Southeastern Oklahoma State University showed off a new home for its aerospace program on Friday afternoon, a building at Durant Regional Airport with classrooms that sit right along the runway.
The building also holds one-on-one briefing rooms for pilots and several flight simulators, KXII reported from the unveiling. It was on the schedule as an open house for the university's Aerospace Sciences Institute during Southeastern's homecoming week.
Janeva Maxson, who directs the institute, said the program has about 160 professional pilot students, plus about 200 students in aviation management split between Durant and the university's site at Tinker Air Force Base.
The pilot program keeps its numbers small on purpose, she said. "We only allow 160 students. We had 26 come in our freshman class," Maxson told the station, adding that the size lets instructors give students more individual attention.
A program with deep roots
Southeastern started a four-year degree for pilots in 1966, making it only the second school in the country to offer one, according to KXII.
"Sixty-one years later, here we are building on that history," Maxson said.
She said graduates are landing jobs in the area and described the program as a supply line of workers for Oklahoma's aviation industry.
