Social Activities and Recreation

Several departmental events during the year help to bring students, faculty and staff together. These events include a departmental picnic near the beginning of the academic year to welcome new graduate students, a chili cook-off during the year and in the summer a departmental softball game against the OSU department of chemistry. The Graduate Student Organization, PLU, also organizes several other informal activities during the year. The undergraduate chemistry organization also meets monthly.

The greater Oklahoma City metropolitan area with its 750,000 inhabitants is centered about twenty minutes north of Norman and offers a number of outlets for social and outdoor recreation. Lake Thunderbird on the eastern edge of Norman offers boating opportunities as well as hiking and mountain biking trails. To the west lies the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, home to native and migratory species including herd of elk and bison. Also, the city of Dallas, Texas is only a three hour drive south. Or, if you prefer to travel by train, you can visit the Dallas-Ft. Worth area via Amtrak's Heartland Flyer.