There is an OU campus where there is no walking outside to get to class and newly renovated classrooms.  OU-Macomb aims to offer the complete Oakland experience without a lot of the hassle.

OU-Macomb, located in Clinton Township, offers more classes than their competition at the Macomb University Center, according to Cheryl Rhodey, the academic coordinator for student success/advising.

“We are the largest partner out here,” Rhodey said.

The campus boasts that they offer 11 undergraduate, nine graduate and seven certificate and endorsement programs at their campus.

Each semester, they offer 80-90 courses, almost twice as many as their biggest competitor, Wayne State University.

According to Rhodey, students never look at the fact that OU-Macomb offers that many classes.

“This is still Oakland University,” Christine Firestein, a junior communications major said.

Anne Jackson, program coordinator of integrative studies said that students are able to take a huge majority of their courses at OU-Macomb in order to complete their degree.

“If they want to take them (courses) all here … they might need to take some general eds on main campus,” Jackson said.

Some students like Amanda Wodtke, a junior communications major, are taking advantage of the location of the Macomb county campus.

“It’s closer to my house; it’s easier to get to.  Parking is better too,” Wodtke said.

Wodtke, who also takes courses at the main OU campus, enjoys the proximity of Macomb-OU, although she wishes they would offer even more courses.

“They should probably get more than communications classes, like English.  Then I could just take all my classes here,” Wodtke said.

OU-Macomb is currently working on expanding their presence in Macomb County.  In Sept. 2010, the university was gifted an office building in downtown Mount Clemens for academic expansion.

According to Dr. Albert L. Lorenzo, executive in residence, OU received a grant for $1.6 million to renovate offices in the building into classrooms.

The building will be named Oakland University Anton/Frankel Center and will be completed in the summer of 2011.

Other renovations took place at OU-Macomb campus, creating new technology-friendly classrooms.

“Our engineering labs are more up to date than main campus,” Rhodey said.

OU-Macomb campus mainly exists for two prominent reasons, according to Lorenzo — to overcome financial and time barriers.

The campus seeks to meet their student’s needs, from extended office hours to their more personal approach.

“We all work very hard to make sure students are very taken care of,” Rhodey said.

Although the campus is small, the staff is taking big steps to provide the university experience at a smaller scale.

“The goal is to provide the complete Oakland experience,” Lorenzo said.

To learn more about the OU-Macomb campus, how to apply and what the campus has to offer, visit

www.oakland.edu/macomb