Energy Center History Tells Boom, Bust, Recovert Saga

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The $3.3 million gift from the Sarkeys Foundation for completion of the Energy Center at the University of Oklahoma is only the newest chapter in a nine-year saga of boom, bust and recovery.

In chronological order, here are some of the milestones along the way to funding, building and operating not just a $50 million stack of bricks and mortar, but a teaching and research center bent on becoming the best in the world:

- September, 1981 - "The world's preeminent Energy Center," in the words of University of Oklahoma President William Banowsky, is envisioned for OU's Norman campus.

OU regents, at the height of Oklahoma's oil and gas boom, give their …