Tag: Deferred Maintenance

aerial photo of the Langston University campus

A Message from the Division of Operations: Major Facilities Improvements Underway

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As we transition into the new academic year, we are excited to share the progress our Division of Operations has made throughout the summer to enhance our campus facilities. With a relentless focus on improvement and modernization, our team has been working tirelessly to overcome many of the most critical infrastructure challenges and ensure that our students, faculty, and staff have access to comfortable learning and living environments.

Importantly, the projects we have been managing throughout the summer have come at no cost to our students. We are proud to have leveraged grant funds and state allocations to pursue these projects, and we are grateful to the Division of Academic Affairs for their partnership in the use of Title III grant funds for our academic buildings. Langston University is also extremely grateful to the Oklahoma Legislature, including Gov. Stitt and notably Sen. Chuck Hall, for the ongoing investments made to address deferred maintenance needs on campuses throughout our state. These summer projects were made possible using grants and state-allocated funds coupled with months of planning, preparation, and project management.

Academic Building Climate Control Upgrades

Four of our academic buildings on the Langston Campus are receiving comprehensive Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) improvements through Title III grant funding. These buildings include Moore Hall, Sanford Hall, Jones Hall, and the G. Lamar Harrison Library. In collaboration with a professional engineering firm, we developed detailed specifications which were utilized in a competitive bid process in the spring. A vendor was selected from the bid process to install new chiller systems within the buildings, and their work has already begun.

The new chillers and pumps for these four buildings are set for delivery in mid-September 2025. By the end of September, all permanent systems should be installed, calibrated, and fully operational, ensuring optimal learning conditions for the fall semester and beyond within these four buildings. In the meantime, temporary chillers are being rented to provide relief in each of the four buildings until the permanent chillers are in place. While renting temporary chillers is extremely costly, it is a worthwhile investment in the short term until our new equipment is in place. We are finding that the temporary chillers are drawing more power than is typical for our Langston Campus. As a result, we have encountered occasional brownouts or brief power outages. We appreciate your patience as we work through these isolated instances.

Additional climate control improvements are underway at Allied Health, where we intend to replace an outdated split chiller system with a properly sized solution designed by our professional engineering partner. This project is in the initial planning phase and will be subject to competitive bidding before work can begin. In the meantime, we are working to implement a temporary chiller solution at Allied Health for the fall semester.

The comprehensive HVAC overhaul of C.F. Gayle’s Gymnasium, Atrium, and the John Montgomery Multipurpose Building is shaping up to be one of our most ambitious undertakings. The Division of Operations worked closely with our professional engineering partner over many months to develop the detailed specifications for the project, which we anticipate will be published for competitive bidding in August 2025. This priority project, funded through the Oklahoma Capital Asset Management and Protection (OCAMP) Deferred Maintenance allocations through the Oklahoma Legislature, demonstrates our commitment to maintaining our most heavily utilized facilities for student activities, athletics, and community events.

Residential Housing Transformation

Perhaps most significantly, we are revolutionizing the HVAC systems through HEERF grant-funded projects across four residential communities. These improvements represent the most comprehensive housing upgrades in decades, and this large-scale project has proceeded at an extraordinary speed.

Centennial Court Apartments, Buildings 1-5, are receiving entirely new HVAC systems with redirected air delivery, finally addressing long-standing mechanical issues due to construction defects. Residents of Cimarron Gardens Apartments will experience, for the first time ever, thermostat-controlled central air conditioning, as we replace outdated window units and aged furnace infrastructure. Our construction partner, Nabholz Construction, is working to put the final touches on the upgrades within Centennial Court and Cimarron Gardens.

Commons Apartments and Scholars’ Inn will receive updated HVAC systems with state-of-the-art cooling. This project is also funded through the remaining institutional allocation of the HEERF grant. These systems will be installed throughout the Fall semester as equipment arrives.

Even facing unforeseen challenges due to supply chain setbacks and other compliance-related delays, we remain committed to completion with contingency plans in place to ensure all residential HVAC improvements are finished by December 30, 2025.

You may see our teams working to wrap up construction, replace sod, and clean the construction site. We ask for your patience as we continue this important work.

Infrastructure Modernization Projects

Our commitment to accessibility and safety continues with the ongoing Sanford Hall elevator modernization project. This project was initially proposed and approved in September 2024. In the intervening months, a great deal of work has occurred to procure the necessary equipment and prepare for its arrival and installation. This turnkey project entails electrical, telephonic, fire suppression, and mechanical upgrades for the elevator installation, which began on July 22, 2025. We anticipate a completion date in mid-August, contingent upon scheduling the required state inspection, after which time students and staff will have access to a fully modernized, reliable elevator system. Similar modernization projects for additional elevators throughout our campuses are already in the planning stages.

Protecting the LU-OKC Campus

Our Oklahoma City campus restoration continues with the roof replacement project, which is now moving through the final phases of procurement. The November 2024 storm that damaged our campus facility has since been classified by FEMA as a natural disaster. The University engaged with an architectural firm to develop detailed specifications for roof replacement which were utilized for competitive bid in the selection of our roofing partner. We are now working through bonding requirements to award the contract and initiate the project. While temporary roof repairs remain secure with interior restoration ongoing, a full roof replacement supported by OCAMP Deferred Maintenance funding and potential grant reimbursement will restore full protection for our campus in Oklahoma City.

Looking Forward

The work happening across our campuses demonstrates our commitment to providing an exceptional educational environment in support of student success and campus excellence.

As we continue this momentum throughout the academic year, the Division of Operations remains focused on progress, innovation, and the continuous improvement of our campus infrastructure. We will pursue additional projects with our FY26 OCAMP Deferred Maintenance allocation. Priorities will include electrical and utility upgrades, roadway repairs, elevator upgrades, and more. We anticipate the funding will be released by the state in September 2025. These investments in our physical environment directly support our mission of educational excellence and ensure that Langston University continues to provide world-class educational experiences for generations to come.

You can learn more about the progress of current projects on the Physical Plant and Campus Projects webpage.

We thank our campus community for your patience during construction periods and look forward to the enhanced comfort and functionality these improvements will provide.

 

Theresa Powell
Vice President, Division of Operations

Langston University Receives $10 Million for Deferred Maintenance Projects

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By The Office of Public Relations

Langston University is excited to announce an allocation of $10,125,000 from the Oklahoma State Legislature to address deferred maintenance projects across the university in fiscal year 2026. This special allocation is a direct result of the recent Carnegie designation of Research or College University awarded to our institution. The funding will be used to address infrastructure needs at all three LU campuses with a particular focus on the needs of the university’s historic Langston campus.

The Legislature passed Senate Bill 1169, which increases the percentage of Oklahoma Capital Asset Management and Protection (OCAMP) deferred maintenance funding allocated to Langston University by the Oklahoma Legislature. With this funding, the university plans to pursue a number of high-impact projects which are aimed at enhancing the experience for students, faculty, and staff including select HVAC upgrades, plumbing modernizations, and addressing various infrastructure priorities that will improve campus safety, accessibility and operational efficiency.

“The funding will help us make prioritized improvements which are essential to providing our students, faculty and staff with the quality learning, working and living environments they deserve,” President Ruth Ray Jackson said.

Langston University has continually made strategic investments through federal grants and other funding sources to address critical infrastructure needs at the Langston, Tulsa and Oklahoma City campuses. However, many of these necessary improvements take months of planning, must be competitively bid, and the scope of required improvements has consistently exceeded available resources. This increased funding will greatly aid the university as it prepares to take on these high-priority projects.

Last year, the university received $3.5 million to address deferred maintenance projects, $2.5 million of which is earmarked to replace the roof at the LU-Oklahoma City campus.

Langston University appreciates the leadership of the Oklahoma Legislature, Gov. Kevin Stitt, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents for their continued support of higher education infrastructure.

The university is especially grateful to Sen. Chuck Hall, who represents the Langston campus, for his leadership in advancing this legislation. The university also recognizes the broad, bipartisan support from legislators across the state who understand the critical importance of this investment in Oklahoma’s public institutions.

“Langston University is committed to responsibly stewarding these resources to advance our mission and continue serving our students and communities with excellence,” Dr. Jackson said.