With an enrollment of about 22,000 students, the largest of any higher-education institution in its city, Tulsa Community College speaks from a position of strength.
And it is poised to get stronger.
The college is embarking on a $57 million upgrade of its Metro Campus, including modernizing the academic environment and creating a seamless transition between the buildings that encompass the campus.
TCC will dedicate $27 million to specifically address the needs of the Student Union, a 100-year-old-plus structure that will become the hub of student life at Metro Campus.
The TCC Foundation is raising another $30 million in private funds earmarked for the Academic Building (the former Sinclair Oil headquarters).
“We know as well as anyone that our future in Tulsa depends on the talent that we can recruit, and we need to do as much of that here locally as possible,” said Dr. Leigh Goodson, president and CEO of TCC.
Goodson spoke about the future of TCC on Monday at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Executive Meeting.
Moderated by Katie Henke, the Chamber’s senior vice president of government affairs, the discussion included the backdrop of new state legislation that allows Oklahoma community colleges to offer specific four-year degrees.
Construction for TCC’s Metro Campus upgrades, which are scheduled to start in September, will include housing and retail, Goodson said.
“I feel like we can generate that campus vibe,” Goodson said. “We can develop housing and we can have some four years (degrees).”
Oklahoma and the Tulsa area face a persistent degree attainment gap, running thousands of bachelor's degrees below national averages to meet modern economic demand.
Initially, TCC is looking to establish five to seven four-year programs, said Goodson, who mentioned the fields of accounting, healthcare, engineering and others.
“We want to get the top demands on their way immediately,” Goodson said. “We believe that we can get to meaningful partnerships with OU (University of Oklahoma), OSU (Oklahoma State University) and TU (University of Tulsa). There will have to be some concessions, and we’ve talked to all of them about that, and they are all different concessions.”
Any partnership, Goodson said, would need to safeguard TCC’s sovereignty and identity.
“It’s on us; it’s not just on our partners,” she said. “And it never has been. But we understand we have to drive the infrastructure more than we’ve done in the past.”