OSU-CHS hosts Topping Off Ceremony for Tandy Building construction

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences hosted a special Topping Off Ceremony on Tuesday, March 22 marking the last beam put in place during construction of the A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Medical Academic Building.

“The Tandy Medical Academic Building will take us one step closer to fulfilling that mission of equipping our students with the medical knowledge and clinical skills needed to become outstanding, yet caring and compassionate physicians,” said OSU-CHS President Kayse Shrum, D.O. “We take that obligation very seriously at OSU-CHS.”

Trudy Milner, D.O., OSU/A&M Board of Regents member and an OSU-COM alumna, and Paul Giehm, senior vice president of Trust Company of Oklahoma and A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Foundation representative, signed an orange steel beam to signify the project’s progress during the ceremony. After the ceremony, students, faculty and staff were also invited to sign the beam.

The A.R. and Marylouise Tandy Foundation provided $8 million toward construction of the 84,000-square-foot building, the largest private gift ever received by OSU-CHS. Other significant donors to the Tandy Medical Academic Building include the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, Morningcrest Healthcare Foundation, Pedigo Products, Inc., the Honorable Terry Kern and Jeanette Kern, Tim Headington, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Jean and Gary Goodnight, D.O., Laura and Scott Mitchell, D.O., Rebecca and Adam Smith, D.O., Walli and Bobby Daniel, D.O., Lori Stewart, D.O. and Douglas Stewart, D.O., Patrice Aston, D.O., Cynthia and Robert Blubaugh, D.O., Lisa and Ronald Bruce, D.O., Vicki and Ronald Eimen, D.O., Marguerite and O. Keith Enlow, D.O., Beverly and Gerald Flatt, D.O., Pam and Ronald Graham, D.O., Trish and Mark Gunby, D.O., Lee and Philip Henbest, D.O., Joanie and Timothy Koehler, D.O., Teresa and Phillip A. Nokes, D.O., Tonja and Thomas Osborn, D.O., Victoria Rowland, D.O. and Terry Rowland, M.D., Elaine and H. Dean Vaughan, D.O., and Melinda and Kenny Grider, D.O.

To date, nearly $10 million in private contributions has been secured to support the Tandy Medical Academic Building.

The Tandy Medical Academic Building will be a community resource, enabling OSU to strengthen training partnerships with health care educators and providers in Tulsa and across Oklahoma.

It will house a state-of-the-art hospital simulation center with a fully operational emergency room, operating room, intensive care unit, birthing suite and ambulance bay, enabling students to practice procedures and skills commonly utilized in hospitals across the country.

The facility also will include an expanded clinical skills lab, a new osteopathic manipulative medicine lab, a tiered lecture hall, 18 exam rooms, classrooms, two lecture halls, conference facilities, more than 20 small breakout rooms, 55 student study carrels, a student kitchen, faculty and staff office space and an adjoining five-level parking garage.

Others in attendance at the ceremony include George Erbacher, D.O., a member of the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine Advisory Council, Rant Tandy, son of A.R. and Marylouise Tandy, and his wife Karen; Carol Tandy, daughter of A.R. and Marylouise Tandy; Paula Huck, director of community affairs at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma; Peter Aran, M.D., medical director, population health management at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Rebecca and Adam Smith, D.O., Daniel and Dennis Whitehouse, D.O., Sherri Wise, president and CEO of Osteopathic Founders Foundation, and Michelle Hardesty and Dana Wilkes of the Hardesty Family Foundation.

Officials anticipate the facility will be completed by the summer of 2017.