TULSA, Okla. — Oral Roberts University completed approximately $82 million in campus improvements over the summer — a transformation that took just 102 days and welcomed the university's largest freshman class in history.
ORU President Dr. William (Billy) Wilson said the scope of work was unlike anything the university has undertaken in recent memory.
"This summer was amazing here, Sharon. We did about 82 million dollars' worth of improvements over the summer," Wilson said.
The renovation effort centered on the university's freshman dormitories, EMR and Claudius halls, which together house more than 1,100 students. Work began the day students moved out in the spring and was completed the day before they moved back in for the fall semester.
"We remodeled our freshman dorms, which EMR and Claudius, which we call them here on campus, have 1100 some odd beds. We started the day students moved out in the spring, and we finished the day before they moved in in the fall, and we literally went top to bottom. We did new windows, double-pane windows all the way through, new paint on the outside, new floor covering, new bathrooms, new furniture, new paint throughout; it was a whole new remodel of these very old buildings. They were built in the 1960s, but they are solid buildings," Wilson said.
The university also completed its Daystar dining hall, which now includes two new apartment-style resident halls and six unique food stations. Chick-fil-A and Pei Wei both opened inside the new space.
The David and Barbara Green Centre for Global Leadership was also completed during the summer. Christ Chapel, the university's largest gathering space with seating for just over 3,000, received a full top-to-bottom renovation as well.
"Then at the same time, we remodeled Christ Chapel, which is our biggest gathering spot on campus. We seat a little over 3,000 there. We meet twice a week during the semester, and classes are in there as well. We went top to bottom on it, too. We did a whole new ceiling in there, we did new seats, we did new office space, we did new furniture, so it was quite a project for our teams here on campus," Wilson said.
The renovations coincided with the arrival of ORU's largest freshman class in history — between 1,200 and 1,300 students from around the world.
Wilson said no tuition dollars were used to fund any of the projects.
"I'm especially proud that no tuition dollars were used, so the student's money given is going directly to their education. We've got a great faculty here, so it sustains the campus and our budget, and then we do these projects outside of our budget, and since 2008, we've had no debt on the university, no short-term, long-term, long-term or midterm debt, which lets me sleep really well at night, ok," Wilson said.
The university is already planning its next major project — an innovation center it hopes to break ground on within the next year to year and a half.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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