OSU-OKC expands to new $3.5M building in OKC

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City),  Jun 23, 2008  by Kelley Chambers

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Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City plans to bring several of its programs together under one roof with the opening of a 22,000- square-foot building this fall.

Classes for emergency preparedness programs are set to be held at the new Public Safety Training Center on the south end of the campus facing Reno Avenue.

The new building is just west of the Human Services Education Center, where the police, fire, emergency medical technology, early care education, crime victim/survivor and chemical abuse programs will be under the umbrella of the Center for Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The $3.5 million building was paid for with a $2.7 million bond issue and cash.

Catreana L. Bennett, director of the Center for Safety and Emergency Preparedness at OSU-OKC, said the new building will serve several purposes.

"We had such a growth in student population with existing programs, and then with the vision for new programs, we needed a new facility to hold all the students," she said.

The building will also house OSU-OKC's only four-year degree program, a bachelor's of technology in emergency responder administration.

Bennett said the program began two semesters ago and has about 30 students. In the Human Services building students had to use whatever space was available, and often shared space with other programs.

The new building has seven classrooms, which will be shared by the emergency preparedness programs and the Early Care Education Program.

Each program also has an advisory board made up of experts in their fields to help form a curriculum, and teach students in the various programs how to work together during disasters and emergencies.

One of those advisory members is Jon Hansen, retired Oklahoma City Fire Department assistant chief.

During his work for the fire department Hansen oversaw response to numerous events and disasters, including the federal building bombing in 1995.

He said by bringing police officers, firefighters and emergency responders together in one place to train together to deal with emergencies, it will benefit them and the communities they serve.

"All the scenarios we've done here are things that have happened to us before," he said.

One room in the building is dedicated to mats depicting roads in cities where students can use toy cars and props to simulate emergencies like floods, car crashes, fires, hostage situations, and some surprise situations from instructors, to plan a course of action.

Hansen said just because an event like a flood may be washing away houses on one end of a town, it doesn't mean that other emergencies are not happening simultaneously.

"Things don't stop when there is one disaster," Hansen said.

Bennett said while the bachelor's degree program in particular has focused on keeping class sizes to a minimum, the new building will allow the university to grow those programs, accept more students and offer room for future growth.

"It will be nice to have ample space," Bennett said.

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