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1 - College of Allied Health History

Updated: 7/12/2024

A School of Health- Related Professions, approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education in 1967 and activated in 1970, was initiated to integrate, correlate, and coordinate the several allied health programs already existing in the then Medical Center, and those that might develop in the future. In 1971, the University of Oklahoma Medical Center became the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), and all schools on the Health Sciences Center campus were designated as colleges. The School of Health-Related Professions became the College of Allied Health Professions.

Initiation of the School of Dentistry, the School of Health, and the School of Health-Related Professions was a forward step in advancing the concept recommended by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education that the Medical Center milieu be expanded and developed into a comprehensive educational center for the health sciences.

The College of Health and Allied Health Professions was created in July 1973 by combining the College of Public Health and the College of Allied Health Professions into a single college. In July 1974, the title of the combined college was shortened to the College of Health, but the functional organization of Allied Health Professions and Public Health was maintained as separate schools headed by directors within the College. On July 1, 1981, the College of Health was separated into its previously existing units: the College of Allied Health and the College of Public Health.

In 1998, the College of Allied Health extended its occupational therapy and physical therapy programs to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center-Tulsa Campus. In 2000 the Tulsa students moved to the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Campus. In 2006, the College extended its sonography program to the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Campus, and in 2007 extended its radiography program to OU-Tulsa; however, the radiography program on the OU-Tulsa campus was suspended in 2016. In 2009, a new College of Allied Health building was completed at 1200 N. Stonewall Avenue in the heart of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center campus, and the College of Allied Health relocated to its dedicated College building.

The College of Allied Health is the first of the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center colleges to offer undergraduate and graduate web-based degree programs.

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