Twenty years ago, Kim Cooper-Hart walked away from California’s high-speed tech world and toward something slower, more deliberate. She traded start-up deadlines and software update meetings in Silicon Valley for neighborhoods and green spaces in the heartland of Oklahoma. The payoff was a satisfying sense that her efforts helped people feel more connected to where they live.

Today, the principal planner of Oklahoma City municipal government is shaping a different kind of project: a $250,000 estate commitment to the University of Oklahoma Foundation supporting students in the Gibbs College of Architecture's Regional and City Planning program. The gift is a natural extension of the philosophy and work ethos she discovered at OU.

“Good planning means making sure good things keep happening, even after you’re not around to see them,” she says. 

A native of San Francisco, Cooper-Hart built her career in management and technology through the 1990s. Then came the Y2K tech scare, which shook up digital and human resources in the industry, leaving her with questions about her future. 

“I had to decide whether I wanted to sit behind a desk all day or find something that mattered more,” she says. Online personality tests suggested several alternatives, ultimately leading her to one field: “Urban planning sounded interesting because I’ve always liked to think in four dimensions. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ll never be bored again.’ ”

In her 40s, Cooper-Hart visited Oklahoma to research OU’s Master of Regional and City Planning program—now part of the Division of Planning, Landscape, Architecture and Design, or PLAD, and found the atmosphere unexpectedly welcoming and warm.

“From the people who handled registration to the professors at the top, everyone wanted me to stay and succeed,” she says. 

Cooper-Hart’s master’s degree work, completed in 2004, led to an internship with the City of Oklahoma City, funded through a federal Brownfield grant. She was soon disabused of what she believed planning was all about, up close and personal.

“It was ‘trial by fire,’ ” she says. “You learn about redevelopment issues in class, but you don’t really understand them until you’re standing in a neighborhood that’s been left behind by urban renewal, hearing people’s stories firsthand, people who don’t trust that you have their best interests at heart.”

A planning job at City Hall led to two decades of public service, from championing neighborhood commercial districts to redeveloping park projects. She’s pleased to see other PLAD graduates joining her in the professional world 

John Harris, professor and director of PLAD, says Cooper-Hart has been a mentor to the program, as well as to its students.

“She’s been a guide to keep us on track, to make sure we’re training our students in the cutting-edge practices of the industry,” Harris says. “Not only does OU owe her a debt of gratitude, but so do Oklahoma City and the state of Oklahoma, wherever our graduates go.” 

Hans Butzer, dean of the Gibbs College of Architecture, says Cooper-Hart is PLAD’s metaphorical taproot, anchoring the program for decades. The Regional and City Planning program has never been healthier, he says, “which says a lot about Kim’s dedication to her alma mater and career in general.”

A cancer diagnosis a few years ago brought her planner’s mindset into sharper focus. Cooper-Hart felt she had been blessed with a challenging, fulfilling life and could afford to give something back to help generations that follow—OU is, after all, a community, and that’s what planners do. She learned she can direct her retirement distributions to the university without tax penalties.

“I realized I could start giving now instead of waiting. Imagine if 10 or 20 of us did that. It could be huge for Gibbs College,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be one big gift at the end.”

For Cooper-Hart, the ritual of planning never stops; it just expands the horizon. 

“A lot of people go through life and don’t seem to have a plan at all,” she says. “But at a community level, we need to seek each other’s voices about growth and development and create shared understanding about what gets built and why. That’s really what this is about.” 

Brian Brus is a proposal specialist for the OU Foundation.

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