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December 1, 2008

Musical theatre department may get boost

Regents consider elevating department to school status

By Julianna Parker

Elevating the Weitzenhoffer Department of Musical Theatre to school status and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Eugene B. Adkins Gallery Addition will be among items discussed by the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents during its regular meeting Tuesday at the University of Oklahoma campus.

The meeting will begin at about 3 p.m. in the Scholars Room of Oklahoma Memorial Union, 900 Asp Ave.

The OU Regents will consider a recommendation to elevate the Weitzenhoffer Department of Musical Theatre to the Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre.

Prior to 2001, Musical Theatre was a joint venture among the college's schools of Drama, Music and Dance without its own budget, staff or faculty, according to the meeting's agenda. In 2001, it was reorganized as its own academic unit within the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts.

Elevating the department to school status will better reflect the professional nature of the bachelor of musical theatre degree and parallel the structure of the other academic units within the college, the agenda said.

Also during the meeting, the Regents will consider a recommendation to approve the design development phase plans for the Eugene B. Adkins Gallery Addition project at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

The Regents also will consider whether to approve a revised scope of work and budget of $13 million for the project. The university will pay for $6 million of that from discretionary reserves and the other $7 million will be funded from private sources, according to the agenda.

The project will create space for the new gallery and associated archive storage area on the second floor to display, store and curate Southwest and Native American works of art included in the collection. The existing rooftop sculpture garden will be enclosed to create a new third-floor gallery. A major new staircase leading from the lower galleries into this new third-floor area also will be constructed.

Also, the planned addition to the building will be sized to include a new mezzanine level containing approximately 4,000 gross square feet of space to display newly acquired art, according to the meeting's agenda.

Also at the meeting, the regents will decide whether to approve a preliminary price of $7.1 million for early acquisition of chillers, boilers and other equipment for OU's new utility plant. At its October meeting, the Board of Regents approved a total project budget of $76 million.

The plant will provide for the air conditioning, heat and electricity needed for expanding campus facilities, the meeting agenda said.

The next regular meeting of the OU Board of Regents will be Jan. 27 and 28 in Lawton.

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

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