University of Oklahoma to found polytechnic institute in Tulsa

NORMAN — With company curiosity rising within the northeast nook of the state, the College of Oklahoma is planning a new know-how college in Tulsa to satisfy workforce demand. 

OU Polytechnic Institute would function on the OU-Tulsa campus, pending approval subsequent month from the OU Board of Regents and later from the Oklahoma State Regents for Greater Schooling.  

OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. introduced the launch at a Friday assembly of the college regents in Norman. A date for the institute to open has not been decided. 

Harroz stated OU polytechnic would deal with high-demand careers and superior know-how, comparable to software program engineering, electrical autos, cybersecurity, superior manufacturing and telehealth.  

Oklahoma’s out there labor falls desperately brief in these areas, he stated. That is evident even on OU campuses, Harroz stated, the place cybersecurity job openings are troublesome to fill. 

“Once you look throughout the panorama, it’s not simply projecting into the long run what the wants are,” Harroz stated. “We don’t even have sufficient to satisfy the wants of companies we have now proper now, however the colleges which have carried out this effectively have turn out to be magnets for these enterprises to return to the state.” 

The institute would serve college students within the ultimate two years of their undergraduate diploma and would provide grasp’s and doctoral levels.  

The transfer might create a better foothold for OU in northeast Oklahoma, the place college leaders search a better presence and clearer id. 

It was “merely neglectful” for OU to not have these programs out there in Tulsa, stated Frank Keating, chairperson of the OU regents, former governor and Tulsa native. 

The George Kaiser Household Basis and BOK Monetary have pledged philanthropic assist, as produce other personal companions, OU introduced. Harroz stated Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislative management are also on board.  

“Oklahoma is at a important junction on the subject of our state’s workforce,” Stitt’s workplace stated in an announcement. “The governor is glad to see this strategic funding from the College of Oklahoma to additional align our schooling system with the calls for of our rising economic system and workforce.”

The institute ought to be welcome information for automobile startup Canoo and an undisclosed main producer, probably Panasonic, that is contemplating a transfer to Oklahoma. 

Final 12 months, Canoo introduced plans to determine an electrical automobile manufacturing facility within the northeastern a part of the state. Latest quarterly experiences, nonetheless, have forged doubts on Canoo’s monetary functionality to increase.

The governor signed a $698 million incentive package deal final month in an try to attract a multi-billion-dollar company to Oklahoma. That firm is rumored to be Panasonic, who might open a plant on the Mid-America Industrial Park in Pryor to provide batteries for electrical autos. 

The corporate must make investments $3.6 billion in Oklahoma, rent 500 full-time staff in 12 months one and attain 4,000 full-time staff by years 4 and 5 to qualify for the incentives. 

Harroz stated state leaders have requested for development in school graduates who might fill these positions.

“That’s the query,” he stated. “Will we have now a big sufficient labor pressure to satisfy these technology-specific jobs?” 

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers Ok-12 and better schooling all through the state of Oklahoma. Have a narrative thought for Nuria? She might be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Help Nuria’s work and that of different Oklahoman journalists by buying a digital subscription as we speak at subscribe.oklahoman.com.