RSU solicits donations for proposed Center for Science and Technology

Nov. 23—Rogers State University plans to construct a new, modernized building for its science and technology programs.

Steve Valencia, RSU’s vice president for development, said the state has given $10 million and the Cherokee Nation $4 million for the proposed Center for Science and Technology. The university can also bond up to $12 million for the project.

Valencia said RSU is relying on private donors to shore up the remaining $4 million.

“This is a $30 million project,” Valencia said. “We’ll build as much building as we can for $30 million, but if we fall short in our fundraising … it will be a setback. It is critically important that we meet the goal.”

RSU invited the community to the Dr. Carolyn Taylor Center Wednesday for a kick-off event to raise awareness of the fundraiser. There, RSU Foundation Chair Misty Choat announced the foundation would match up to $1 million in private donations.

“This means that your gift will have double the impact,” Choat said.

RSU plans to break ground on the STEM center by the end of next summer, Valencia said. The STEM center will go up in what is now the parking lot west of Loshbaugh Hall and south of the Stratton Taylor Library.

He said the university will soon begin negotiations with an architectural firm to put together designs for the center. A different architectural firm has drafted concept art, Valencia said, but this art doesn’t reflect how the final design will look.

The university’s science and technology programs currently occupy Loshbaugh Hall, built in 1955 when the school on the hill was the Oklahoma Military Academy.

Valencia said RSU determined renovating Loshbaugh would cost more than constructing a brand-new building.

“It was never big enough to accommodate Rogers State University and certainly doesn’t have the modern amenities that science labs need today,” Valencia said.

Alyssa Allen, a senior studying molecular biology at RSU, said Loshbaugh lacks natural gas, so students have to use inferior hot plates or lighters to generate heat for experiments.

She said there are often more broken microscopes in the microbiology lab than functioning ones, and much of the equipment students use is older than they are.

“The routine of equipment not working or being dated from the last century has become the butt of the joke for laboratories in Loshbaugh,” Allen said. “Students and professors alike do not deserve this imbalance of superior teaching with inferior lab equipment and antiquated facilities.”

Mark Rasor, the university’s interim president, said accrediting officials told RSU leaders if the university wasn’t planning to build a new STEM building, they would have determined RSU’s facilities to be inadequate.

“That’s a huge one, because that means that we could easily lose accreditation,” Rasor said.

Valencia said RSU will keep Loshbaugh for faculty offices and rooms for classes that don’t require sophisticated equipment.

He said parents and students tend to equate quality of education with the quality of a school’s facilities, and he figured most high schools in the area have nicer science labs than RSU.

A better science building, Valencia said, would allow the university to accurately reflect the quality of its professors and programs.

“We really have a beautiful, modern campus, until you get to Loshbaugh,” Valencia said. “…It hurts us in our ability to recruit. This new facility, obviously, will be a very attractive and functional space, and it will help with with recruiting.”

Meggie Froman-Knight, executive director of Claremore Economic Development, said the center would equip future generations to receive world-class science and technology education at home in Rogers County.

She said the center would attract and retain high-quality job opportunities in northeast Oklahoma.

“Careers will be launched here,” Froman-Knight said. “Groundbreaking ideas will take shape within the walls of this center … It’s a promise to provide the skills and education needed to succeed in an ever-evolving global economy.”

People can donate to the campaign by emailing Valencia at svalencia@rsu.edu or calling him at 918-343-7780.

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