MURRAY EVANS
Associated Press
Sat, May 17 2008
—
University of Oklahoma regents will consider Thursday whether to approve an agreement outlining how a $50 million gift to the university from a Tulsa-based foundation will be spent.
The regents will meet on OU's Norman campus. The next-to-last item on the meeting's agenda, posted on the university Web site, is consideration of the master gift agreement. The gift from the George Kaiser Family Foundation is the largest single gift ever given to OU.
OU and the foundation announced the gift on Feb. 12.
University officials want to use the money to organize its medical program in Tulsa, which would include the establishment of a School of Community Medicine as part of OU's College of Medicine.
According to the agenda item, the mission of the new school would be to improve the health status of Oklahoma communities and vulnerable populations in rural and urban areas.
Principal elements of the agreement include the establishment of the school, funding of 35 endowed chairs in community medicine, initiation of a financial aid program to encourage students to enroll in and commit to the study and practice of community medicine, expansion of fundraising efforts for the school and indigent care in the area and start-up funds for the school.
Under the agreement, the foundation would donate $35 million to initially fund the recruitment and hiring of faculty members to fill the endowed chairs. Another $7.5 million will be used to establish a fund to be used for incentives for medical students, residents and fellows enrolled in the school.
The final $7.5 million will be used as start-up funds, to recruit faculty and for infrastructure.
In other business, regents will consider whether to approve a request to increase the budget for the construction of the Schusterman Learning Center in Tulsa by $500,000 to $16.5 million.
Construction on the center began in December 2006 and is expected to be finished this June. OU officials said the extra money is needed to build a parking lot next to the building and for the purchase and installation of additional audio-visual and distance education equipment for the facility.
Regents also could approve the design development phase plans for improvements and additions to the Sam Viersen Gymnastics Center. The project will include a 7,600-square-foot addition to the existing building, which would expand the practice facilities for the Sooners' men's and women's gymnastics teams. The project will cost an estimated $3 million.
Proposed personnel actions include approving an $180,000 annual salary for new assistant football coach Jay Norvell and a raise for former state Sen. President Pro Tem Cal Hobson, who in September was named as the interim executive director of operations for OU's College of Continuing Education since September.
Hobson's annual salary would be increased from $75,000 to $82,500, retroactive to March 1. Hobson, from Lexington, also received a $10,000 raise last September, after being hired in February 2007 as the director of OU's adult executive training programs.
Hobson left the Legislature in 2006 because of term limits.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.