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, mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type =
Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
, established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , president = Joseph Harroz Jr. , provost = André-Denis G. Wright , faculty = 2,937 , students = 28,564 (Fall 2019) , undergrad = 22,152 (Fall 2019) , postgrad = 6,412 (Fall 2019) , city = Norman , state = Oklahoma , country = United States , campus = Midsize Suburb/
College Town A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...
, , colors =
Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red co ...
and cream
, nickname =
Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, ...
, sporting_affiliations = NCAA Division I FBS:
, mascot =
Sooner Schooner The Sooner Schooner is an official mascot of the sports teams of the University of Oklahoma Sooners. Pulled by two white ponies named Boomer and Sooner, it is a scaled-down replica of the Studebaker Conestoga wagon used by settlers of the Okl ...
, website = , logo = University of Oklahoma logo.svg , accreditation = HLC , free_label1 = Newspaper , free1 = ''
The Oklahoma Daily ''OU Daily'', formally known as The Oklahoma Daily, is the independent, student-produced newspaper at the University of Oklahoma, with a circulation of 6,000. Though it maintains a connection with OU's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Commu ...
'' , free_label2 = Other campuses , free2 = The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
in
Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, be ...
. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahoma. In Fall 2022, the university had 29,705 students enrolled, most at its main campus in Norman. Employing nearly 3,000 faculty members, the school offers 152 baccalaureate programs, 160
master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
programs, 75
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
programs, and 20 majors at the first professional level. The university is
classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...
among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, OU spent $283 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 82nd in the nation. Its Norman campus has two prominent museums, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, specializing in French
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
and Native American artwork, and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, specializing in the natural history of Oklahoma. The university has won multiple national championships in multiple sports, including seven football national championships and two NCAA Division I baseball championships. The women's softball team has won the national championship six times: in 2000, 2013, and consecutively in 2016 and 2017 and in 2021 and 2022. The
gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
teams have won a combined 11 national championships since 2002, with the men's team winning eight in the last 15 years, including three consecutive titles from 2015 to 2017.


History

With the support of
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
George Washington Steele, on December 18, 1890, the Oklahoma Territorial legislature established three universities: the state university in Norman, the agricultural and mechanical college in Stillwater (later renamed
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
) and a
normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...
in Edmond (later renamed University of Central Oklahoma). Oklahoma's admission into the union in 1907 led to the renaming of the Norman Territorial University as the University of Oklahoma. Norman residents donated of land for the university south of the Norman railroad depot. The university's first president ordered the planting of trees before the construction of the first campus building because he "could not visualize a treeless university seat." Landscaping remains important to the university. The university's first president,
David Ross Boyd David Ross Boyd (July 31, 1853 – November 17, 1936) was an American educator and the first president of the University of Oklahoma. Boyd was born in Coshocton, Ohio, and obtained a doctorate degree from the small College of Wooster, where he w ...
, arrived in Norman in August 1892, and the first students enrolled that year. The university established a School of Pharmacy in 1893 because of the territory's high demand for pharmacists. Three years later, the university awarded its first degree to a pharmaceutical chemist. The "Rock Building" in downtown Norman held the initial classes until the university's first building opened on September 6, 1893. On January 6, 1903, the university's only building burned down and destroyed many records of the early university. Construction began immediately on a new building, as several other towns hoped to convince the university to move. President Boyd and the faculty were not dismayed by the loss. Mathematics professor Frederick Elder said, "What do you need to keep classes going? Two yards of blackboard and a box of chalk." As a response to the fire, English professor
Vernon Louis Parrington Vernon Louis Parrington (August 3, 1871 – June 16, 1929) was an American literary historian and scholar. His three-volume history of American letters, ''Main Currents in American Thought'', won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928 and was o ...
created a plan for the development of the campus. Although much of the plan was never implemented, Parrington's suggestion for the campus core formed the basis for the North Oval. The North and South Ovals are now distinctive features of the campus. The campus has a distinctive architecture, with buildings designed in a unique " Cherokee Gothic" style. The style has many features of the Gothic era but has also mixed the designs of local Native American tribes from Oklahoma. This term was coined by the renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright when he visited the campus. The university has built over a dozen buildings in the Cherokee Gothic style. In 1907, Oklahoma entered statehood, fostering changes in the state's political atmosphere. Up until this point, Oklahoma's Republican tendencies changed with the election of Oklahoma's first
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, the Democratic
Charles N. Haskell Charles Nathaniel Haskell (March 13, 1860 – July 5, 1933) was an American lawyer, oilman, and politician who was the first governor of Oklahoma. As a delegate to Oklahoma's constitutional convention in 1906, he played a crucial role in draftin ...
. Since the university's inception, religion had divided those on campus. Early in the university's existence, many professors were
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
, as was Boyd. Under pressure, Boyd hired several
Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...
and Southern
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
s. The Presbyterians and Baptists coexisted but the Southern Methodists conflicted with the administration. Two notable Methodists, Rev. Nathaniel Lee Linebaugh and Professor Ernest Taylor Bynum, were critics of Boyd and activists in Haskell's election campaign. When Haskell took office, he fired many of the university's Republicans, including President Boyd. The campus expanded over the next several decades. By 1932, the university encompassed . Development of South Oval allowed for the southern expansion of the campus. The university built a new library on the oval's north end in 1936. By convincing the Oklahoma legislature to increase their original pledge of $200,000 for the library to $500,000, President Bizzell ensured an even greater collection of research materials for students and faculty. Like many universities, OU had a drop in enrollment during World War II. Enrollment in 1945 dropped to 3,769, from its pre–World War II high of 6,935 in 1939. Many infrastructure changes have occurred at the university. The southern portion of south campus near Constitution Avenue, still known to long-time Norman residents as 'South Base', was originally built as an annex to Naval Air Station Norman. It contained mostly single-story frame buildings used for classrooms and military housing. By the late 1980s, most were severely deteriorated and were demolished in the 1990s to make room for redevelopment. The Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma Golf Course was built as a U.S. Navy recreational facility. During World War II, OU was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the
V-12 Navy College Training Program The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleg ...
which offered students a path to a Navy commission. The north campus and airfield were built in the early 1940s as Naval Air Station Norman. The station served mainly an advanced flight training mission and could handle all but the largest bombers. A large earthen mound east of
Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican borde ...
and north of Robinson Street, colloquially known as 'Mount Williams', was a gunnery (the mound has been removed to make way for a commercial development). In the post–World War II
demobilization Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and mili ...
, the university received the installation. Naval aviator's wings displayed at the entrance to the terminal commemorates this airfield's Naval past. After the World War, the university enjoyed rapid growth and a surge in enrollment. By 1965, enrollment had risen over 450% to 17,268, causing housing shortages. In the mid-1960s, the administration constructed three new 12-story dormitories immediately south of the South Oval. In addition to these three towers, they built an apartment complex for married students, including men returning to college under the
GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
. These apartments are now Kraettli Apartments. In 1943
George Lynn Cross George Lynn Cross (May 12, 1905 – December 31, 1998) was a botanist, writer, and the longest serving president of the University of OklahomaLevy, David W.,University of Oklahoma," Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' (accessed May 26, ...
took over as president of the university, two years after the U.S. entered World War II. He served until 1968, 25 years later, becoming the longest-serving president in the university's history. Five presidents served in the next 25 years. In 1994, the university hired a president who has stayed longer. The
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
began a new era as the university began policies against racial discrimination and segregation after legal challenges and court cases outlawed discrimination. The
Bizzell Memorial Library The Bizzell Memorial Library, known also as Bizzell Library, is a five-story brick structure located at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It is an elaborate Collegiate Gothic or Cherokee Gothic building, designed by the architecture ...
has been designated a U.S.
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
in commemoration of the cases of G. W. McLaurin, a black man denied admission to graduate school in 1948. It was then state law that no school should serve both white and black students, but there were few or no separate graduate programs available for blacks. A court case effectively forced the Board of Regents to vote to admit McLaurin, but he was directed to study in a separated area within the law library and to be allowed to lunch only in a segregated area. The National Association for Advancement of Colored People brought the case to the U.S. Supreme court in '' McLaurin vs. Oklahoma State Board of Regents''. In 1950, the court overturned the university's policy for segregation at the graduate school level. The case was an important precedent for the more famous and sweeping 1954 case of '' Brown v. Board of Education'' which disallowed "separate but equal" policy at all school levels. Since David Boren became president in 1994, the University of Oklahoma system has experienced tremendous growth, with an increase in new developments throughout including the purchase of for OU-Tulsa, the new Gaylord Hall, Price Hall, the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility, Devon Energy Hall, the Wagner Student Academic Services Center, the Research and Medical Clinic, the expansions of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, and the
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range ...
. In 2005, a bombing took place during a football match; student Joe Henrichs detonated a device which killed only himself. Police initially thought that this was an act of terrorism. In March 2015, the University of Oklahoma shut down the Oklahoma Kappa chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity when a video surfaced that showed members singing a racist chant as they rode a bus. Sigma Alpha Epsilon shut down the chapter on March 8, 2015, and University of Oklahoma president David Boren gave members two days to leave the fraternity house. He also expelled two students who he said "played a leadership role" in the incident, creating "a hostile learning environment for others". The expulsion, allegedly without due process, earned the university a spot on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's 2016 "10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech". David Boren, a former
U.S. senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...
and
Governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the '' ex o ...
, served 24 years as the university's president from 1994 to 2018.
James L. Gallogly James L. Gallogly (born September 1, 1952 in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada) is a former American university administrator and retired business executive who was the 14th President of the University of Oklahoma. He has held executive positi ...
succeeded Boren on July 1, 2018, only to retire ten months later on May 12, 2019. OU College of Law Dean Joseph Harroz was appointed effective immediately May 16, 2019 to a 15-month term as interim president. On May 9, 2020, Harroz was announced as the 15th president of the university by the Board of Regents.


Campuses


Norman campus

As of fall 2009, the Norman campus had 18,667
undergraduate students Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-l ...
and 6,367
postgraduate students Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and st ...
. Following the Sooners' 2000 football national-championship season the university experienced an increase in college applicants and admissions. The falls of 1999 and 2000 both saw a 1.3% increase in the number of students over the respective previous years, while fall 2001 saw an increase of 4.8% over 2000. The largest school, the College of Arts and Sciences, enrolls 35.2% of the OU-Norman students. The College of Arts & Sciences offers several programs, which include internships and most notably a joint archaeological program (with Saint Anselm College of
Goffstown, New Hampshire Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 18,577 at the 2020 census. The compact center of town, where 3,366 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goff ...
) in Orvieto, Italy. The next largest school, The Price College of Business enrolls 13%. Other large colleges on the Norman campus include the
College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
with 10.6% and the College of Education,
Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication is the journalism unit of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. The College is named for the former longtime publishers of ''The Oklahoman''. History In 1897, five years after the Univ ...
, and College of Liberal Studies, each with approximately 6% of the student body. Smaller schools include the Colleges of
Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
and Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, Earth and Energy, the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts, and the
College of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, l ...
. New students do not have to declare a
major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...
(a concentrated course of study) immediately and are not required to declare a major until their Junior year. If they are undecided in their major, they are considered a part of the
University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
, composing approximately 8% of the student body. Many Pre-Health majors choose this option until they are able to apply for the medical program of their choice. The Norman campus has three sections: north campus, main campus, and south campus. All three are connected by a bus service funded by student fees which allows students to park at Lloyd Noble Center and provides 5- to 10-minute service to the main and south campuses. Other regular Norman bus routes provide service to north campus as well as the main campus. The main and south campus are contiguous while the north campus is about two miles north of the main campus. The Norman campus is the focus of a number of ghost stories, some negative, some positive.


Main campus

The main campus is bordered by Boyd Street on the north, Timberdell Road on the south, Chautauqua Avenue on the west, and Jenkins Avenue on the east. The Norman campus is centered on two large "ovals." The Parrington Oval (or North Oval as it is commonly called) is anchored on the south by Evans Hall, the main administrative building. This building highlights the "
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
" style of architecture locally derived from the Collegiate Gothic style, the style that dominates and defines the older buildings on the OU campus. The North Oval is bordered on the east by the Oklahoma Memorial Union. On the east side of the northernmost part of campus sits Sarkeys Energy Center while to the west is the Fred Jones, Jr. School of Art and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, home to the Weitzenhoffer Collection of
Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...
art and the Catlett Music Center. Just south of Catlett is Goddard Health Center, an on-campus clinic that provides medical care and counseling and testing services to students, faculty, staff, and their dependents. Goddard comprises the OU Health Services laboratory, Counseling Services, Health Promotion, and a pharmacy. The Van Vleet Oval (or South Oval) is anchored on the north by the
Bizzell Memorial Library The Bizzell Memorial Library, known also as Bizzell Library, is a five-story brick structure located at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It is an elaborate Collegiate Gothic or Cherokee Gothic building, designed by the architecture ...
and flanked by academic buildings. When class is in session, the South Oval is often inundated with students going to and from class. Elm Avenue bounds the western edge of the academic portion of OU, with a few exceptions. Lying between Elm Avenue and Chautauqua Avenue are mostly fraternity and sorority houses. On the east side of the central part of campus lies
Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, also known as Owen Field or The Palace on the Prairie, is the football stadium on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It serves as the home of the Oklahoma Sooners football tea ...
, just north of Lindsey Street on Jenkins Avenue. Immediately adjacent to the stadium is the Barry Switzer Center, a museum highlighting the historical success of Oklahoma athletics, as well as a comprehensive training facility for Oklahoma athletes. North of the stadium is the McCasland Field House, the former home of Oklahoma Basketball and the current home of Oklahoma's wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics programs. Across Jenkins Avenue are the athletic dorms and statues honoring Oklahoma's past five Heisman Trophy winners. Other statues on campus include several honoring the Native Americans who defined much of Oklahoma's history and a new memorial statue on the north side of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium honoring OU students, faculty, and staff that have died while serving in the armed forces. The portion of OU's main campus south of Lindsey Street includes three colleges, university housing, student activity and fitness facilities, and the Oklahoma Center for Continuing Education. The Joe C. and Carole Kerr McClendon Honors College is in David L. Boren Hall, which serves as an Academic Arts Community where residential rooms, faculty offices, classrooms, a computer center and library are all available in the same building. Other residence halls include the twelve-story Adams, Couch and Walker Centers, as well as Cate Center, made up of three- and four-story buildings, which are transitioning to faculty offices. Adjacent to the residence facilities are the Sarkeys Fitness Center (formerly the Houston Huffman Fitness Center), Henderson-Tolson Cultural Center and the Jim Thorpe Multicultural Center. The Murray Case Sells Swim Complex is also nearby, providing indoor and outdoor swimming opportunities for the OU community. The Oklahoma Center for Continuing Education (OCCE) is one of eleven W. K. Kellogg Foundation-funded centers in the United States and Britain. It is home to OU Outreach, which consists of the College of Continuing Education and the College of Liberal Studies, and includes a conference center able to host events of up to 1500 participants. The Oklahoma administration prides itself on the aesthetic appeal of the campus. All three campuses (Norman, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa) have beautifully landscaped gardens. Trees were planted on the OU campus before the first building was ever built. There are also many statues and sculptures around campus, most of which portray the strong influence of the Native American culture. There are also four buildings on the main campus that are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. They are the Bizzell Library, the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house, Casa Blanca (the old Alpha Chi Omega sorority house), and Boyd House – the residence of the university president. In September 2008, it was announced that the University of Oklahoma's main campus will be entirely powered by wind by 2013. According to OU president David Boren, "It is our patriotic duty as Americans to help our country achieve energy independence and to be sound stewards of the environment." The school plans to purchase its energy from the OU Spirit Wind Farm, which is scheduled for construction near Woodward in late 2009. The new source of energy is projected to cost the university an additional $5 million per year. The Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work was completed on the Norman campus in 2011 and houses facilities for the training of undergraduate and graduate social workers. The 12 million dollar building is named for the Zarrow family, a philanthropic couple from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Zarrows donated $5 million as the keystone donors for the new building with the remaining funds coming from a bequest of Ruth I. Knee, a graduate of the program, and a portion of the states federal stimulus funds.


North campus

On the far north side of Norman is the OU Research Campus-North, which includes University of Oklahoma Max Westheimer Airport (
ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...
: KOUN), the Radar Operations Center, the old National Severe Storms Laboratory facility, the OU OKDHS Training and Research Center, and Merrick Computer and Technology Center. Additional research facilities as part of OU's Gallogly College of Engineering also operate out of North campus including the Measurement and Automation Laboratory, Laboratory for Electrical Energy and Power Systems, and Laboratory for Smart Buildings. OU's College of Aviation runs a programs in the education of future pilots, air traffic controllers and aviation industry professionals. The Aviation Accreditation Board has accredited the College of Aviation at North Base as one of only 29 accredited colleges in the world.


South campus

South of student housing is Timberdell Road, the approximate southern boundary of the university. South of this road are University-owned apartments and athletic complexes. Also on the south side of Timberdell Road is the
College of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, l ...
building which was expanded in 2002 by the addition of a larger law library and courtroom. There are additional athletic complexes in this area, including
L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park The L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park is home to the University of Oklahoma Sooners baseball team. About Mitchell Park was named after Dale Mitchell, a mid-1940s Sooner letterman who holds OU's career and single-season batting records. The park w ...
, the OU Softball Field, and Lloyd Noble Center (the basketball arena). OU owns the wooded area just south of Highway 9 between Chautauqua and Jenkins. This area is called Oliver's Woods. Ecology classes take field trips to Oliver's Woods frequently. They can use the area to study Ecological patterns including tree growth and pH in the ground. Visible patterns of plant dispersion can be studied in Oliver's Woods as well, including uniform, random, and clumped patterns. The area has a trail for people to follow and a creek running through the lower elevated area.


Research campus

While this area has traditionally lacked academic buildings, the pressure of expansion in the northern part of campus led to the construction of new academic buildings – such as the
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range ...
and Stephenson Research and Technology Center – on the south end of campus. This area, now termed The University of Oklahoma's Research Campus, "brings academic, public and private sector organizations together in a mutually beneficial collaborative environment." In 2004, global weather information provider WeatherNews opened its U.S. Operations Center in One Partners Place, in the research campus one block from the new NWC building. The southern boundary of the research campus is State Highway 9. OU's
Advanced Radar Research Center The Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) is the largest academic radar program in the United States. The ARRC’s mission is to enhance safety, security, environmental quality, and economic prosperity through interdisciplinary research and the dev ...
is also on the Research campus in its new Radar Innovations Laboratory building. the Life Sciences Research Center has opened, housing numerous chemical and biochemical research labs. Other buildings on the research campus include One Partners Place, Two Partners Place, Three Partners Place, Four Partners Place, and Five Partners Place. Housed within these buildings are the Center for Spatial Analysis and the Center for Applied Social Research among several others.


Health Sciences Center

The
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is a public medical school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is the health sciences branch of the University of Oklahoma and serves as the primary place of instruction for many of Oklahoma's health p ...
's main campus is at the Oklahoma Health Center in Oklahoma City, while a secondary Health Sciences campus is in
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
. About 3,500 students enroll in one of the seven colleges at the Health Center. The distribution of students in each of these colleges is more uniform than that of the main campus. The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center ( OUHSC), established in the early 20th century, is OU's presence in Oklahoma City. OUHSC is one of only four academic health centers in the nation with seven professional colleges. The nineteen buildings that make up the OUHSC campus occupies a fifteen block area in Oklahoma City near the Oklahoma State Capitol. Surrounding these buildings are an additional twenty health-related buildings some of which are owned by the University of Oklahoma. With approximately 600 students and 600 residents and fellows training in specialties and subspecialties of medicine, the College of Medicine is the largest part of the Health Sciences Center. The major clinical facilities on campus are the OU Medical Center hospital complex, which and include The Children's Hospital, the OU Physicians clinics, and the Oklahoma City
Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
Medical Center. The Oklahoma Health Center at large has large, university-operated biomedical research facilities joined on campus by a growing biomedical and pharmaceutical research corporations developed by the Presbyterian Health Foundation, dedicated to biotechnology, research, and new scientific ventures.


University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Schusterman Center

The University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Schusterman Center (OU-Tulsa) is home to all OU programs in Tulsa, OU Physicians-Tulsa, and the School of Community Medicine. OU-Tulsa offers six bachelor's degree completion programs; 14 master's degree programs; doctoral programs in medicine, physical therapy, education, early childhood education, engineering and nursing, as well as nine residency programs in medicine. Graduate certificate programs are also offered at OU-Tulsa. More than 200 full-time faculty teach OU-Tulsa students and enrollment at OU-Tulsa exceeds 1,600 students. More than 1,000 employees work at the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center and OU Physicians medical clinics throughout Tulsa. OU-Tulsa has service, education and research affiliations with more than 100 community agencies.


Norman-based programs

Programs offered at OU-Tulsa that are affiliated with departments on the Norman (main) campus of OU are referred to as Norman-based programs even when offered at OU-Tulsa. Norman-based programs on the Tulsa campus are primarily graduate level programs although an undergraduate degree completion program in Social Work is now being offered. Masters and doctoral level graduate programs as well as graduate certificate programs affiliated with a number of colleges on the Norman campus are offered on the Tulsa campus. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college on the Tulsa campus and includes programs in Human Relations, Library and Information Studies, Organizational Dynamics, Public Administration, and Social Work. Some graduate programs offered at OU-Tulsa are unique to the Tulsa campus such as Urban Design and Organizational Dynamics. Norman-based programs offered in Tulsa are predominately professional programs that include non-traditional scheduling formats such as evening and compressed format weekend courses to support the needs of working adults.


Health-science programs

Established in 1972 as a branch of the main Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City, the
OU School of Community Medicine The OU School of Community Medicine (OUSCM) located in Tulsa, OK is a branch of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. It is the first medical school of its kind in the nation. The OU School of Community Medicine is designed to serve the ...
, formerly the College of Medicine–Tulsa, has enabled the university to establish medical residencies and provide for expanded
health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pr ...
capabilities in the state. Between 1972 and 1999, OU's presence in Tulsa had grown but scattered. In 1999, a site formerly owned by BP Amoco was sold to the university for $24 million (even though the property was appraised at $48 million). The site already featured a building with offices, labs, and classrooms. The university purchased this property with the help of a $10 million gift from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. The existing building was renamed the ''Schusterman Center''. This historic, 60-acre property in the heart of Tulsa features original mid-century architecture surrounded by nearly 1,000 trees. New construction of the Schusterman Library and Schusterman Learning Center at OU-Tulsa has been designed in keeping with the original building style. In 2003, Tulsa voters approved the Vision 2025 plan for capital improvements to the Tulsa metro area. Included in this plan was $30 million for a new Research and Medical Clinic near the existing Schusterman Center. Construction on the new building, the OU Schusterman Clinic, was completed in June 2007. OU-Tulsa is also home to the OU School of Community Medicine. Created with the support of a $50 million donation from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the school's mission is to improve the health status of all Oklahomans, particularly the urban and rural underserved. The OU School of Community Medicine faculty comprises around 200 physicians representing a wide field of specialties. These doctors also form the OU Physicians medical practice group, which provides care to patients at some 25 clinic sites in the Tulsa area. The faculty's time is split among teaching medical students, supervising medical residents and providing patient care.


OU in Arezzo

In 2012, The University of Oklahoma purchased a monastery in
Arezzo, Italy Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
. In early 2016, renovations to the monastery neared completion and OU began the use of its newest permanent "campus" (denominated as a "Study Center") location outside of the state of Oklahoma. The university expects that one in five OU students who study abroad will go through the Arezzo campus. The Arezzo campus has been described by university president, David Boren, as a first step for students and their parents to become acquainted with the world and gain an educational experience in a foreign land. The campus is scheduled to be dedicated in the summer of 2016. Boren chose the smaller town of Arezzo in part because of the small size of the town relative to nearby
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, which boasts programs from about 50 American universities. With such a large number of American college students in Florence, Boren was concerned that OU students would have socialized with other Americans rather than the local Italians.


Other study centers

OU has study centers in Puebla, Mexico and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A center is planned for İzmir, Turkey.


Academics

The University of Oklahoma is a large residential,
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
. The university consists of fifteen
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
s, including 152 majors. Native American studies includes language classes in
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
, Choctaw, Mvskoke, and
Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
as part of the university's Native American language program; currently Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee I, II, and III are offered in both fall and spring semesters. The university has a high four-year full-time undergraduate enrollment including a high transfer-in population. While the two main campuses are in Norman and
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, affiliated programs in
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
expand access for students in eastern Oklahoma. Some of the programs in Tulsa include: architecture, arts and sciences, education, engineering, medicine, nursing, public health, allied health and liberal arts studies. In addition to 152 majors to choose from, the University of Oklahoma also has a nationally recognized Honors College featuring its own dedicated faculty, dormitories, and writing center. Every student from any major can apply to the college; if accepted the student is eligible to take honors classes and graduate
cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
. In order to graduate with honors, the student must complete 18 credit hours of honors classes and submit an honors thesis. Transfer students are able to transfer up to nine credit hours of honor classes from a different university. Students come from all 50 U.S. states and over 100 countries. 32% of the 2006 freshmen were in the top 10% of their high school class. Ethnic
minority groups The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
represent over 25% of newly enrolled undergraduates and 27% of all students. In addition, the university has an enrollment of over 700 National Merit Scholars, making it first per capita among public universities. In addition to being a member of the Southeastern Universities Research Association and Universities Research Association, undergraduate admission to the University of Oklahoma is categorized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as "more selective". For the 2010–2011 school year, 9,996 applied and 8,498 were admitted (85%). The university's freshman retention rate in 2009 was 82% and the six-year graduation rate was 62.0%. In May 2019, '' U.S. News & World Report'' said that the University of Oklahoma gave "inflated" data on its alumni giving rates for two decades and in response, would show the university as unranked in its 2019 edition of "Best Colleges" rankings.


Museums and libraries

The university has two prominent museums, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. * The Museum of Art was founded in 1936 and originally headed by Oscar Jacobson, the director of the School of Art at the time. The museum opened with over 2,500 items on display and was originally on campus in Jacobson Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones of
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
donated money for a permanent building in 1971 and the building was named in honor of their son who died in a plane crash during his senior year at the University of Oklahoma. Since then, the museum has acquired many renowned works of Native American art and, in 2000, received the Weitzenhoffer Collection of French
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
which includes works by Degas,
Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fro ...
, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec,
Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
, and Vuillard. the museum has over 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) filled with over 8,000 items from a wide array of time periods and movements. In 2005, the museum expanded with the opening of the new Lester Wing designed by contemporary architect
Hugh Newell Jacobsen Hugh Newell Jacobsen (March 11, 1929 – March 4, 2021) was an American architect. He was noted for designing Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' home in Martha's Vineyard during the 1980s. He also restored part of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, as well ...
. The architectural style of the new addition deviates from the Collegiate Gothic style of the university, but Jacobsen felt this was necessary given the contemporary works of art the wing would house. * The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, south of the main campus and directly southwest of the law building, specializes in the history of the people and animals that have inhabited Oklahoma over the last 300 million years. Since its founding in 1899, the museum has acquired over 5 million objects. In 2000, a new building was opened to house the ever-expanding museum. The new building offered nearly 200,000 square feet (18,600 m2) of space to display the many exhibits the museum has to offer. The University of Oklahoma Library system has its headquarters in
Bizzell Memorial Library The Bizzell Memorial Library, known also as Bizzell Library, is a five-story brick structure located at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It is an elaborate Collegiate Gothic or Cherokee Gothic building, designed by the architecture ...
. The largest research library in Oklahoma, it contains over 4.7 million volumes and is ranked 27th out of 113 research libraries in North America in volumes held. It contains more than 1.6 million photographs, subscriptions to over 31,000
periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also exampl ...
, over 1.5 million maps, government documents dating back to 1893, and over 50 incunabula. It has five locations on campus. The primary library is Bizzell Memorial Library, in the middle of the main campus. Other notable campus libraries include the Architecture Library, the Fine Arts Library, and the Geology Library. The OU library system contains many unique collections such as the History of Science Collections (which houses over 94,000 volumes related to the history of science, including hand-noted works by
Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He ...
), the Bizzell Bible Collection, and the Western History Collection. The School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), the only
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...
-accredited program in Oklahoma, offers a graduate degree (Master of Library and Information Studies) and an undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Arts in Information Studies). The impact of OU and SLIS on the history of libraries in Oklahoma is shown in the recent list of 100 Oklahoma Library Legends as produced by the Oklahoma Library Association. Two current faculty, one faculty emeriti, and numerous others associated with either the OU libraries or SLIS account for nearly 10% of the list's members.


Residential life

Oklahoma requires, with few exceptions, that all freshmen live in one of the six
residence halls A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or universit ...
. Each residence hall has its own RSA (Resident Student Association) office, as well as its own computer lab and laundry facilities. The most popular living option among freshmen is the Towers, three 12-story buildings on the south side of campus: * Adams Center is split into four smaller towers (Johnson, McCasland, Muldrow, and Tarman), all united by a common ground floor. It has amenities such as a 24-hour study room, free tutoring courtesy of the University College, and Raising Cane's. * Couch Center is split into east and west wings. It features Couch Express, a quick-stop restaurant, and a lounge that has a 3D printing lab and separate study rooms. * Walker Center, also split into east and west wings, has a spacious kitchen on the first floor. It also houses a convenience store called Xcetera as well as Housing and Food services. The Towers have suite-style rooms where two neighboring rooms share a bathroom. They are all around each other with the Couch Restaurants (often referred to by students as the Caf), completing the residence community. Couch Restaurants is an all-you-can-eat buffet composed of several different themed restaurants that serves a wide variety of food each day. David L. Boren Hall is the fourth major residence hall on campus. Although it is commonly believed that this residence hall caters only to honors students, a large proportion of non-honors students live there. It has community-style bathrooms that are regularly cleaned by staff and shared with approximately 10-16 people. Headington Hall, completed in the Summer of 2013, is the fifth major residence hall on campus and is on the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins street. This facility is named after Tim Headington, OU graduate and former OU tennis player. The housing facility contains 400 students (49 percent student athletes and 51 percent students who do not participate in intercollegiate sports). The residential colleges, which are Dunham and Headington Colleges, are the sixth and newest major residence hall. having opened in Fall 2017. The majority of students who live in the residential colleges are upperclassmen, but some freshmen are allowed to live here if at least one of the roommates is in the Honors College. Dunham and Headington are connected by a dining hall that is open to all students. The university owns several apartment complexes around the campus. Some of these apartments were old and dilapidated, and the university has taken the strides to resolve this issue. Two brand new complexes owned by the university opened in recent years; OU Traditions Square East in 2005 and OU Traditions Square West in 2006. Due to a low cost of living in Oklahoma, many students find it financially viable to live off campus in either apartments or houses. In recent years, many new apartment or condominium complexes (not including the OU-owned properties) have been built in addition to a booming housing market that is resulting in Norman spreading further east. Many students also commute from nearby
Moore Moore may refer to: People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army * Moore Powell (died c. 1 ...
and
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, both north of Norman.


Student organizations, activities, and media

The
Pride of Oklahoma The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band, known as "The Pride", is the student marching band for the University of Oklahoma Sooners. Early years The Pride was founded in 1904 as a pep band to play at Sooner football games. In the early years of the u ...
, the university's
marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, o ...
, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004 and consists of 311 student musicians and dancers from 19 states. Students wishing to enter the band go through a rigorous audition process. The band plays at every home football game. A smaller pep band, which usually consists of 100 members, travels to every away football game. The full band makes trips to the AT&T Red River Rivalry game against The University of Texas,
Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 201 ...
,
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
s and other games of importance. Members of the band are also present for many student events. It was awarded the Sudler Trophy in 1987. In 2007, The Pride of Oklahoma marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, making it one of only a few bands to have ever marched in both the Tournament of Roses and Macy's Parades. The local chapter of the Army ROTC provides officer training and education for nearly 100 OU students. Officially founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest such programs in the nation. OU Army ROTC cadets are active in numerous campus and state activities. They provide military color guards for Sooner football games and various on-campus ceremonies and events. After completing the Army ROTC program, OU students receive a commission in either the Regular Army, Army Reserve, or National Guard. The campus student radio station, Studio U, broadcasts over the Internet. The campus TV station, OUTV, features student-produced programming five nights a week and is available on Public-access television
cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
(
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
Ch. 124, ATT uVerse 99) also via Facebook and YouTube sites. ''OU Nightly'', the live student newscast, airs weekdays at 7:00am, 12:00pm, 4:30pm live and 9:30pm. ''Sooner Sportspad'', a live sports program, airs live Monday nights at 7:30 on Fox Sports SW and throughout the week as repeats on OUTV. Oklahoma's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication programs Studio U and OUTV. Oklahoma's Department of Continuing Education operates
KROU The Kru, Kroo, Krou or Kuru are a West African ethnic group who are indigenous to western Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. They migrated and settled along various points of the West African coast, notably Freetown, Sierra Leone, but also the Ivo ...
and KGOU, a public radio station broadcasting on 106.3 FM. KGOU is affiliated with NPR. The campus newspaper, ''
The Oklahoma Daily ''OU Daily'', formally known as The Oklahoma Daily, is the independent, student-produced newspaper at the University of Oklahoma, with a circulation of 6,000. Though it maintains a connection with OU's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Commu ...
'', is produced daily during the fall and spring semesters and weekly during the summer semester. ''The Oklahoma Daily''s sister publication, ''Sooner'' yearbook, creates a 400-page coffee table book for current students and alumni. ''Sooner'', ranked as one of the top two yearbooks nationwide, focuses on capturing the year with storytelling packages of text, photos and design.


Athletics

The school's sports teams are called the
Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, ...
, a nickname given to early settlers during the land run who sneaked into the offered territory and staked claims illegally before they were officially allowed to. They participate in the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
's Division I-Bowl Subdivision and in the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
. The school sponsors nine sports for both men and women. The university has claimed 36 team national championships, which includes 7 football national championships (football championships are not awarded by the NCAA). By far, OU's most famous and storied athletic program is the football program, which has produced seven Heisman Trophy winners:
Billy Vessels Billy Dale Vessels (March 22, 1931 – November 17, 2001) was a gridiron football player. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma and won the Heisman Trophy in 1952. Vessels went on to play professional football with the Nati ...
in 1952, Steve Owens in 1969, Billy Sims in 1978, Jason White in 2003, Sam Bradford in 2008,
Baker Mayfield Baker Reagan Mayfield (born April 14, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Texas Tech, Mayfield played college football at Oklahoma, where he won the ...
in 2017, and Kyler Murray in 2018. Many Pro Football Hall of Famers, including
Lee Roy Selmon Lee Roy Selmon (October 20, 1954 – September 4, 2011) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a defensive tackle a ...
and Troy Aikman, also attended the University of Oklahoma. In 1988, OU became the first school to participate in both the football and basketball national championships in the same year, an achievement unequaled until the 2006 season, when
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
and the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
were both in each, with Florida winning both games. Oklahoma also currently holds the record for the longest winning streak in NCAA Division I history when they won 47 consecutive games between 1953 and 1957. In reference to the team's success and popularity as a symbol of state pride,
George Lynn Cross George Lynn Cross (May 12, 1905 – December 31, 1998) was a botanist, writer, and the longest serving president of the University of OklahomaLevy, David W.,University of Oklahoma," Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' (accessed May 26, ...
, OU's president from 1943 to 1968, once told the Oklahoma State Senate, "I want a university the football team can be proud of." The
wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...
program is the fourth most decorated in college wrestling, having won seven national championships. The men's gymnastics team has won twelve national championships, the most out of all sports at the University of Oklahoma. In addition, Oklahoma has produced five Nissen Emery Award winners, more than any other school and the only school with back-to-back honorees. The women's gymnastics team was crowned co-national champions with the University of Florida in 2014 and won back-to-back national championships in 2016 and 2017. The
softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
team has won six national championships, the first in 2000 another in 2013, back to back titles in 2016 and 2017, and back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. The baseball team won a national championship in 1951 and 1994. On May 10, 2007, the university announced the addition of women's rowing to the intercollegiate athletics program. A rowing facility will be built on the Oklahoma River near downtown
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
. This is the first sport added since women's soccer was added in 1996. The University of Oklahoma has had a long and bitter rivalry with the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
known as the
Red River Shootout The Oklahoma–Texas football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between border rivals Oklahoma and Texas. The two teams first played each other in 1900, and the rivalry has been renewed annually and uninterrupted since 1929 for a tot ...
, Red River Rivalry, or OU–Texas, with Texas having the better overall record at 59–43–5. This rivalry is often thought of as a contest of state pride along with school pride. OU also has a long-standing rivalry with
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
. Known as the
Bedlam Series The Bedlam Series is the name given to the Oklahoma–Oklahoma State rivalry. It refers to the athletics rivalry between Oklahoma State University Cowboys and Cowgirls and the University of Oklahoma Sooners of the Big 12 Conference. Both scho ...
, it encompasses all the athletic contests between the two universities with the winner receiving the Bedlam Bell. Another major historic rival is the
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
, which was part of the Big 8 Conference with Oklahoma and later joined with Oklahoma and other schools in the formation of the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
. The Sooners made football history December 6, 2008, when they scored sixty or more points in five consecutive games. This achievement occurred during their victory over the University of Missouri for the Big 12 Championship. On June 30, 2021, the Oklahoma State Board of Regents unanimously accepted an invitation to join the
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
(SEC) along with the University of Texas beginning on July 1, 2025.


Notable people and alumni

File:Spiker albert.jpg, Carl Albert, former U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives File:DavidBorenByPhilKonstantin.jpg, David Boren, former Oklahoma governor and U.S. senator File:Tom Coburn official portrait 112th Congress.jpg, Tom Coburn, physician and U.S. senator File:Fred Haise.jpg, Fred Haise,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...
astronaut File:Ed Harris by Gage Skidmore.jpg, Ed Harris,
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
-winning actor, '' The Truman Show'' File:Peter MacDonald.jpg, Peter MacDonald, Navajo code talker, 7th chairman of the Navajo Nation File:Susana Martinez by Gage Skidmore.jpg, Susana Martinez, governor of New Mexico


See also

* 2005 University of Oklahoma bombing *
Boomer Sooner "Boomer Sooner" is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma (OU). The lyrics were written in 1905 by Arthur M. Alden, an OU student and son of a local jeweler in Norman. The tune is taken from " Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale University ...
*
Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious int ...
* Red telephone box *
RUF/NEKS The RUF/NEKS are the nation's oldest all-male spirit squad of its kind for the University of Oklahoma and the 2nd oldest in the world. History The earliest years of this student organization are not well known. The RUF/NEKS began in the late 191 ...


Notes


Notes


References


External links

*
University of Oklahoma Athletics website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oklahoma, University Of University of Oklahoma University of Oklahoma Education in Cleveland County, Oklahoma Flagship universities in the United States Schools of public health in the United States School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma University of Oklahoma Educational institutions established in 1890 Historic American Landscapes Survey in Oklahoma 1890 establishments in Oklahoma Territory National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland County, Oklahoma