History
The earliest program of The University of Oklahoma in Tulsa was a partnership with the Tulsa City County Library begun in 1957. This program averaged 50 students a year and was one of the first programs to be part of the Tulsa Graduate Center, which became UCT in 1982.
In 1972, Senate Bill 453, enacted by the Oklahoma State Legislature, created a clinical branch of The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa. Today, the OU College of Medicine enrolls 52 medical students in their third and fourth years and trains 175 residents who conduct 140,000 annual patient visits at the College's ambulatory clinics.
Today, the OU Health Sciences Program and the OU Norman Graduate Degree Program serve more than 1150 students, offering graduate degrees in Allied Health, Nursing, Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Public Health, Architecture, Human Relations, Library and Information Studies, Organizational Dynamics, Public Administration, Social Work, Music Education (Kodaly Certificate), Telecommunications and a Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership. Undergraduate Nursing and a Bachelor of Liberal Studies are also offered in Tulsa. A Master of Science in Knowledge Management is currently being developed.
Also based in Tulsa are various programs sponsored by the OU College of Continuing Education. The most extensive initiative is the National Resource Center for Youth Services. Established in 1973, the National Resource Center is designed to provide consultation, training and technical assistance for professionals who serve adolescents at risk. Currently, a staff of 85 conduct over 1000 events for more than 25,000 people in 46 states.
Although OU's presence in Tulsa has been longstanding, it changed dramatically in 1999 as a result of the generous gift from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation which allowed OU to purchase 60 acres at the corner of 41st and Yale, previously the Amoco Research Center. Historically, the OU programs in Tulsa were located in a wide variety of sites, including the OSU-Tulsa campus. By the fall of 2002, all OU academic programs in Tulsa were located at the Schusterman Center, providing OU with a much stronger identity in Tulsa and allowing OU-Tulsa to better serve the community.
The Tulsa Graduate College was founded in the fall semester of 1996 as the Tulsa Graduate Office when the current Dean, William Ray, was named as Interim Dean on a part-time basis. In the spring of 1998 the position of Dean was made full-time and the operation was reorganized as the Tulsa Graduate College. Dr. Ray became the founding Dean of the College. In 2004 Dr. Ray was given the additional title of Vice Provost for Norman Programs in Tulsa in recognition of expanded budgetary and planning responsibilities.
In 1994 there were 390 graduate students enrolled in Tulsa and three resident faculty. In the intervening ten years over 1,000 students have earned their degrees in the programs offered through the Tulsa Graduate College. By the fall semester of 2005 there were 461 students in post-baccalaureate study and another 91 undergraduates enrolled in Tulsa for a total of 552 student students receiving academic support from the College. There were 24 resident faculty and three doctoral programs.
