house the Weitzenhoffer Collection of French Impressionaist Art, will create additional gallery and classroom space and a new main entrance off Elm Avenue. The existing building also will receive some renovation. Construction of the $14 million wing is scheduled to begin this fall with completion in late spring or summer 2004. The expansion will necessitate relacation oft he Rose Sharp Rose garden, possibly to the Oklahoma memorial Union area. Student Center, Phase II A key element in the development of a full-fledged residential campus is expansion of this much-needed center for health sciences students. Phase II adds a third floor to the heavily used, six-year-old structure on Stonewall Avenue. Student Housing Center For the first time, the University will be able to offer on- campus, apartment-style housing to HSC students. The 87 townhouses and studio apartments will be ready for occupancy in fall 2003. Basic Sciences Education Building Lecture Halls Large group assembly areas are in increasing demand, a need to be partially alleviated by these two new facilities to serve the College of Medicine. OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center A complete campus development plan is being formulated for the Tulsa campus, located at 41st and Yale, which will address the addition of academic, research and support facilities. HSC Projects in the Planning Stages include: Biomedical Research Center, Phase II O’Donoghue Center research units renovation College of Allied Health Building, Phase I, to house the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders Dermatology Clinic Building addition Biomedical Sciences Building renovations for the Department of Pathology Department of Pediatrics laboratory COMPLETED CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS The Boren Era—1994-2002 Norman Campus Boyd House renovation and expansion Oklahoma Memorial Union addition and renovation Archie Dunham Conoco Leadership Wing of Oklahoma Memorial Union Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Catlett Music Center, Phase II Elm Avenue Parking Facility Andrew M. Coats Hall (Law Center) renovation and addition Nielsen Hall, Phase I School of Art ceramics facility Old Faculty Club renovation and addition Honors College at Cate Center Henderson Tolson Cultural Center Faculty-in-Residence (six) housing units Max Westheimer Airport taxiway improvements Oklahoma Memorial Stadium public facilities improvements Reflecting Pool at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Barry Switzer Center Softball Park and team locker rooms Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course and clubhouse renovations Charlie Coe Golf Learning Center John Crain Soccer Facility Howard McCasland Field House team facilities Headington Family Tennis Center L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park improvements Lloyd Noble Center expansion and improvements OUHSC: Oklahoma City Biomedical Research Center, Phase I Family Medicine Clinic addition Greenhouse Student Center, Phase I OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center purchase and modifications Temporarily on hold until other projects and additional fundraising are completed is the Howard McCasland Field House renovation, the first phase of which will include air conditioning and life safety improvements. The addition of the Port Robertson Wrestling Center and remodeling for the women's volleyball team were completed two years ago. Also in planning stages are Nielsen Hall, Phase II, for physics and astronomy, renovation and expansion of Gould Hall for architecture, Chemistry Building addition, a new Engineering Technology Center east of Carson Engineering Center, modernization of Old Science Hall and major renovations to the student residence towers.