OU receives $1 million gift from Phillips 66
A $1 million gift from Phillips 66 will support construction of a new academic building and research laboratory on OU’s Engineering Quadrangle, President David Boren announced Thursday during a meeting of the OU Board of Regents.
The $43 million Gallogly Hall, set to open in fall 2019, will house the College of Engineering’s Diversity and Inclusion Program offices, the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, and new engineering labs and learning spaces.
Boren recommended the regents name the Diversity and Inclusion Learning Space to honor Phillips 66 in appreciation of the gift.
“We’re continuing to get wonderful support from our alumni,” Boren said. “The university is grateful to Phillips 66 for providing this innovative space in the biomedical research facility.”
The College of Engineering’s diversity and inclusion program is designed to cultivate diversity of thought in a welcoming environment for all students, faculty and staff, as well as to enhance the recruitment, retention and graduation of a diverse workforce.
The new learning space will feature a 70-inch monitor for project viewing, student printers and two small study rooms. It will include movable furniture that will allow students to create the study environment best suited for their projects and will encourage student and faculty interaction and collaboration.
The 70,000-squarefoot Gallogly Hall also will be home to the new Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering. The growing field of biomedical engineering will be one of the most important interdisciplinary fields going forward, Boren said.
Other actions
Also during their meeting, the regents approved naming the Building Information Modeling and Visualization Laboratory in the College of Architecture in recognition of Kenneth Robson, who served as a faculty member in the College of Architecture for more than 20 years.
They also recognized the successes of four OU sports teams — football, women’s gymnastics, men’s gymnastics and softball.
Eleven alumni and friends of OU will receive Regents’ Alumni Awards for service to the university in a ceremony scheduled Friday on campus.
Presented by the OU Board of Regents and OU Alumni Association, the Regents’ Alumni Award honors the important roles of OU alumni and supporters to the life of the university. Recipients names are engraved on a permanent plaque in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
This year’s recipients are:
Jack Edwin Counts Jr., of Oklahoma City, founder of Candid Color Systems; Jim Dewbre, of Spring, Texas, senior vice president of land at Southwestern Energy; Christopher Gibbs, of Newport Beach, California, president and CEO of Christopher Homes/PLC Land; Wayne Greene, of Tulsa, Tulsa World editorial page editor; Leslie Simcox Hudson, of Oklahoma City.
Also, Cathy Simmons Humphreys, of Dallas; Randy Laffoon, of Norman, owner of KREF 1400 sports talk radio and Boyd Street magazine; Homer Paul, of Edmond, retired president of Citizens Security Bank; Lisa Rogers, of Houston, Texas, chemical engineer at ExxonMobile; Erin Wiley, of Washington, D.C., president and Founder at Wiley Ideas; Linda Lake Young, of Norman, lifetime member of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication alumni board.