OSU receives $500,000 gift from Phillips 66

The long, successful partnership between Oklahoma State University and Phillips 66 produced another highlight Thursday with the announcement of a new gathering area that will benefit OSU students in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.

Thanks to a $500,000 contribution from the energy manufacturing and logistics company, OSU will soon open the Phillips 66 Student Plaza as part of the college’s new Student Excellence Center. The center will provide a nexus of social, career and academic opportunities for the college’s more than 4,300 engineering, architecture and engineering technology students.

The Phillips 66 Student Plaza will allow students to enjoy the outdoors while studying in groups, working on laptops or enjoying lunch with friends. Engineering, architecture and engineering technology students will help design large natural-gas barbeques, a tailgate kitchen, and other features enhancing the plaza.

“We are so grateful for Phillips 66’s generosity and vision,” says Paul Tikalsky, dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. “Through the Phillips 66 Student Plaza, students across the various college disciplines will have a central location to collaborate and develop our community of scholars. Their interactions, and the programs and exhibitions this beautiful outdoor area hosts, will excite students about the future and the grand challenges they will help solve.”

The plaza will also host Phillips 66 Summer Bridge Program activities, tailgates, graduation ceremony events, research activities, displays by student groups, and programs to interest K-12 students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – also known as STEM subjects.

The Student Excellence Center features an open-environment design that mirrors new work spaces in many technology corporations. It will offer nightly tutoring, career services, interview training, résumé-writing workshops and other programs to develop the leadership and communication skills that position OSU graduates as employees of choice.

“We are thrilled to be part of the new Student Excellence Center,” said Debbie Adams, senior vice president, Health, Safety and Environment, Projects and Procurement, Phillips 66, and a 2014 OSU Distinguished Alumna. “The Phillips 66 Student Plaza will provide OSU’s CEAT students the opportunity to collaborate and foster a sense of teamwork, two very important tenants of the Phillips 66 culture.”

This contribution is in addition to Phillips 66’s annual support for the Phillips 66 SHIELD (Students Heightening Involvement in Education, Learning and Development) Scholars Program as well as support for the Multicultural Engineering Program, scholarships, equipment, and student retention programs in CEAT and other colleges at OSU.

“Phillips 66 continues to provide wonderful careers for many of our graduates and make generous contributions across the university,” Tikalsky says. “But their true gift is creating the next generation of intellectual capital for our nation.”