‘We’re Excited:' New $80 Million Partnership Between OU And USPS Brings Opportunities To Norman

Communities rely on people to deliver mail every day. Training for those employees in Norman is under the direction of the University of Oklahoma.  

This comes after the United States Postal Service awarded a new contract to the university to run the facility. This contract began at the beginning of the month. 

OU has hired more than 100 new people to help train USPS employees. The partnership brings job opportunities and efforts to improve safety. 

People will find Belinda Biscoe hard at work inside the walls of OU’s outreach building on Norman’s Asp Avenue. This is where OU extends beyond the classroom and into the places people call home. 

"We really are that arm of the university that connects the university with just about anything going on in the real world,” said Biscoe, senior associate vice president for University Outreach and the College of Continuing Education at OU. 

“[We serve] communities around Oklahoma, communities throughout the nation and the world,” Biscoe said.

Imagination comes with the territory in Biscoe’s role. “I tend to push a lot of creativity and innovation in our college,” she said. 

OU is taking a familiar but fresh direction. The US Postal Service has renewed a relationship with OU -- an $80 million contract over eight years to run the USPS National Center for Employment Development a few miles from campus. 

“We are already boots on the ground,” Biscoe said. “We’re excited about it.”  

The goal is to train USPS employees to create safer work environments and faster services. “Hopefully fewer accidents,” Biscoe said.  

Biscoe said the contract will deliver economic benefits to Oklahoma. 

“Which we all want to see grow and thrive,” she said. 

Biscoe said the relationship will strengthen communication since they work in the same community. 

“We see this a mighty, valuable partnership,” Biscoe said. 

Biscoe said it took multiple leaders within the university to secure this contract. OU also said it worked to ensure a smooth transition for the facility's current employees.