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or over 75 years, OU Aviation has trained the next generation of pilots, controllers, and industry leaders. With your support, we can continue to shape the future of aviation. Invest in innovation, fuel the dreams of aspiring aviators, and help us take OU Aviation to even greater heights.
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ur students don’t just learn, they soar. With access to top-tier internships at industry giants like Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Raytheon and UPS, they gain hands-on experience that propels them into successful aviation careers. Our state-of-the-art Simulation Center prepares students for real-world air traffic and flight scenarios, while the OU-owned Max Westheimer Airport provides an immersive, small-college feel with big-industry training.
t the University of Oklahoma School of Aviation, we don’t just teach aviation. We have been part of its history since 1947 and our students are the future of Aviation. With 300 years of combined real-world aviation experience, our faculty bring insights from airlines, corporate aviation, air traffic control, the Department of Defense and the FAA straight to the classroom.
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ur students don’t just learn, they soar. With access to top-tier internships at industry giants like Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Raytheon and UPS, they gain hands-on experience that propels them into successful aviation careers. Our state-of-the-art Simulation Center prepares students for real-world air traffic and flight scenarios, while the OU-owned Max Westheimer Airport provides an immersive, small-college feel with big-industry training.
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or over 75 years, OU Aviation has trained the next generation of pilots, controllers, and industry leaders. With your support, we can continue to shape the future of aviation. Invest in innovation, fuel the dreams of aspiring aviators, and help us take OU Aviation to even greater heights.
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Funding Opportunities
The Need
For promising students who cannot afford a quality college education, endowed scholarships and fellowships are indispensable, particularly for first-generation and non-traditional students. Financial need is significant, and for all students, the best possible educational experience is contingent on student-centered support programs.
Driving world-class research and delivering a quality classroom experience for students requires recruiting and retaining top talent, along with funding for groundbreaking discovery. As an important part of the state’s premier research university, OU Aviation will recruit outstanding faculty and provide them with the resources required to pursue transformative ideas and bring them to fruition.
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Endowed Scholarships
With its five-degree tracks accredited by the Aviation Accreditation Board International, OU Aviation is recognized as top-tier in undergraduate education.
We must grow the number of endowed scholarships to support our students. In addition to the rising cost of living, students in our program are also faced with increased flight and fuel charges.
Supporting an existing scholarship endowment is an easy and effective way to maximize the potential of your gift. It doesn’t take a large gift to make a big difference. Donors united by a common vision can multiply the impact for students in all departments, ensuring educational excellence is always in reach for those with the talent and drive to succeed.
Endowed Student Programs
OU Aviation strives to ensure that its students have access to the best educators, resources, tools, facilities and experiences in order to develop critical creative problem-solving skills. Funding for student programs would ensure students can participate in travel study across the United States and abroad, conferences and learn from the best guest lecturers.
Scholarship Impact
OU launched what is now one of only five collegiate helicopter pilot programs in the U.S. in 2024. $100,000 provides a full scholarship to a helicopter program student.
Named Chairs, Professorships & Presidential Professorships – $5 Million
Chair appointments are awarded to exceptional tenured faculty and are funded with a $1.5 million endowment minimum.
Endowed professorships for tenured faculty are funded with a minimum of $1 million, while presidential professorship endowments require a minimum of $500,000.
OU Presidential Professorships are rotating four-year awards that recognize faculty members – typically assistant professors – who show promise in their research and teaching activities.
Fleet Additions and New Facilities – $15 Million
OU’s ownership of Max Westheimer Airport gives the School of Aviation a strategic advantage over many of our peer institutions. The airport includes two instrument runways, a control tower, a large ramp and 727 acres of mostly underutilized real estate, which provides myriad opportunities for expanding the school’s footprint on OU’s campus. Capable of handling 50,000 operations per year, Max Westheimer Airport’s excellence was recognized by the Oklahoma Airport Operators Association as its Airport of the Year in 2021.
Both creative scheduling and resourceful use of a facility that is more than 60 years old have made it possible to continue serving our students. However, the challenges of aging infrastructure and limited square footage make our existing facilities insufficient to accommodate additional growth in our program areas.
OU Aviation Center of Excellence – $3 Million
OU Aviation plans to construct a multifunction Center of Aviation Excellence with state-of-the-art hangar, classroom, lab and office spaces to bring the program to the level of excellence students and faculty deserve. Naming opportunities for the center and spaces will be available.
30 Piper Planes – $12.5 Million
At $500,000 each, a new fleet of Piper Planes will lay the foundation for our future growth and success.
Peer aviation programs generally replace their fleets after seven to nine years of service, and while maintaining fleet safety and readiness is a high priority, it is one that is increasingly difficult as the fleet continues to age. The university has committed to a plan to renew and expand the fleet, but private gifts are needed to supplement the fleet’s replacement and relieve the entirety of the burden from OU.
Our Roots
Founded in 1947, OU’s School of Aviation at university-owned Max Westheimer Airport, is home to roughly 250 students annually.
In summer 2022, the school moved from the College of Professional and Continuing Studies to OU’s College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. With its four undergraduate degrees, OU Aviation offers students the chance to not only become experts in their chosen area of study, but to learn the business behind the industry, an essential area of focus that has earned us national recognition.
Our Future
The OU School of Aviation is nationally synonymous with excellence in aerospace and aviation education, spurring resource and recruitment growth.
Over the next two years, the school will continue to raise its national reputation by increasing student capacity from 250 students annually to at least 600 students. As student numbers grow, so will the need for student support, qualified faculty and industry standard facilities.
The Path Ahead
Through thoughtful gifts and selfless vision, your gifts make an education possible now and always for thousands of aspiring aviation professionals.
The OU School of Aviation has an ambitious goal to do our part in supporting the university’s core traditions of providing academic excellence for all who have the drive to succeed; generating real-world impact through pathbreaking research and innovative thought leadership; and creating a place for learning and belonging, where everyone is a valued member of the OU Family.
Elevate the Future of Aviation - Support OU Aviation Today!
With a $500,000 gift, you have the chance to name one of 30 new aircraft entering the OU School of Aviation’s fleet.
Your support will attach your legacy to a critical resource that will be vital for educating talented future pilots for years to come. Your generosity will also allow the School of Aviation to continue growing our student population, faculty body and instructional programs.
Through a naming gift toward one of our newest planes, you can tie your name to a program known across the nation for its rich history of aviation education and training. As student interest in aviation continues to grow, the support we receive from alumni and friends is more important now than ever. You have the chance to mark your legacy on the new era of OU aviation and forever make a School of Aviation education possible for talented students.
For more information on this unique opportunity, contact Emily Reed at emilymapes@ou.edu
We have an incredible opportunity to expand the excellence of our No. 1 ranked university-based aviation program to meet the growing demand for aviation professionals in Oklahoma and across the nation. This is yet another example of OU’s commitment to strategically supporting our state’s economic and workforce needs.
– OU President Joseph Harroz, Jr.
To explore available naming opportunities and discuss how your gift can make a lasting impact, please contact:
Spencer Taylor
Director of Development
College of Atmospheric and Geographic Science
405-202-4992
