A more energetic OU is ready for the spring semester with the creations of the new College of Earth and Energy and the National Weather Center. Ground will also break on two state-of-the-art additions to the engineering fleet.Chartered on Jan. 1, the OU College of Earth and Energy has been reorganized to include the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, the School of Geology and Geophysics, the Oklahoma Geological Survey and Sarkeys Energy Center.Though the college is still looking to hire a dean, the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering is staffed with 12 professors and the School of Geology and Geophysics employs 20 professors.The programs combine to have 275 undergraduate students and 155 graduate students enrolled for this semester.

The College of Earth and Energy represents OU's adaptation to an advancing job market.

The New School

o The newly created College of Earth and Energy will attempt to give students an edge in an increasingly competitive job market.

o The college will be composed of several already existing departments at OU.

o It has 275 undergraduate students and 155 graduate students enrolled for this semester.

Source: College of Earth and Energy brochure

According to a brochure about the new college, it "will address the needs of educating students for the future and conducting research that will benefit energy, industry and our nation."Students graduating with advanced degrees from the schools contained in the college have 90 to 100 percent successful job placement rates, according to the brochure.Meteorology students will soon have access to OU's National Weather Center, a partnership project with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Located at the corner of Jenkins Avenue and state Highway 9, the center is set to be completed at the start of May. According to John T. Snow, dean and director of Oklahoma Weather Center Programs and a professor of meteorology, the department hopes to start moving in at the end of May and have classes scheduled for fall 2006.Professional classes for meteorology majors will take place in the facility, which serves as a unique confederation of federal, state and OU organizations."(The National Weather Center) gives us space for all sorts of new projects and gets us much closer to our federal colleagues," Snow said.Snow said the main advantage of the facility to students is that it's all in one place instead of all over town.Located across the street from the National Weather Center, the Stephenson Research and Technology Center is nearing completion as a 94,600-square-foot space for rapidly changing research programs."(Students) will be able to live and study in an environment that goes all the way from the theoretical to the operational," Snow said.Snow said OU's meteorology program, which already boasts the largest undergraduate program of over 400 students, will grow in terms of research and students, particularly graduate students.Two advanced facilities are in the works to supplement OU's engineering facilities in Felgar Hall, Carson Engineering Center and Sarkeys Energy Center.Made possible by the largest single corporate gift in OU's history, Devon Energy Hall and Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility will break ground this spring.Funds for the world-class $27 million teaching and research facility were provided by a $10 million gift from Devon Energy Corporation of Oklahoma City to the OU College of Engineering.Located at the intersection of Jenkins Avenue and Boyd Street, Devon Energy Hall and the nation's first engineering practice facility will complete the Engineering Quadrangle."The construction of this building begins the new physical facility development of the Engineering Quadrangle that will provide our faculty and students space equivalent to the quality of their work," said W. Arthur Porter, dean of the College of Engineering, in the college's Evolve magazine.The two buildings provide facilities that will allow the college to continue to grow its student and faculty populations.
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