Candid Campus: Profiles in Higher Education (1977)
Candid Campus:
Profiles in Higher Education - Rapid Planning Results
Television broadcast presented jointly by the Higher Education Alumni Council of Oklahoma
and
The Oklahoma College Public Relations Association
Hosted by Eva Knight, Account Executive for Southern Bell
Recorded January 29, 1977
Knight: Welcome to Candid Campus. Through the cooperation of the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, we are able to visit live on the campus of Oscar Rose Junior College today on this segment of the Candid Campus series. We’re going to be discussing the rapid growing campuses throughout the state, and certainly Oscar Rose Junior College is one of the – if not the – most fast growing college campuses in the southwestern part of the state. I’d like to introduce to you as our guest today the president of that college, Dr. Joe Leone. Dr. Leone, welcome to Candid Campus.
Leone: Thank you, Eva. And welcome to Oscar Rose College. It might be interesting for you to know that we’re the largest 2-year college in the state of Oklahoma now, enrolling in access of 8,000 students.
Knight: Eight thousand students! Wow! Were you one of the first junior colleges in the state of Oklahoma?
Leone: No, we’re actually only 6 years old.
Knight: I see.
Leone: We were one of the new colleges developed in the hope to provide educational opportunities for the citizens of the metropolitan Oklahoma City, and of course Tulsa, area.
Knight: Six years, 8,000 students – boy! That’s a lot of growth there. Were you anticipating this kind of participation from the community?
Leone: No, we originally had hoped for 2500 students by 1980, and we originally designed the facility for 2500 students. Now we’re designing a campus for 5,000 full-time equivalent students.
Knight: Well, as I look around the campus, I do notice that you’ve added some buildings since I visited here last. Do you have any plans to add any in the future?
Leone: Well, I might tell you, then, our campus master plan – originally we planned on phase 1, which includes all the buildings on this north side of the campus. There’s 7 buildings there. And phase 2, which was the 2 buildings on the south side plus 2 other buildings that we hope to build by 1980. And then we added a student center on the west side. And, of course, all these buildings are designed around the educational programs and activities that take place in each building.
Knight: You mean before you build a building you actually already know, or you’ve decided, what activity will be happening in that building? You do have a plan, in other words?
Leone: Yes. What we do is, we take the education programs and activities and we work with the faculty and staff and we try to determine what functions will be performed in each of the buildings, what activities will be there, and then, of course, we design the building around the educational programs and activities. And that’s the procedure that we followed for our fast master planning for this campus.
Knight: Well, with the original plan being for 2500 students – you’re already up to 8,000 – you must have some flexibility in those plan.
Leone: Yes, the original master plan was developed in 1969. Since then we’ve had to revise it. We had Developmental Revision Number One, and then in 1974 we had Developmental Revision Number Two.
Knight: Well, you should have someone very responsible doing this for you.
Leone: Yes, we have a college architect, Mr. Fred Quinn, is now serving in that capacity, of Quinn and Associates. And I’d like for you to meet Mr. Quinn. He’s in the Student Center.
Knight: All right why don’t we go in and talk with him.
Leone: Fine. (they walk into the Student Center to an architectural model of the campus) And I’d like to have you come in and meet Fred Quinn, who is the college architect. Fred Quinn, this is Eva Knight.
Quinn: Hello Eva.
Knight: Hi Fred. Welcome to Candid Campus.
Quinn: Thank you.
Leone: I’ve asked Fred Quinn to join us here and kind of explain the actual buildings to us here. And as I mentioned, we’re now in the college Student Center. Mr. Quinn, would you start at the Student Center and show Eva the campus layout?
Quinn: Thank you, Joe. I’d like to do that. Eva, this is a three-dimensional model of Oscar Rose Junior College that illustrates the fully developed campus for the college. By the way, this direction is north, and from the north has served as the entrance to the campus until just recently when there has been a second entrance made off the south. I’ll show you when we get around to that point.
Knight: Are you referring to the Southeast 15th Street entrance that I’m most familiar with?
Quinn: Right.
Leone: This is Johnson Boulevard coming off of 15th Street.
Knight: All right.
Leone: South into the campus.
Knight: You have a lot of parking places there. Do you really need that much parking?
Leone: Well, we actually need more, and you’ll see as Mr. Quinn explains the campus layout that we actually have parking all the way around the buildings.
Knight: I see. OK.
Leone: Fred, would you kind of take us on a tour of the campus?
Quinn: Yes, I will, Joe. Well, we are in this building which is the Student Center. And this is a gathering place for students and faculty and good meeting place, I think.
Knight: All right. It’s quite beautiful.
Quinn: Thank you. Then the next building here, which would be to the northeast of the Student Center is the Gymnasium. It’s a large building, as you see, and of course, it has the normal activities that go on there.
Knight: All right.
Quinn: Then, as we come this direction, which is moving to the east, what we’re pointing to here is a canopy or cover over the walkway. And I think it’s interesting that all the buildings on the campus are connected by this covered walkway so that you can get to your morning break at the Student Center or from classroom to classroom under cover.
Leone: Or to the library.
Knight: (laughing) Or go to the Student Center, but go on.
Quinn: These buildings – this one is the Fine Arts classroom building.
Knight: All right.
Quinn: Where such things as painting, vocal music, those kinds of things.
Knight: What’s that little round – yea, that building?
Quinn: This is a 250 seat little theater. . .
Knight: All right.
Quinn: With a truss stage. Then this building is a Business and Administration Building.
Knight: That’s where your office is, right Dr. Joe?
Leone: At the present time.
Knight: All right.
Quinn: By the way, this was the first building finished and occupied by the college, Eva.
Knight: OK.
Quinn: This building is another classroom building. It houses mainly the Science and Engineering curriculum.
Knight: OK.
Quinn: This is a lecture hall – 150 seat lecture.
Knight: OK.
Quinn: This building is the LRC, as we refer to it – Learning Resources Center/Library – or library, but it houses a lot more than just books. A lot of audio-visual aids. This is not built yet, but will be we think and hope. And it’s an addition to the Learning Resources Center/Library.
Knight: All right.
Quinn: This is a classroom building which is not built either, but is in the Master Plan and will be built. This building has been finished recently and is now used as a classroom building. This building also has been recently finished and was first used as a classroom building just over a year ago.
Leone: Eva, I believe those two buildings have been added since your last visit with us on campus.
Knight: Yes, they have.
Leone: The two newest buildings on campus at the present time.
Quinn: This is a building that Dr. Leone and his faculty and staff have worked on and we hope to have for the new Administration Building towards the end of this year, Eva.
Knight: Dr. Joe, I bet you’ll be very glad to get some new quarters, won’t you?
Leone: Well, we’ll be almost as happy as the Business faculties - that we’re going to move out of their building.
Knight: Well, it’s quite a lovely campus – it really is. And I know you’ll be very glad when you get all of the buildings completed here. When is the projection date to have all of this completed?
Leone: Well, we originally planned on the entire campus being completed by 1980, and that would include this beautiful mall area that you might be interested in knowing is being developed so that students can sit around in the sunshine and enjoy themselves between classes. When they come into the campus and walk to the center of the mall area it will almost be like a new city. It has fountains and flower gardens and even a proposed small lake in front of the Student Center.
Knight: Well, it’s quite lovely. Now there’s one thing – I noticed one building sitting way back off over in the corner on the mock-up. You didn’t explain that building to me. Dr. Joe, what is that? Is it opened already?
Leone: No, it’s presently being renovated and it will be used for the Health Occupation and the Environmental Science area. Some of the health programs are over there already and I’d like for you to visit this building.
Knight: Before we leave, I would like to take just a moment for thank you, Fred, for taking me on a tour of the campus here at Oscar Rose. It’s been nice having you on the Candid Campus show. Thank you again.
Quinn: Thank you, Eva.
Knight: Let’s go!
Leone: OK.
Knight: A beautiful walk coming over from the main campus.
Leone: Yes, it really takes only about two minutes to walk over from the main campus to the Health and Environmental Science Building. That’s the building we’re in now.
Knight: Well, it’s a beautiful building. How did you happen to acquire this particular building away from the campus?
Leone: Well, it’s an interesting story, and I’d like for Dr. Marshall Holman, our Director of Facility Planning, to explain it to you. This is Eva Knight, Dr. Holman.
Knight: Well, Marshall, nice to meet you.
Holman: Pleased to meet you.
Leone: Eva, I’d like to leave you with Marshall Holman here, and I’ll look forward to seeing you later.
Knight: All right. Thank you, Joe.
Leone: Thank you.
Holman: Would you have a seat?
Knight: Thank you very much. Just observing around here, Marshall, I’ll bet this building cost Oscar Rose Junior College quite a bit of money.
Holman: Well, not really. You’d be surprised. We got a real good bargain when we bought this building.
Knight: And how much did it cost? Can you say?
Holman: Yes, this building cost the college five hundred thousand dollars. And to replace a building like that now would cost about two or three times as much.
Knight: Well, this is the Health and Environmental . . .?
Holman: Health and Environmental Science Building, that’s right. It’s a three-floor building. On the top floor and half of the second floor is the health – we have our health programs. We have five of them.
Knight: And what are they?
Holman: We have dental hygiene. We have respiratory therapy. We have dietetic technology, and medical lab technology.
Knight: Are these programs new for Oscar Rose with the building, or have you had them?
Holman: No, we had them on our main campus, and when this building became available we moved them over here.
Knight: I see. Exactly what happens? What do your students do here in the building?
Holman: Well, they take all their laboratory courses here in the building, and then in the hospitals. They have some laboratory courses in the hospitals. And they do most of their classroom work here in this building.
Knight: I see. So you said in the hospital. So that means that you’re students will actually be on campus part of the time and in a hospital situation another part of the time?
Holman: Yes, that’s right. We have 13 associated hospitals that our students work in.
Knight: Now, let’s see. Do your students in this Health Education Program, do they get associate degrees or is this some kind of degree program? What can they do?
Holman: That’s right. It’s a two-year associate degree program, all of the five programs.
Knight: I see. So what happens in this building when a student completes the courses that they take, they can actually go out in the world of work? They don’t have to go to another four-year college or for extended training?
Holman: That’s right. They are employable at the end of their two-year program.
Knight: All right. Do they get practical experience here? I mean, you said they go to a hospital. Here on campus, do you have situations where they can actually practice or do they get that at the hospitals?
Holman: Absolutely, we surely do. As a matter of fact, right next door to us here is our dental lab – dental clinic that I’d like to show you.
Knight: All right, I’d love to see it.
Holman: Eva, this is our Dental Hygiene Clinic where our students get live, hands-on experience. I’d like to introduce you to Ms. Janet Burnham, our director of our program. And she’ll explain the clinic to you. Jan, this is Eva Knight.
Knight: Jan, nice to meet you.
Burnham: Nice to meet you.
Knight: I thank you very much, Marshall, for showing me around.
Holman: You’re quite welcome. Thank you.
Knight: Jan, this is quite an elaborate teaching laboratory you have here.
Burnham: It’s a very nice one, Eva. We’re very, very pleased to have it. It’s almost brand new and it has the most modern equipment.
Knight: How many students you have enrolled in this training course?
Burnham: We have 12 in each class. You’re viewing some of the first-year students this afternoon working with their classmates.
Knight: Now how many classes do you have. You say you have 12 in each class?
Burnham: Two classes. The first year and the second year.
Knight: I see, so this is a two-year program?
Burnham: Yes.
Knight: And at the end of that two years here, are your students ready to go out into the world of work at that point?
Burnham: They are ready except for qualifying for licensure by the state in which they wish to practice. And this means a national exam, which is written, and a regional and a state exam, which is part written and part practical.
Knight: I see. How long have you had this program here at Oscar Rose? Is it new with the building, or have you had it awhile?
Burnham: No, we’ve been here. We’ve had five classes graduate, and this spring we’ll have the sixth.
Knight: I see. You mentioned an exam. Are you very successful in graduating students that are able to get the licenses or pass the necessary state requirements?
Burnham: Yes, our program is small, but we’ve been very successful in retaining our students and graduating those who enter the program with just two exceptions over five years.
Knight: You mean they’ve all passed the state exam?
Burnham: Yes. Well, two did not complete the program, but all who completed the program passed the examinations.
Knight: Well, now that is just fantastic! You know, I’ve paid a few dental bills lately and just looking around the room here, let me tell you, I think somebody must have spent some money on this equipment if it really works.
Burnham: It really works and somebody did spend a lot of money on the equipment.
Knight: About how much would it cost to finance a student lab? One unit here?
Burnham: Well, with all the equipment and the space and the renovation of the space, I think you could say about $10,000 for each of these student stations.
Knight: My goodness! And people wonder why the state needs money for education!
Burnham: Exactly.
Knight: One station approximately $10,000?
Burnham: Yes.
Knight: That’s a lot of money, but I’m sure, as you say, we’re getting well-trained students out of it.
Burnham: Yes, we believe we are.
Knight: Now I mentioned I had paid some dental bills lately, so I have been in my dentist’s office, but I haven’t seen anything like this. Could you show me how these things work if they really do?
Burnham: You know, I think I’ll ask Pat Darlington, one of our clinic instructors, to show you how the equipment works.
Knight: Oh, would you please?
Burnham: Pat?
Darlington: Certainly. This is quite up to date material, and everything has been adapted for the comfort of the patient and the comfort of the operator. The chair can be changed to all different positions – a variety of up and down positions. It helps in our treatment of the patient and also, as I said, in the comfort of the patient. Everything is mounted on the chair so it will be easier for the patient to reach the cup or reach to rinse and it’s also easier for the operator to reach her instruments or any of the other instruments that are mounted on the bracket table.
Knight: That’s fantastic. I know that comfort is vital when you need to go to a dentist!
Darlington: I think so.
Knight: Jan, it’s been a delight visiting with you. I’m glad we’ve got some comfortable chairs. I’ve got to run up to x-ray. I understand they are expecting me up there.
Burnham: Thank you for coming.
Knight: On the second floor of the Health and Environmental Sciences Building is the x-ray technician training department, and it’s director, Jerry Jeskey. Hi Jerry.
Jeskey: Nice to see you, Eva.
Knight: Nice to meet you.
Jeskey: Thank you for coming.
Knight: Jerry, my goodness, the minute I walked in the door, I saw this body lying here. Who’s your friend?
Jeskey: Well, this is a replica of a human that reacts to radiation very similar to a human being. We purchased this mannequin here for demonstration for the students to make x-ray pictures on before they go into the hospital setting.
Knight: I see. So the students that you have working here are trained before they ever are released out to do any work in a hospital?
Jeskey: Yes, they do receive some training, but they receive a lot more training – up to 2400 hours – in our affiliating hospitals.
Knight: So what you have here is a combination of training here on Oscar Rose’s campus, plus in practical experiences in hospital situations.
Jeskey: Yes, because we can’t really x-ray people and give them radiation because everyone’s conscious of radiation, and we want to make sure that the students understand what the field is all about before they get into the hospital setting.
Knight: Right, well, do you do real x-rays here on campus at all?
Jeskey: Just on this mannequin.
Knight: All right. What do you do here to avoid any type of radiation for your students?
Jeskey: Well, we have a lead-lined room and proper precautions that they would have in a hospital.
Knight: I see, some type of environment so the students are protected.
Jeskey; Oh yes, very definitely.
Knight: Where do you get your students from that participate in this particular program?
Jeskey: Well, we get them from the metropolitan area – Oklahoma City and the surrounding area.
Knight: How many . . .
Jeskey: And high schools.
Knight: How many students do you have presently enrolled in this program?
Jeskey: We have 29 second-year students and 19 first-year students.
Knight: I see, well, just looking at all the equipment that you have right here in this room, and I know that there are other rooms here, I know it must cost somebody a fortune to be able to equip for this kind of training.
Jeskey: Yes, our budget has been very liberal with Dr. Leone’s help to provide some materials. We have received – well, this mannequin, for instance cost us $4700. We have received other materials and equipment donations from doctors that are retiring in the area so that we can help train the students. We do have an automatic film processor also that we purchased.
Knight: Well, I see. So some of the equipment you purchase, some is donated to you from doctors or people who already have this kind of equipment.
Jeskey: Yes.
Knight: Well, the equipment that you’re using, is it outdated or do you just use old equipment that someone else doesn’t have?
Jeskey: Right now we’re using older equipment, but this is the type of equipment that students would see in various outlying areas – ot in the metropolitan areas of Oklahoma City, but in some of the areas they would find job opportunities out in the suburbs.
Knight: How are job opportunities for people in x-ray technology?
Jeskey: They’re really excellent, Eva. I’m glad you asked that. The students have had job offers prior to getting finished with their educational program here. And all of them have been successful in obtaining employment.
Knight: Now, you said you had how many students enrolled in this particular course this year?
Jeskey: Second-year students are 29. First year students, 19.
Knight: Now these 29, when they graduate, what kind of degree will they have? Or will they have a degree? Or will they have to go on to a four-year college or what?
Jeskey: Yes, they will have an Associate in Applied Science degree, and they can go on to further their education in a four-year institution if they so desire.
Knight: But with the degree that you offer here on campus they can obtain employment?
Jeskey: Oh, very definitely.
Knight: What kind of money can they expect to make with it?
Jeskey: The graduates that finished this past August received offers anywhere from $650 to $750 dollars per month, depending again on the location.
Knight: Now, that’s a starting salary?
Jeskey: That’s a starting salary before they get their national registry.
Knight: Now you say national registry. What’s that?
Jeskey: Well, upon satisfactory completion of the program here, the students are eligible to take their national examination which enabled them to obtain employment anywhere in the country.
Knight: I see, well, Jerry, it’s been a delight talking with you. One more quick question, though. What did you say your mannequin’s name was?
Jeskey: Well, we haven’t named him. We let each class name the mannequin each year.
Knight: This year, what’s it called?
Jeskey: Oscar.
Knight: Well good. I’m going to say good-by to you, Jerry, and to you Oscar, and you be a good boy and teach your students a lot. I’m going to have to run out and meet Dr. Joe Leone just for a minute. Nice talking to you and see you later.
Jeskey: Thank you very much for coming.
Knight: Good-by. This has been a fast look at some of the programs that are taking place here on the campus of Oscar Rose Junior College. I have Dr. Joe Leone, the president of that college, back with us to talk with us about some of the other things that happened in the building that we’re now in that we’ve been visiting, in the Health and Environmental Sciences Building.
Leone: Yes, Eva, we have not talked about the Environmental Science programs that will be presented in the facility here. We have been designated by the governor of Oklahoma and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency to offer waste-water training programs here and those programs we made available to all the operators and people working in that field from across Oklahoma. They will be coming in here as a public service for short courses and seminars and workshops and we expect the facility that will house this educational program to be available probably by the middle of February 1977. So we’re very eager to get started on that program and it’ll take, I guess, all the first floor and about half of the second floor of this three-story building.
Knight: For the students that will be participating in this Waste Water. . .
Leone: Technology.
Knight: All right. Now these people who are students, will they be people who are presently working in the field of environmental sciences or will you have brand new students or what kind of program are you going to offer?
Leone: We’ll have both. There’s 2200 operators in Oklahoma at the present time, and they have to renew an operator’s license from time to time. So those individuals will be coming back to this facility and have field training from year to year, and then in addition, there will be new people that will be entering the program. And we do have an associate degree program here in Environmental Science with a Waste Water Technology option.
Knight: Is that a new degree program?
Leone: Yes, it is. It just started September of this year, and we will, of course, be adding to it. The sophomore class is this next year.
Knight: Now, you said Oscar Rose was designated by the governor of the state as the training center.
Leone: Yes, the federal legislation indicates that there should be one facility in each state and had to be located somewhere, and hopefully, in the central part of Oklahoma and this seemed to be a very natural location since the interstate highway system pretty well crosses here – Interstate 35 and Interstate 40 is very close to this facility. In fact, the exit – Paris Road exit comes right into the parking lot in front of this building.
Knight: Do you feel that the location of Oscar Rose Junior College would account for the rapid growth that you have experienced as a college?
Leone: I think the location, the metropolitan area, the fact that there was not a public two-year college in this section of Oklahoma for many, many years, and the fact that we have many, many students that now are upgrading skills. They’re working and they’re attending night classes. And I think this is evident by the fact that we have about half of our enrollment after 4:30 in the evening. We have over 4,000 students that start their classes after 4:30 every day.
Knight: Well, I suppose that you’d have to have about the same number of faculty members working at night as you would during the day, as opposed to the way other college campuses usually operate.
Leone: We have about 150 faculty – full-time, regular faculty – here, and they teach some in the day and some in the evening, but in addition we have about 160 part-time faculty. And most of the part-time faculty teach only in the evening and Saturdays.
Knight: I see. Now referring back to this environmental project that you will be or are already in the middle of working on here on campus. Is the reason for that – now I’m kind of familiar with some of the waste water programs in that I did a Candid Campus show previously on that. Are we getting more and more into the environmental sciences? Will you be branching out for example in other things, or at this point, do you know?
Leone: Well, the fresh water federal legislation is being implemented at the present time, and I would expect that we will have a fresh water option to the environmental science associate degree program in the very near future. And I might point that many of these plants that you find in cities in Oklahoma cost several million dollars to operate and up until now we’ve have maybe less than trained personnel that are in charge of multi-million dollar facilities. There are some very sophisticated tests that have to be run on the waste water as it’s being processed before it’s dumped back onto our fields and streams. And, of course, we hope that those tests are accurate and the water is purified before it’s put back into our water system.
Knight: Right, now this waste water program that you’re having seems to be just one of the fields that Oscar Rose Junior College seems to be involved in in new programs. Do you think that that’s partly responsible for your success in that you go out and find out what people need to be trained in and you try to offer that to the community.
Leone: All colleges in Oklahoma and other states try to do surveys to find out what’s needed in the service area. And then they try to respond to those needs, of course, making sure that there’s a market for people once they’ve been educated or trained in a certain field. Success of your program depends on how accurate you are with your analysis of need, and then how well you can place students when they’ve completed your program, especially in the technical programs.
Knight: Well, I would think that your record here at Oscar Rose Junior College would certainly indicate that you have been most successful in following through on a master plan that we talked about earlier, I suppose, of education and building and your facilities here.
Leone: Well, we feel we’ve had success here. And of course, we’re a part of the state system and all the institutions together provide, we think, a very comprehensive set of programs and courses for the patrons of Oklahoma higher education.
Knight: Well, Dr. Leone, I do wish you much luck in your future plans here at Oscar Rose Junior College. I hope you’re as successful in the future as you have been in the past. I’ve enjoyed visiting with you and all of your staff members today on Candid Campus. We’d like to invite all of our viewers that if they have any questions or suggestions as to content of the Candid Campus show to please drop us a line at: 4400 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105. Join us on the next Candid Campus program where, on the road, we’ll be visiting South Oklahoma City Junior College. Thank you and good-by.
