The Oklahoma Blood Institute is hosting a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow, June 21, in the College Union.

Students and faculty alike are participating in a life-saving cause by donating to the OBI.

Pre-nursing major Jackie Adams participated in the drive on its first day, June 20.

“I work at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital as a nursing tech with people in need of blood,” Adams said. “It’s a privilege to give to others.”

OCCC student and political science major Kenneth Meador is the only Democratic candidate running for a state senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Reynolds, who will resign July 1 to become Cleveland County treasurer.

Reynolds is a Republican who represents District 43, which includes southern Oklahoma County and northern Cleveland County. This special election will be for a one-year term.

Meador, 30, will face the Republican candidate who wins the primary election on Aug. 9. The general election will be Oct 11.

The student Employment and Career Services Center will provide workshops throughout the summer to help students get a good start on their college and professional lives. The workshops are from

The Oklahoma City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Festival will be held from June 24 through 26 at NW 39th and Pennsylvania Ave., said Joshua Sauer, OCCC alumni and OKCPride volunteer.

“This is going to be the biggest parade in the history of OKCPride,” Sauer said.

“More sponsors, more partnerships, and more man hours went into this parade than any previous one.”

Sauer said the festival and parade are an important part of the Oklahoma City’s LGBT community.

Starting this fall, the library will offer professors who use ANGEL to teach the ability to stream major motion pictures and television shows to their students online.

ANGEL, which is located online at angel.occc.edu, is the virtual hub through which professors teach online courses.

Now, Swank Digital Campus is providing students in these classes the flexibility to view required course films and TV shows outside of the classroom legally.

As of July 1 of this year, all new full-time employees will be paid on a biweekly basis, said Larry Robertson, Compensation and Human Resources director.

In addition, all current full-time employees and faculty also will have the opportunity to make the change to the new payroll system, he said.

The change has been in the works for some time, Robertson said.

Construction on the new John Massey Center has been under way since earlier this year, said J.B. Messer, Facilities Management director.

The building will sit right next to the former Child Development Center and Lab School on the southeast corner of campus. The CDCLS moved to a larger building off campus last June, leaving that building empty.

Construction on the new center started earlier this year.

It’s back to school, again. Some students enroll for summer classes to get ahead; some do it because there is no better way to spend their summer.

History major Mary Cornelsen is taking six credit hours this summer.

“I didn’t have anything to do this summer but work so I decided to take some classes to get them out of the way and hopefully graduate sooner,” Cornelsen said.

The Communications Lab will conduct two information sessions about their ECHO online tutoring system June 13 in CU2.

ECHO is an acronym for Electronic Communications Help Online.

The tutoring sessions will last about 30 minutes and will run from 10 to 10:30 a.m. and again from 1:30 to 2 p.m., said Rachel Olsen, Communications Lab supervisor.

The mandatory pre-bid conference for the new Visual and Performing Arts Center theater facility was conducted June 1.

The conference included a walkthrough of the current facilities, led by facilities management director J.B. Messer and project architect Walt Joyce, of Triad Design Company.

“We have a mandatory pre-bid because general contractors will have bids from a lot of different sub-contractors, and the prime subcontractors are the mechanical and electrical,” Messer said “It basically puts everyone at an even playing field for the project.”