In the late 1990s, Dr. Randall Kolar had the bold idea of using an integrated approach to unify the civil engineering curriculum.
Kolar, a professor at the University of Oklahoma’s School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, proposed tying core courses together through a common design project: Sooner City.
The professor, who is the 2026 recipient of the Medal for Excellence in Research University Teaching, imagined a curriculum in which freshman civil engineering students would be provided a virtual piece of land and given the ongoing task of designing the infrastructure of this Sooner City, such as its water supply and transportation systems. In subsequent CEES classes, professors would incorporate subcomponents of Sooner City’s infrastructure into class projects. This would give students early exposure to civil engineering design problems and link courses by building on previous work. As they progressed through the program, they progressed on infrastructure design of their Sooner City.
“This was such a revolutionary idea at the time and provided a rich learning experience to OU students that was not available at any other civil engineering program,” said Dr. Kanthasamy Muraleetharan, a colleague of Kolar.
Kolar became director of the CEES in 2013 but continues to teach classes. He focuses on using real-world design projects and providing context for his students, as with the Sooner City framework.
“Design problems are such effective tools to teach critical thinking because students must wrangle with problems that don’t have one ‘best’ solution or for which they may have incomplete information,” Kolar said.
Kolar believes strongly in active learning.
“It is rare to find him lecturing at the chalkboard to a silent, note-taking class,” said Dr. Joel Casey Dietrich, a former student who is now a professor at North Carolina State University. “Instead, he prefers students to learn by doing. He uses an active classroom, where students engage the material by working in teams or by asking questions of him.”
Kolar, who grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho, holds bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and mathematics from the University of Idaho and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Before arriving at OU, he was an assistant professor at the University of New Haven. He has received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, along with a host of honors from OU, including the David Ross Boyd Professorship, the Lloyd and Joyce Austin Presidential Professorship and the OU Alumni Teaching Award.
