With anticipation on the verge of bubbling over like a shaken fizzy drink, Kenadee Starr walked into her fifth-floor room at the University of Oklahoma’s McCasland Hall and came to a sudden halt among stacks of boxes and bags waiting to be unpacked. She stared out the window across the expanse of OU’s south oval, Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium rising in the distance.

“I want to take a minute,” says the freshman, who—with the opening of a door—became the first student ever to occupy her new room. “Look at my view, it’s perfect.”

At five stories tall and only 560 beds, McCasland Hall stands high enough to offer a campus vista that stops residents in their tracks but is small enough to feel like home. OU’s newest residence hall was expressly designed with community in mind.

“Our goal was to answer the question, ‘How do you take large numbers coming to a large university and create a big-yet-small environment?’ ” says ShaRhonda Maclin, the assistant vice president for OU Student Affairs and associate dean of students who oversees OU Housing and Residence Life.

At McCasland Hall, that answer begins on the ground floor. Starr and her family were welcomed by resident advisers at a reception desk flanked by a wood-paneled grand staircase, its landing lit in the glow of an Instagram-worthy OU electric sign where new residents and their proud parents posed for move-in day photos. 

 Students explored a recreation room, small study nooks and a two-sided fireplace decorated in custom wallpaper highlighting OU’s history and facing couches that invited them to relax. Outside, a verandah encouraged residents to take a breath of fresh air.

“McCasland is intended to feel like home,” Maclin says, adding that the building’s smaller footprint makes it easier for freshmen like Starr to meet and make friendships. “Having spaces this size allows students to really build connection. You get to know familiar faces.”

OU students—including non-residents—also can build community in McCasland’s first-floor coffeehouse, The Grind, which offers smoothies and grab-and-go foods. Other shared areas include a multipurpose meeting space and a music rehearsal room. Just yards away is a 700-person storm shelter, which doubles as an event space for large programs. 

Upstairs, among the sounds of tearing plastic and cardboard, Starr joined first-year students busily unpacking as they settled into brand-new, suite-style rooms for two or four with a shared bath or single-occupancy rooms with a shared bath. Starr’s own moving crew was headed by her mother, Alesha, and older sister and recent OU alumna, Savanna, who had surprised her by flying in from Orlando, Fla.

As the family dug in, Starr exclaimed over the bathroom’s generous size, as well as storage areas she discovered tucked away throughout her double room. “Look at all this space,” she says excitedly. “I don’t think I expected how nice it would be. It’s beautiful.”

Maclin says comfort, flexibility and future growth were considered in every detail of McCasland’s design. “If our resident numbers should rise from year to year,” she adds, “each single-occupancy room could accommodate another bed to meet that need.”

McCasland Hall is the first installation of OU’s First-Year Housing Master Plan, which will produce five new residence halls by fall 2032. Next door to McCasland, an as-yet-unnamed “south building” is under construction and will open in fall 2026.

The final three residence halls will each house between 350 and 500 first-year students and will be designed with their own unique décor and personality. 

At McCasland, floors feature three separate wings, individually home to 40 residents and one resident adviser—meaning that students are never far from a listening ear. Resident advisers live in private rooms with their own offices and share a large workroom where they can create materials and student programming.

“We work really hard to ensure that all students have a meaningful and impactful living experience and find community in their space,” says Mason Barker, director of OU Residence Life. Barker supervises the team heading up residents' transformative experiences, including programs and curriculum. “We’re excited to have the space to do the work we love.”

Barker says RAs and a panel of OU students weighed in heavily on all details of OU’s residence hall master plan, including suggestions that rooms incorporate more natural light, larger closets, wider windowsills and vanities outside of bathrooms.

McCasland’s floors also feature small and large lounges for gathering, as well as a study room and alcoves woven throughout. 

“Every hallway has an area where a resident could walk right outside their door and connect with people or study,” Barker says.

He points out the undisputed star of all McCasland residential floors: a community lounge nestled between a large bay window and a stylish, modern kitchenette.

As she wanders into her own floor’s kitchen, Starr is amazed to discover she has access to an oven and icemaker, with room to plug in small appliances, as well as a nearby laundry room. “This is so nice,” she enthuses. “I love it.”

As a Norman native, Starr had the choice to continue living at home and admits the decision to move on campus “was kind of nerve-wracking at first.” 

“I’m the biggest homebody,” she says. “But I think living here will be good for me and help me grow in a lot of aspects. I want to meet people, I want community and the dorm experience that everyone talks about.”

Barker believes Starr will find what she’s looking for at McCasland Hall.

“The design is thoughtful, it’s student-centered and it’s meant to feel like home,” he says. “I’m so excited to welcome this new class of students and watch them truly make it their own.”

For now, as Starr unpacks boxes and deploys a decoration plan that she and her roommate had been plotting for months, she is thrilled to be part of a new chapter in OU’s history.

“I’m so happy that I get to be one of the first people to live in McCasland,” she says, looking around at her new home. “It’s very special.” 

Anne Barajas Harp is editor of  Sooner Magazine.

Building Belonging

McCasland Hall is the first step in OU’s Housing Master Plan—and supporters can help.

For generations of Sooners, residence halls have been more than just a home away from home—they’ve also been the heart of the student experience.

As the University of Oklahoma continues to grow at a historic pace, a rapid rise in enrollment has outpaced aging infrastructure and challenged the capacity of existing housing. In response, OU launched the First-Year Housing Master Plan, a bold vision to reimagine student living for a new generation.

Phase 1 of the plan includes two new five-story residence halls—McCasland Hall and the currently unnamed South Hall, opening in fall 2026. Together, these buildings will add nearly 1,150 beds and provide a modern residential experience designed for connection, support and student success.

McCasland Hall, named in recognition of a generous gift from the McCasland Foundation, will empower first-year students to build community and grow with confidence. The new halls will blend spaces for quiet study and group collaboration with indoor and outdoor gathering areas for social interaction. 

“Today's students rely heavily on a sense of community,” says McCasland Hall Residence Life Coordinator LeeAnn Wilson. "We've made the building a space for connection and engagement, which is a very powerful combination."

To support OU’s First-Year Housing Master Plan, please visit this link.

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