Published: March 13, 2006 05:04 pm      

Charting a course for campus future

UCO wants to expand, but not offend its neighbors

EDMOND — More campus residential housing, a campus corner-type area and a facility at Arcadia Lake are among the items on the University of Central Oklahoma’s wish list as it charts its newest master plan.

UCO officials are about a third of the way through their long-term planning process, said Steve Kreidler, executive vice president. The core of the plan could be finished in August.

For now, Edmondites will have to wait to see if they will be impacted like Stillwater residents.

Oklahoma State University officials are dealing with a public relations nightmare as they work toward a planned 100-acre expansion of its campus, which will require the acquisition of many homes and businesses.

“We are too early in the process to have discussed whether we need to expand the campus,” Kreidler said of UCO’s plans.

UCO already has built the off-campus Jazz Lab and is in the process of developing classrooms and programs in a soon-to-be designed facility at Arcadia Lake, Kreidler said.

There also is the joint UCO-Rose State College venture offering four-year degrees in business and nursing on RSC’s Midwest City campus.

UCO will build a $4.6 million Forensic Science Institute across the street from the OSBI lab and a $10 million, 50,000-square-foot classroom building funded by the $475 million higher ed bond package.

Additional bond funds will allow UCO to reoccupy 17,000 feet of classroom, lab and faculty space in Old North, a $5 million project.

Real estate was purchased near the campus for expansion of the art department.

Another discussed goal is creating a campus corner-type environment.

During the last strategic planning cycle, about 600 students lived in campus housing, Kreidler said. Now that number is about 1,900.

“That starts to change the dynamics for a potential campus corner,” Kreidler said.

If UCO adds more campus housing, as discussed, it would result in more students living within a short distance of the development area, along Campbell and Ayers streets.

“I think that will come, but we’re not there yet,” Kreidler said.

A long-term commitment to a public transportation system makes the project more feasible, he said.

David Jones said his Edmond architectural and engineering firm, The Orion Group, has a couple of plans drawn up for the Campbell Street area.

The plans call for four or five two-story quadplexes that would contain office and retail space, Jones said. He has heard talk of UCO wanting to buy some older houses in the area.

To help gather input for the plan, UCO launched a blog titled “Good To Great,” which is also the title of a best-selling business management book.

Among the ideas suggested by bloggers are building a new basketball arena, adding more student housing, developing a school of medicine and the construction of a parking garage. Other suggestions included building a new state-of-the-art cafeteria and adding an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Nathan Woolard, the UCO student body president, wrote that he would like to see a doctorate program and the effort to educate legislators about UCO accelerated.

Another blogger wrote that since the average age of a UCO student is 24, outside the 18-22 traditional student range, the school should seek to become the best non-traditional college in the southwest.

UCO Provost Bill Radke said the new plan is being developed in an abbreviated time frame and will look at the big picture for the major stakeholders — the students and faculty.

“I don’t believe the goals are likely to be too different from the vision currently held, but having stated goals will function to align all our divisions and ensure that we are all pulling in the same direction,” Radke said.

To measure success, groups will create a balanced score card to keep track of how they are doing at matching the mission and set goals, he said.

Kreidler said he is extremely pleased with what has been accomplished thus far.

Once the strategic plan is established it will help UCO know what to do, what not to begin doing and what to stop doing, Radke said. The approach will help the university conserve scarce resources and create a more coordinated and focused institution, he said.

Kreidler said the duration of the new master plan process has not yet been determined.