First OU Polytechnic Institute program in Cybersecurity Approved by State Regents

It’s full steam ahead for the OU Polytechnic Institute in Tulsa with today’s approval by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. At the OSRHE monthly meeting, the regents approved the first program for OUPI, a bachelors completion program in cybersecurity. This program is the first of many planned programs to best meet the technology workforce needs in northeastern Oklahoma.

“This stamp of approval by the state regents is the last real hurdle we had to clear to move forward with honest-to-goodness recruitment for this exciting new program and the Polytechnic in general,” said Dr. Teri Reed, director of the OUPI. “Very soon we will be meeting and beginning to work with our very first students, the trailblazers for what promises to be a thrilling opening year.”

Recruitment will begin in earnest now for this inaugural program with an expected start date of fall 2024. Watch for more programs, both undergraduate and graduate, coming from the OUPI in the near future as well. The University will work closely with the Tulsa Higher Education Consortium and other higher education institutions to address critical STEM skill gaps with these programs in an effort to meet the hiring needs in the state.

The OU Polytechnic Institute is a new school in Tulsa providing bachelor’s completion and graduate degree programs that will initially focus on cybersecurity, data science, software development, medical informatics and advanced mobility/manufacturing. Partners for the OUPI include Tulsa Innovation Labs, OU’s Office of Innovation and Corporate Partnerships, the OU Ronnie K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth, Tom Love Innovation Hub, and others, along with philanthropic partners such as the George Kaiser Family Foundation and Google.

Anyone interested should read more on the OUPI website and fill out the Request More Information form. Link: https://www.ou.edu/tulsa/polytechnic