College for Downtown Tulsa.

[AVERAGE JOE]

quote:Originally posted by USRufnex

I'm not name calling...... that honor's reserved for Average Joe.....

Awww, didn't know you cared. [:I]

xoxoxo,

JOE

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

How about a joint city and college soccer stadium and fields as another example?  If you would like the city to have a soccer stadium and your college would benefit from being able to offer a great soccer program, you could help both and it would cost a lot less than doing them seperately.

I think this type of thing shows some of the great opportunities that having a college in a downtown can bring and that we haven't been able to consider until now.

OMG?  Did someone mention soccer?!?  Ruh-roh!

http://www.gocreighton.com/sports/common/photo_gallery.asp?contentID=0&sportID=7§ionID=79#

Creighton University's Morrison Stadium and the Omaha skyline




But I forgot... this would create a HUGE HOLE and mark the death of downtown Tulsa...... no, I'm not bitter..... no, not me..... BWAAAAH... HAH-HAH-HAH-HA-HA!!! [}:)]

[AVERAGE JOE]

Ruf, admitting the problem is the first step toward recovery. []

That's a nice facility, btw.

[TheArtist]

Many people consider within the IDL to be downtown. I consider a lot of the things around it to be downtown as well, including the college. I would prefer a soccer stadium not be within the IDL, but rather it be outside the IDL by the college.  The photo you show of Omaha's stadium seems to show something similar. The soccer stadium is in a less developed area just to the other side of the highway from their downtown.

Not saying a soccer stadium wouldn't work within the IDL at all, just would like to have it as close to the college as possible so that it could be considered both as part of their campus and as part of downtown.

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by AVERAGE JOE
That's a nice facility, btw.

If they made it a little more square, we could play baseball there.

[rwarn17588]

And if not, a soccer stadium would still be a good place to take a nap. []

[deinstein]

quote:Originally posted by SoonerRiceGrad

We are not interested in building an arts college. The idea was completely stupid. Oklahoma City University is already the finest university in the nation for dance, opera, music, acting, and many other fine arts. (These are programs that complement the Meinders School of Business and the law school at OCU that are also tops.)

[}:)]

No they don't. Or even close.

OCU is a 3rd tier law school as well says the U.S. News.

[deinstein]

If my opinion matters...I decided to go to OSU-Tulsa over UNC-Chapel Hill and OU-Norman...which are 27th and 107th nationally.

My reason...I like living in the Cherry Street area for college. I wanted to stay in state because I'm paying for school and Tulsa is far and away the best city in this state. It's absolutely the cheapest place you can live for a person in my situation. And finally, my degree isn't an OSU-Tulsa degree...it's an Oklahoma State University degree and is not different than the people who have to live in miserable Stillwater.

Things that could be fixed...
-More majors at OSU-Tulsa. It boggles my mind they don't have subject areas like Public Policy, Urban Planning, etc. in such an urban environment.
-Make it a four-year college. I would have been there from the start, but the only option I had for my financial situation (Being a single, independent college kid paying on his own) was Tulsa Community College.
-Get rid off I-244 north of downtown. Call me crazy, I could care less. Invest in Greenwood and the Brady area. Fill in the barren land (For example the area all around Black Wall Street). Make the area an intellectual hub, it's very possible. Trust me, Tulsa is more appealing than Stillwater...
-Who cares about sports? Seriously. Worry about the academics, sports will come when they come.

[TheArtist]

My prediction...  Within my lifetime, more students will be going to OSU Tulsa than to Stillwater.  

Why they keep shoveling more and more money into OSU Stillwater and not using it at OSU Tulsa is beyond me.

[deinstein]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

My prediction...  Within my lifetime, more students will be going to OSU Tulsa than to Stillwater.

If they did what we all want them to do, this could happen within a decade or two.

[deinstein]

Oh yeah, please get rid of the metal green roof.

[}:)]

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by deinstein

[}:)]

No they don't. Or even close.

OCU is a 3rd tier law school as well says the U.S. News.

I've never been a fan of those rankings because they usually aren't very useful for high school students.  OCU's law school served its community by offering part time students options not available at OU... For undergraduate music/art students, OCU is a gem of a school... I got performing experiences there I would NEVER have had going to a so-called "Top Tier" school.  Because Top Tier usually means lotsa master's students...

I'd consider Indiana Univ, Juilliard, Manhattan School, Mannes School of Music, etc... to be top flight schools...

Problem is, undergraduates can easily get lost in the shuffle there.  OCU has found its niche... and is gaining a national reputation due to the success on Broadway of several former students (back when I was there, the school had several opera singer alumni who'd sung at the Met/NYC Opera)...

Since TU (4100 enrollment, about 2800 undergrads) would rather pay a coach $1.1M per year to take the team to second tier bowl games, this leaves a void for OSU-Tulsa to fill.  I actually wanted to stay in Tulsa a few years ago after caring for a family member.  But Univ of Central Okla. offered what I needed for a state school, OU could be an option, and my alma mater OCU was a much better value for the buck over taking the same coursework at TU's depts...

OU has a solid music/arts dept for a state school; for the most part, OSU does not.  So, offering music/art degrees at OSU-Tulsa could fill an obvious void in Tulsa and wouldn't have to duplicate or compete with OSU Stillwater.

A good arts school close to downtown and Tulsa Opera, Tulsa Ballet Theater and the new Tulsa Symphony would be a natural. If there had been one here 5 years ago, I probably wouldn't have left...

[deinstein]

I'm just laughing at the fact someone is trying to put it on the level of a Berklee, NYU, etc.

That's all. It's a fine discussion, but let's stay within reason and not over-exaggerate.

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

OSU-Tulsa has made it clear it's going to become a full-bore four-year institution in a few years (and may have some such programs already, if I'm not mistaken). I'm sure it has other expansion plans, too.

So what am I missing here? Are OSU-Tulsa's efforts not good enough / fast enough? Is it not close enough to downtown for you?

(I'm not being a smart*ss; I'm genuinely wondering.)

http://www.osu-tulsa.okstate.edu/future/vision.asp

quote:OSU-Tulsa will have 20,000 students enrolled in 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs by the year 2020. The degree programs will be innovative and relevant, serving Oklahoma and the unique needs of Tulsa. Committed to a well-rounded education, OSU-Tulsa will be acknowledged for its success in meeting our students' social and academic needs. Students will be instructed by a world-renowned, enthusiastic faculty and supported by an exemplary professional staff.

If Tulsa were ahead of the curve, this should have been accomplished sometime back in the 90's.  Instead, thousands of potential students like deinstein over the years have had to find other options in other cities... I met some great, creative people in Tulsa since moving back here a few months ago... problem is, far too many of them went back to their respective cities after Christmas/New Year's... [:O]

In the spring of 2002, I was looking for a reason to stay in Tulsa... drove downtown so I could see what a $35K downtown condo looked like, then got off at the wrong exit and ended up parking and walking around the East Village/East End... the reality of that area didn't match the name... most Tulsans wouldn't even know it as "Blue Dome"... if I had to name it, it would have been the "KOTV/Adult Theater district"?!?... back in 2002 I didn't walk that area for long... got back in the car and drove around for awhile... if a suitable option could have been found for me at OSU-Tulsa, I probably woulda stayed...

Bottom line:  TU, ORU, TCC and those state school extension campuses didn't hold a candle to what I had available to me down the turnpike at OCU, UCO and OU... so I ended up moving down to OKC for a few months, then decided to move back to Chicago...

Smaller cities than Tulsa have these options...

Wichita, Kansas has Wichita State (over 15,000 students)... Boise, Idaho has Boise State (enrollment 18,448)... Little Rock has Univ of Ark-Little Rock (over 11,000 students)... even Springfield, MO has Missouri State (about 20,000 students... and the Univ of Central Oklahoma in Edmond/OKC has over 19,000 students...

Tulsa has TU... a school with a massive endowment that I assume wants to cast itself as a "Harvard of the southwest."  The school has 4100 students, only 2800 are undergrads... the smallest number of undergrads for a school that still plays Div I college football...

I think OSU-Tulsa has a very important part to play in the revitalization of downtown Tulsa... there's a void in the arts... OSU-Stillwater can continue to offer marching band and teacher degree programs while OSU-Tulsa could offer masters and stronger performance programs due to its proximity to downtown Tulsa... add a state high school for the arts and you've got something to fill much of that void... if you did that, it might make a certain "Mr. K" a lot happier about his downtown Tulsa portfolio... []

[TheArtist]

10 years ago, heck I wish all this and more had been around 20 years ago when I was starting college lol.  But it wasn't, so here we are.  However this does point out just a fraction of the time and educational infrastructure that desperately needs to be made up for in Tulsa.

I hear that OSU is getting a new president.  Hopefully he will be made aware of OSU Tulsas needs and the draw that having a great campus near a major metropolitan city can have for his university.  Frankly I hope he has the vision to see, or will be convinced of, the writing on the wall and focus more on growing OSU Tulsa than on OSU Stillwater. If OSU Tulsa becomes the larger campus, as I think it will, then now is the time to stop spending large and limited funds expanding the Stillwater campus, for in the future whatever is built there now will be seen as having been a regrettable mistake.