Ground is Broken on New Housing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Stephanie Hill, Director of University Relations & Communications
Office: 918.495.7337, Mobile: 918.720.5548
sthill@oru.edu

Tulsa, OK – Oral Roberts University broke ground today on the University’s first new housing in 42 years. The apartment-style housing will be built where the Braxton Residence Hall used to sit, between Christ’s Chapel and Howard Auditorium.

ORU President Dr. William M. Wilson was joined for the groundbreaking by the University’s Board of Trustees including its Chair Dr. Mike Rakes, Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum, Tulsa City Councilor Jeannie Cue, Tulsa County Commissioner Ron Peters, Tulsa Chamber Executive Vice President & COO Justin McLaughlin, and representatives from the office of Congressman Jim Bridenstine. The ceremony was held this afternoon immediately following the University's regular chapel service.

“This is a new kind of housing for a new generation of student,” said Dr. Wilson. “As ORU continues to grow at a rapid rate, we are looking to the future and ensuring we provide space for our campus population to have a rigorous student life with the best of internet connectivity, exceptional study and relationship-building areas, and an open feeling that speaks to the new ORU.”

“The University is financially healthy, it’s spiritually whole, and it’s having an impact on the lives of students from around the world,” said Dr. Rakes. “We are constructing a space where students are transformed not just into alumni but also into mobile and global missionaries of God’s goodness in the earth!”

The $10 million, apartment-style residence hall will have separate towers, one for men and one for women, with a lobby connecting the two. Each suite will include a kitchen and a washer and dryer, plus living and dining areas. The rooms will also include unique recessed sleeping areas that will give students their own space. The hall is currently planned to have 240 beds, and the top floor will be dorm-style. The University looks to make it available for student move-in by fall of 2019.

The new residence hall continues a decade of new construction at ORU. The Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center opened in 2013, followed by the Global Learning Center in January 2017 and the ONEOK Sports Complex last October.