LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 49Th Oklahoma Legislature Second Session – 2004
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 49th Oklahoma Legislature Second Session – 2004 OKLAHOMA STATE REGENTS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION From: Carolyn McCoy & Ben Hardcastle Friday, May 7, 2004 Highlights this Week: Funding for higher learning scholarships in place By Brian Henderson, Staff Writer (LIN) More than 9,000 Oklahoma scholarship students are going to receive the funds they were expecting according to the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman. Sen. Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, said Thursday that the state's Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP) would be fully funded in the 2004-2005 school year. "Last November, Sen. Herb Rozell (D-Tahlequah) and I pledged this would be one of our top pri- orities for this session." Morgan said. "The money for the OHLAP scholarships was in the general appropriations bill that passed earlier this session." Morgan said he did, however, anticipate a reconciliation bill for education and many other areas of the budget. He said the reconciliation bill would lay out the specifics of where each of those dollars is spent. "You can expect that we will see that as we complete the budget process in the next couple of weeks," Morgan said. "I hope to have it by next week." He said there could possibly be a supplemental bill along with the reconciliation measure. "Even if that were not to happen, the money is already there so those scholarships are funded," Morgan said. Rozell, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education said despite last year's historic budget shortfall, the lawmakers worked to ensure the nearly 5,000 Oklahoma high school seniors anticipating those scholarships weren't disappointed. "It was not easy, but we did secure the $11 million we needed last year to make sure those kids got the opportunity they deserved," Rozell said. "During the 2004-2005 school year, we're going to have 4,800 continuing OHLAP scholarship students plus an additional 4,200 new freshmen." Rozell said $19.2 million has been allocated this session to fully fund the program. OHLAP scholarships are available for Oklahoma high school graduates who have met specific academic requirements, and whose parents make less than $50,000 a year. Morgan said funding OHLAP was an investment that would yield high returns for the entire state. "Look at the U.S. Census Bureau figures or talk to experts in economics or in higher education and they'll tell you that the cities and states with the highest per capita incomes are those with the high- est numbers of college graduates," Morgan said. "OHLAP could well be one of the most important economic development programs Oklahoma has ever implemented." OU regents to meet From The Journal Record (NORMAN) – Establishment of a bachelor of science degree in health studies in the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health will be considered Friday by the OU Board of Regents in Norman. The regents also will consider an agreement with the Schusterman family of Tulsa related to their commitment for construction of facilities at OU-Tulsa and the acquisition of an electronic reference database for University Libraries on the Norman campus. The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Stephenson Research and Technology Center. The Regents will consider a request to the State Regents for Higher Education to establish a bache- lor of science degree in health studies in the College of Allied Health. Currently, undergraduate students who enter an allied health professional-entry master’s degree program do so after complet- ing their junior year at an undergraduate institution. They take the next three years of coursework in the OU College of Allied Health to obtain a master’s degree. As currently structured, this “3 plus 3” program does not bestow a bachelor’s degree. The purpose of the new program is to provide an opportunity for students in these professional-entry graduate degree programs to complete the bachelor of science in health studies degree after satisfactory completion of one year of study in the professional-entry program. The program will only be avail- able to students who are admitted and enrolled in the degree program in the OU College of Allied Health. Also during their meeting, the OU Regents will consider a proposal to enter into a formal agree- ment with the Schusterman family related to their commitment of up to $10 million for the con- struction of education-related facilities at OU-Tulsa, which was based on Tulsa County’s $850 mil- lion Vision 2025 bond issue. The Schusterman family, which in 1999 provided a $10 million gift toward the purchase of the Amoco Research Center in Tulsa, pledged the additional gift based on the outcome of the bond issue. The Schusterman gift would serve as a base of funding for a new multipurpose classroom facility, a library facility and new parking facilities. 2 The Regents also will consider a request for the purchase of a database, Web of Science, which provides subject, author and citation access to scholarly resources in broad subject categories as well as overall citation reports for these subject categories and core journal titles within them. Pro- viding these tools enables the university to remain competitive with other large public research university libraries. In addition to serving 23,813 students and 1,202 faculty on OU’s Norman campus, the new resource would also benefit OU students and faculty in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The next regular meeting of the OU Board of Regents is slated for June 22 and 23 in Lawton. New OSU scholarship From The Journal Record (STILLWATER) – The former students of an Oklahoma State University professor have honored him with the largest endowed scholarship ever established in the name of a faculty member at the university. The former students fully funded the B. Curtis Hamm Endowed Scholarship with $250,000. Bob Hamm, professor emeritus in marketing, says the whole process has been a very humbling experience. “Many of the same individuals that I told to, ‘get a haircut if you want to be in the MBA program,’ several years ago have taught me some humility by giving sizable gifts to make this possible,” he said. “I’m very glad they’ve remembered me and that they’ve apparently forgiven me, despite the fact that I was pretty ‘authentic’ with some of them.” One of Hamm’s former students, Charlie Eitel, CEO of Simmons Co., was chair of the fund-raising efforts and initiated the scholarship development process with a gift of $50,000. Hamm also credits Joe Haney and Donna Thomas with the OSU Foundation for their help. Hamm says he’s especially thankful that the scholarship will provide money for students at each level of study that he has taught over the last 38 years, from undergraduates to doctoral students. “They’re all important to me and it’s a real comfort to know that some of them at each stage of their college education will benefit thanks to the generosity of those students who have gone before them,” he said. Hamm graduated from the College of Business Administration at OSU in 1955, spent some time in the U.S. Army, worked five years for IBM and took a leave of absence to return and enroll in OSU’s master of business administration program. OSU’s business faculty at the time convinced Hamm he’d make a great professor, so he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin where he received his doctorate in business administration in 1966. His doctoral dissertation was selected as one of the six best of the year and won acceptance for presentation at the American Marketing Association national convention. Hamm returned to OSU as an assistant professor and later became the director of the MBA pro- gram. He was also the first director of the doctoral program in marketing and he chaired its first three doctoral students – all of whom are still professors today. 3 Upcoming Legislative Deadlines: May 28, Friday...................................................................................................Sine Die Adjournment If you are unable to print copies of the bills in this report, please contact Carolyn McCoy at (405) 225-1965 or e-mail her at [email protected]. 4 INDEX BILLS OF INTEREST TO HIGHER EDUCATION Accountancy Act, SB 1488 Administrative Rules, SB 889, HB 1018, HCR 1080 Advancement of Hispanic Students in Higher Education Task Force, HB 2145 Agriculture Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, SB 1233 Alcohol and drug counselors, HB 2464 Animal feeding operations, SB 1233, HB 2217 Appropriations Agriculture Department for OSU programs, HB 2055 Endowed chairs, HB 1904 General, SB 1069, HB 2007, HB 2012 Health Department for contractual services with Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma, HB 2042 OETA, SB 913, SB 914, SB 1069, HB 2007, HB 2014, HB 2015 Office of Accountability, HB 2007 Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), SB 931, SB 932, HB 2007 Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP), HB 2007 Physician Manpower Training Commission, SB 915, SB 916, SB 1069, HB 2007, HB 2016, HB 2017 State Department of Education for teacher salaries, teacher retirement credit, Summer Arts In- stitute, Education Leadership Oklahoma, the Vision Project, scholarships to Great Ex- pectations Summer Institutes for Teachers, National Assessment of Educational Pro- gress participation, Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education, HB 2012 State Regents, SB 923, SB 924, SB 1069, SB 1083, HB 1904, HB 1991, HB 2007 Teacher Preparation Commission, SB 919, SB 920, SB 1069, HB 2007, HB 2020, HB 2021 University Hospitals Authority, SB 981, SB 982, SB