In those days, I think a library was very important because a lot of what we had then wasn’t on the internet. There was no internet, basically. And as a result, hard copy books and reference material was there for use by the docents or by use by staff, curators… Read More
Skins, bones, skulls and all that. And that worked out very well. So, the question about the library, in today’s world with as much material as available on the internet, probably the need for a library may not be as great as it once was because I think you have… Read More
How important do you feel a library is to a zoological park?… Read More
At least the Education Department was beginning to be a player with the other zoo community, the other zoo related institutions. Where before that, there hadn’t been any exchange between the Oklahoma City Zoo educators and the rest of the world. So, then the Oklahoma City Zoo started participating in… Read More
What plans did you develop to try and make that mission statement happen?… Read More
Well, let’s say in terms of education, we built a new education center in time and with the library and with classrooms and the lecture hall. And so, we put together a location for this to take place. We also put in a staff of naturalists to teach these classes… Read More
Now, as I understand the mission of the Oklahoma City Zoo, was it called Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden or was it just?… Read More
At first, it was Oklahoma City Zoological Park. It was called the Oklahoma City Zoo. We put the word, “Park,” on it to give it a little more formality. Then in the mid 90’s, we went for botanical garden accreditation through AAM, the American Association of Museums. That process took… Read More
In the beginning it was, it was difficult to get things done simply because people hadn’t been given permission to succeed. They had been told to do something and if it didn’t work out quite right, then they were chastised for it. So, their enthusiasm was almost nonexistent. Their willingness… Read More
But that was throughout the organization. So, there was a you talk about culture change that really had to happen there badly. And over time, what had really amounted to the personalities had to change. I had to I guess, I had to eliminate some of those people from the… Read More
Was it difficult to get things done?… Read More
At the time the Education Department was very small, largely docents. And one of the problems at that institution, which had probably just been a result of prior administration and the cultures created within that is that none of these departments talked. The Education Department didn’t talk to Animal Department. Read More
What was your vision for education in the zoo and how did you see it starting to develop?… Read More
Potential. The potential in that institution was just phenomenal. Had the property. I forget, 112 acres. The property was there. The opportunity for building new exhibits was there. Just cleaning it up and making it presentable, that potential was there. There were a lot of things that had happened in… Read More
It just didn’t fit in with the modern zoo. You mentioned education. Read More
What’d you see the strengths of the institution and the weaknesses instantaneously as you were there?… Read More
When you decided or were thinking seriously about this position, did you seek advice or guidance from any of your peers?… Read More
They sent me probably two years of budgets from that zoo, financials from the zoo. Dick Schultz had retired by then. I went over to his house and gave him these materials. I said, “I need some help because there’s things I’m not understanding here. This doesn’t doesn’t look right… Read More
And if that involved new technology by gosh, we were gonna do it. If that involved doing some things that have been done in the past, recreating, then that’s what we did. And we put together plans. I’m very methodical in the way I do things, whether it’s at business… Read More
I’m not a shoot from the hip person. So, we really worked hard at focusing and making the positive changes and letting the pieces fall where they may. Read More