Regents consider approval of design phase plans for engineering site

Transcript Staff

The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents will consider approving design phase plans for the OU Engineering Practice Facility today when the body meets in Norman.

The meeting will be in the Stephenson Research and Technology Center, 101 David L. Boren Blvd. The regents will address items submitted by Cameron and Rogers State universities at 11 a.m., followed by those submitted by OU at 3 p.m.

The $10 million, 44,000-gross-square-foot engineering practice facility will adjoin Devon Energy Hall, a structure coming soon near Jenkins Avenue and Boyd Street on the main Norman campus. The practice facility and Devon Energy Hall, to be built primarily for the schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, will be linked at the basement level.

The practice facility will have large work areas for selected major projects and rooms for support services, including a computer-aided design and manufacturing lab, a machine shop for parts fabrication, a lab for bench-scale work, and a tools and material storage facility. It also will contain a Student Leadership Center, room for student organizations, tutoring center, seminar room, K-12 support center, multiple teaming rooms, information technology service center, reference library, and administrative offices.

In addition, the board will consider a recommendation to rename the OU Engineering Practice Facility as the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility. ExxonMobil last month made a $5 million gift toward constructing the building in memory of the late OU petroleum engineering graduate and former chairman and CEO of Exxon Corp.

The regents will consider other agenda items, including approval of the OU Student Association's student activity fee budget of $627,909 for calendar year 2006. The proposed budget includes funds for officially recognized student organizations, to run the UOSA administration, and set-asides for reserves and emergencies.

Another item calls for making three student code revisions: allowing OU to hold a student code action in abeyance pending resolution of any criminal legal matter; changing sanction wording from "fine" to "administrative fee"; and amending the student alcohol policy by allowing the university to file student code charges on students who had been attending OU within the past academic year and are pre-enrolled for future semesters.

The OU Board of Regents is scheduled to have its next meeting Jan. 24 and 25, 2006, in Norman.