OU’S COLLEGE OF EARTH AND ENERGY NAMED
AFTER ALUMNUS CURTIS MEWBOURNE
jc/11-2-07
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: OU Public Affairs, (405) 325-1701
NORMAN – In recognition of his outstanding and longtime support of the University of Oklahoma and its programs in petroleum and geological engineering and his pioneering leadership in the field, which resulted in the creation of one of the most successful privately owned oil and gas producers in America, the newest college at OU has been named the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy in honor of Curtis Mewbourne of Tyler, Texas.
The announcement was made during a news conference today, Nov. 2, on the OU Norman campus featuring remarks by OU President David L. Boren, College of Earth and Energy Dean Larry Grillot and Mewbourne, a 1958 OU petroleum engineering graduate who founded Mewbourne Oil Co. in 1965 with his last paycheck working as a petroleum engineer. Mewbourne continues to operate the company privately for the benefit of his employees and his family.
In addition, Mewbourne is being honored this evening with the Trailblazer Award for his professional achievements and lifetime commitment to the energy industry, especially for his support and mentoring of OU students.
David L. Boren Quote:
Mewbourne has devoted many hours of service to OU and its School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, serving as the first chairman of the school’s advisory board. He is one of the school’s most devoted alumni leaders and its most important donors, with gifts that include the Curtis Mewbourne Professorship in Petroleum Engineering, which when created in 1982 was the first endowed position for both the school and the College of Engineering, and a $6 million gift, made in 2000, which endowed faculty positions, student scholarships and enrichment activities in the School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering. To honor this gift, the school was named after Mewbourne.
When the College of Earth and Energy was formed on Jan. 1, 2006, bringing together the School of Geology and Geophysics – later named the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics – and the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, Mewbourne again stepped up to be an alumni leader and generous supporter of the new college. In fall 2006, he made a gift to create two new endowed faculty positions in the newly formed college. And that November, he issued a challenge to alumni and supporters of the college to promote contributions to endowed undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships for students in petroleum engineering, geological engineering, geology and geophysics. He pledged to match all those gifts between then and March 2008. Mewbourne Oil stands alone as the largest supporter of student scholarships and internships over the past 25 years.
Mewbourne’s many honors from OU include an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2002 and election to the College of Engineering Distinguished Graduates Society in 1992. A Sarkeys Energy Center founder, he and his wife, Joanne, are founding members of OU’s Seed Sower Society, honoring donors of $1 million or more.
OU’s Mewbourne School awarded its first degree in geological engineering in 1919 and its first degree in petroleum engineering in 1927. It is consistently ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the top five academic programs in the country. More OU petroleum and geological engineering alumni are top executives in Fortune 500 companies than any other school. Last year, the school passed another milestone when it graduated its 5,000th engineer.
The School of Geology and Geophysics, founded in 1900, holds the distinction of being the first school in the nation to offer a degree in petroleum geology. Its graduates are highly recruited by the oil, gas, mining, environmental and water resources industries and by government.
In addition to the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics and the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, the College of Earth and Energy also houses the Oklahoma Geological Survey and Sarkeys Energy Center. OGS is a state agency for research and public service that is charged in the Oklahoma Constitution with investigating the state’s land, water, mineral and energy resources and disseminating the results of those investigations to promote the wise use of the state’s natural resources consistent with sound environmental practices. Sarkeys Energy Center is composed of six interdisciplinary institutes that focus on energy research and education through various means of technology transfer, and enhance regional economic growth and national energy and economic security.
Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy
100 East Boyd Street Room 510
Norman, Oklahoma 73019
(405) 325-3821
e:mail: mcee@ou.edu
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