Foundation Newsletters
WOOD HEALTH & SCIENCES BUILDING GRAND OPENING CELEBRATES THE FUTURE
Odessa, TX — Odessa College will celebrate the Grand Opening of its new Wood Health and Sciences Building with a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 10, on the second floor of the Wood HSB in the Community Room. Following the ceremony, guests will have the opportunity to tour the new 83,000-square-foot building and experience all that the new facility brings to Odessa College health and sciences students and the future of the healthcare and Permian Basin community.
Odessa College Associate Dean for Health and Sciences Lori Fierro-Iverson said she is excited about the Grand Opening.
“I am so ready for the community to see our students in the classrooms and labs. The students will be in class during the Grand Opening, so the tours will show the students and instructors functioning in their specific areas.”
“The students love it, and what is even better is their after-class time,” Fierro-Iverson continued. “The students are using the additional areas that are specifically designed for them to gather in and study and learn and collaborate together.”
The new Wood HSB’s first floor is home to the Medical Center Hospital Simulation Hospital and is set up just like an actual hospital where students will train and learn in a safe environment and gain the experience that will prepare them to be of immediate value to their employers in their new career fields.
“The Simulation Hospital is designed to look like the patient is at Medical Center Hospital. The training experience will include the first responders bringing in patients, and the different departments cooperating and communicating with each other as the patients make their way through the hospital as if it were the actual hospital,” said Ken Zartner, OC Vice President for Administrative Services.
The second floor of the new facility features a Community Room with a seating capacity of 450 and additional conference rooms that are available for use by the college as well as the community. The third and fourth floors accommodate classrooms, labs, offices, and study spaces. Located on the third floor are the Nursing, Respiratory Care, and Kinesiology programs, and on the fourth floor are the Surgical Technology, Radiologic Technology, Physical Therapist Assistant, Emergency Medical Technician and Fire Technology programs.
OC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Allisa Cornelius will open the official ceremony and be followed by speakers Brenda Denton of the Wood Family Foundation, Lori Fierro-Iverson, JSA Architect President Cruz Castillo, Medical Center Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Russell Tippin, and OC President Gregory D. Williams.
Grand Opening for James Segrest Stadium and Fitness Court® celebrates new facilities
ODESSA (Feb. 1, 2024) – It’s finally here – the new James Segrest Stadium and the outdoor Fitness Court® are complete. OC will celebrate the opening of the new facilities at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 2 with a Grand Opening, Ribbon Cutting and an inaugural walk around the new, Wrangler blue track.
The new stadium project began with a naming ceremony and groundbreaking in September 2021, where Coach Segrest was honored and reunited with some of his former student-athletes. At that time, the former coach stated “… it really helped our recruiting to have the good facilities that we had. I know this new facility will do the same thing for the new program coming back.”
He served as the Odessa College head track and field coach from 1973 to 1988 and the OC athletic director from 1988 to 1995. Segrest’s coaching legacy at Odessa College includes 11 NJCAA National Championships – all in just six years.
As Odessa College begins rebuilding a competitive, winning NJCAA Division 1 co-ed cross country and track and field team, the new stadium will provide the OC student athletes a state-of-the-art facility for their practices and competitions and will meet the NJCAA, NCAA and UIL competition standards.
During the Grand Opening ceremony, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Allisa Cornelius will recognize sponsors First Basin Credit Union, National Fitness Council and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas for their support in helping to make this complex the asset to the community that it is.
The stadium complex includes a grand entrance with box office, concessions, and restrooms; a state-of-the-art lighted track and field; terraced seating and picnic areas; grandstands on the east and west sides of the field; a press box; and a multimedia scoreboard.
Adjacent to the stadium, Odessa College in partnership with the National Fitness Council and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas built a new Fitness Court® – the world’s best outdoor gym. Odessa College’s Fitness Court® is one of only 35 outdoor Fitness Courts® in a series of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Fitness Courts in the growing network across the state.
The Fitness Court® will be open to the public and is designed to provide a full body workout in only seven minutes. The outdoor gym lets people use their own body weight to get a complete workout using seven exercise stations. Created with people aged 14 and over and with all abilities in mind, the workouts are adaptable for all fitness levels, allowing participants to move at their own pace. Users of the outdoor court will need to download the free Fitness Court App which acts as a coach-in-your-pocket and enhances the outdoor gym into a digitally supported wellness experience.
Attendees at the Grand Opening will be treated to a Fitness Court® demonstration following the ceremony.
75th Anniversary Wood Health Sciences Building Groundbreaking Ceremony
Odessa College announced today that an additional financial pledge made by the Wood Family Foundation of $2 million would complete the $40 million Phase 1 capital campaign for the new Wood Health Sciences Building. In December 2020, the Foundation made the first pledge to OC’s new Health Sciences Building campaign in the amount of $5 million, naming the building the Wood Health Sciences Building.
“The Wood Family Foundation’s $7 million investment in the Wood Health Sciences Building will leave a lasting legacy in our community,” Dr. Greg Williams, Odessa College President, said. “Their support of this project helped launch the campaign in December, and eight months later, we’re wrapping up Phase I of the capital campaign with a total of $25 million in community support.”
With the additional $2 million pledge to the project, the Wood Family Foundation has committed a total of more than $11 million to Odessa College since 2012. Other major gifts from the Wood Family Foundation include $3 million for the naming of the Wood Math and Science Building in 2012 and significant annual support of the Student Success Scholarship fund.
James Segrest Stadium Groundbreaking and Dedication
The Odessa College James Segrest Stadium Groundbreaking Ceremony – officially launching the $6.5 million capital campaign for the new complex which will replace the current OC outdoor track area.
According to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame website, Coach Segrest served as the Odessa College track and field coach from 1973-1987 and 1994-1995. He also served as the OC athletic director from 1987-1994. His teams won 11 NJCAA National Championships in track and field: five indoor (1981-85) and six outdoor (1981-86).
Segrest was selected to coach the World University Games in 1978.
He is a member of the NJCAA Track and Field Hall of Fame (1989), Abilene Christian University Sports Hall of Fame (1991), the United States Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame (1996), and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2005.
Medical Center Health System Press Conference
Medical Center Health System has committed to a $5 million investment over a 10-year period in Odessa College’s new $39.7 million Wood Health Sciences Building. OC will name the first floor of the 83,000 square foot, four-story building the “Medical Center Health System Simulation Hospital”.
With plans to break ground in late 2021 and open by Fall 2023, the simulation hospital will span the entire first floor of the Wood Health Sciences Building and will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology to simulate patient care scenarios. The simulation hospital will provide a collaborative environment for all health sciences students that will include the following suites: emergency room, operating room, labor and delivery, nursery, physical therapy and radiological technology. The simulation hospital will also include five high simulation patient rooms, five doctors’ office simulation rooms and 10 basic simulation patient rooms.
Odessa Regional Medical Center Press Conference
Odessa Regional Medical Center has committed to a $1 million investment in Odessa College’s new $40 million Wood Health Sciences Building. OC will name the third floor of the 83,000 square foot, four-story building the “Odessa Regional Medical Center Instruction Floor”.
“The construction of the new Wood Health Sciences Building at Odessa College is critically important to the success of the healthcare community, not only in Odessa but the entire Permian Basin,” Stacey Brown, President of Odessa Regional Medical Center and Scenic Mountain Medical Center in Big Spring, said. “This increased capacity is vital to helping medical providers care for our community, but it will also provide excellent jobs for young adults to be productive members of our community for years to come.”
The third floor will provide 20,500 square feet of learning space for the School of Health Sciences and will include nine classrooms, three computer labs, two study halls, a student lounge, a faculty lounge and faculty offices. ORMC clinical leaders also will mentor and teach students in the learning space.
Permian Strategic Partnership Press Conference
The Permian Strategic Partnership has committed to a $4 million investment in Odessa College’s new Wood Health Sciences Building, bringing the 12-month capital campaign to 94 percent of the $40 million goal. This investment brings the total of the partnership pledges to $22,621,500. Odessa College will contribute $15 million to the project.
With a focus on increasing the number of healthcare workers for the Permian Basin, the 83,000 square foot Wood Health Sciences Building will include four floors of instruction and community space to allow more students to enroll in the School of Health Sciences programs and healthcare continuing education programs, with an estimated 64 percent increase in graduates.
Hext Family Foundation
The Hext Family Foundation has made annual contributions throughout the OC Foundation’s history to support students enrolled in technical programs. The new endowed scholarship will allow OC to award a minimum of $30,000 per academic year to full-time (12 hours or more) and part-time (6 to 11 hours) students enrolled in technical programs.
Awards will be $800 per semester for part-time students and $1,600 for full-time students as funds are available and will be used for tuition, fees and books.
Wood Family Foundation Press Conference in August 2021
The Wood Family Foundation made the first pledge in the amount of $5 million to Odessa College’s new Health Sciences Building, naming the building the Wood Health Sciences Building. With the new additional pledge to the project, the Wood Family Foundation has committed a total of more than $11 million to Odessa College since 2012. Other major gifts from the Wood Family Foundation include $3 million for the naming of the Wood Math and Science Building in 2012 and significant annual support of the Student Success Scholarship fund.
Sewell Auto Tech
Our partners from Sewell Family of Dealerships toured Odessa College’s new Sewell Auto Tech construction site this morning to discuss plans to open the facility this fall. The 37,000-square-foot Sewell Auto Tech facility, located on seven acres at 2425 E. Eighth Street, will offer the latest in auto and diesel technology training for Permian Basin students. It will also house the Professional Truck Driving Academy with state-of-the-art simulators, as well as paved parking and driving courses.
