OU-Tulsa Campus Offers Array of Degree Programs
OU-Tulsa is a nationally-recognized center for higher education offering a wide range of 30+ undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctorate level degrees, as well as graduate certificates. Programs include architecture, engineering, education, nursing, public health, occupational and physical therapy, library and information studies, organizational dynamics, public administration, social work, human relations, clinical mental health counseling, as well as medicine and physician assistant through the OU-TU School of Community Medicine. Since 1957, OU-Tulsa has provided higher education to NE Oklahoma and moved to the 60-acre Schusterman Campus in 1999.
In addition to the university’s excellence in research and instruction, the programming at OU-Tulsa is thoroughly embedded in the community. The faculty in Tulsa have collaborated with local industry, governments, community agencies, health care-providers and many other community partners.
The University of Oklahoma has been involved in the Tulsa community since the School of Library and Information Studies began offering classes in Tulsa in 1957. The OU College of Medicine — Tulsa, now known as the OU-TU School of Community Medicine, had its beginning in 1972, when the Oklahoma legislature approved the opening of a clinical branch of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.
Neither the university nor the community could have imagined then how greatly that presence would expand, nor how in a little more than 30 years OU-Tulsa would be recognized nationally as a leading example of a new kind of community-based graduate institution.
Many of the degree programs place heavy emphasis on community engagement — in fact, some of them were created with community needs in mind. Every year, students in the Organizational Dynamics program invites business leaders to serve as jury members for class case presentations. Students in the Social Work program have a long-standing relationship with the community of Turley and work with community leaders and residents to improve services and accessibility for the community. OU-Tulsa nursing students receive experience working with a variety of community agencies.
OU-Tulsa’s community has also grown outside the borders of Oklahoma. We presently have collaborations with Harvard University, Texas A & M University and IBM Corporation.
Another way in which OU-Tulsa works to address community needs is through the Bedlam Alliance for Community Health, which offers two free health clinics for the uninsured. The clinics provide much needed health services to hundreds of patients and also provide medical students direct experience in community medicine and understanding the challenges the uninsured face in accessing health care. Students from pharmacy, nursing and social work are also part of the health care teams at Bedlam Clinics. Other departments are similarly involved in projects and research with community groups and agencies as OU-Tulsa students involve-themselves in real-world, professional experiences.
Although OU’s presence in Tulsa is longstanding, it changed dramatically in 1999, thanks to the generous gift from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation that allowed OU to purchase 60 acres at the corner of 41st Street and Yale Avenue.
The facility, once the research center for BP Amoco Oil Company, now serves as home for all of OU’s academic programs in Tulsa.
Being situated squarely in Tulsa’s geographic center has given OU a much stronger identity, but there’s even more to come. The Schusterman Center serves as the hub of the university and community activity.
Enrollment has grown 57 percent since the fall of 2000, with more than 1,600 students enrolled at OU-Tulsa
