Breathtaking Beauty

The Most Visible

and immediate impression of campus for prospective students

Campus tours are a vital asset to recruitment. Within 10-15 minutes, a prospective student often makes a decision on whether they would like to attend OSU, rating “exterior aesthetic appeal” as a top three category in decision making. Landscape Services directly supports this effort by leading the Midwest as one of the most beautiful and unique campuses.

An Urban Forest

OSU has earned the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus Higher Education Award every year since 2011 for its commitment to campus forest management and including staff and students in conservation goals. In September 2022, OSU was officially named a Level II Arboretum through the ArbNet organization.

4,000 trees

thriving on campus, which includes 131 different species

A University "Front Door"

Welcoming All

A university is more than a collection of classroom buildings. It welcomes:

Prospective and current students
Families
Alumni and visitors
Faculty and staff

Facilities Management leaders join a campus tour from time to time and take in the university with the eyes of prospective students seeing it for the first time.

Upgrades

To help the university create “front door” appeal, Facilities Management has upgraded the Student Union Parking Garage and Welcome Plaza outside the Student Union. Improvements included:

Adding wayfinding signage
Upgrading trash receptacles
Painting bollards and lettering
Adding crosswalks along Hester Street
Improving the look of the entrance to the parking garage
Painting light poles
Repairing concrete at the street and crosswalk of the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.

Standing Out

Landscape Services designs concepts for university entrances that have high visual impact. From the Welcome Plaza to other entrances across campus, you’ll know when you arrive at OSU.

One great example, created to welcome home one of the most famous Cowboys, Landscape Services delivered Garth Brooks’ topiary hat to The McKnight Center for the Performing Arts in time for two performances in April 2023.