A LETTER FROM THE DEAN

The Mewbourne College of Earth & Energy was chartered on January 1st, 2006, and as we approach the second anniversary of the college, I am pleased with the progress we have made. Our enrollments have increased so that we now have approximately 550 undergraduate and graduate students in the college. With this increase, our focus is on ensuring that we have proper teaching resources to continue to provide the OU students with a top quality education.

We have been able to address these needs in large part due to the overall support of our alumni, industry partners, and other key constituents. In particular, we have had several notable events as described in the press release included in this
letter. The press release highlights the naming of the Mewbourne College of Earth & Energy after Curtis W. Mewbourne, and also notes the recent gift from ConocoPhillips to endow the ConocoPhillips School of Geology & Geophysics. With this significant support and the generosity of all of our alumni and other constituents, we have now raised approximately $34 million in the $80 million capital campaign that was announced by President Boren in November, 2006. As a result, we are continuing to improve our capability to meet the needs of our students through scholarship and fellowships, improved teaching facilities such as laboratories as well as other facilities designed to provide a positive educational experience for the OU students.

We are continuing to build the new college to address the educational needs of tomorrow in the areas of earth and energy. This includes not only money and educational facilities, but most importantly, maintaining a quality faculty to meet the increased needs of the college. As such, faculty recruiting has been, and will continue to be a key activity, particularly in the area of petroleum engineering. We added four new faculty during the past year: Dr. Kurt Marfurt, Geophysics; Dr. Megan Elwood Madden, Geochemistry; Dr. Andy Madden, Geochemistry; and Dr. Yucel Akkutlu, Petroleum Engineering. We are also seeing an increase in research funding for the college, with sponsored research exceeding $6 million during the 2006-2007 academic year.

So overall, we have many positive accomplishments to report for the Mewbourne College of Earth & Energy. But we are also aware that many challenges remain for OU to continue to provide a quality education to our students. I want to assure you that we are doing our best to use our resources (people, facilities, and money) as effectively as possible to keep OU in the forefront of education in the areas of earth & energy. With these efforts, and the generous support of our alumni, industry partners and other constituents, I am confident that we will be able to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Larry R. Grillot
Dean, Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy
Lester A. Day Family Chair
Sarkeys Energy Center Director

 
 
Dean Grillot with MCEE Students
Curtis W. Mewbourne, David L. Boren, Larry R. Grillot at college dedication

OU'S COLLEGE OF EARTH AND ENERGY NAMED AFTER ALUMNUS CURTIS MEWBOURNE
JC/11-2-07, OU Public Affairs Press Release

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.
L to R, David L. Boren, Joanne Mewbourne, Curtis W. 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.
 
David L. Boren, Curtis and Joanne Mewbourne and Family
Curtis W. Mewbourne speaks at college dedication

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.