Published: July 31, 2008 02:01 pm         

OSU garners $1 million more

Oklahoma State University announced $1 million in donations Tuesday to fund four endowed professorships in the College of Education.

Once fully matched dollar-for-dollar by T. Boone Pickens’ $100 million chair match commitment, as well as the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the gifts will provide $4 million of impact in endowed funds.

Contributing donors include Ann L. Phillips, Lena P. Schenk, Myron C. Ledbetter, Robert D. Lemon, Steve Farris, Bill and Karen Anderson, Jim and Ann Halligan, Randall and Carol White, Bryan Close, Judy Cox Graham, John Clerico, Cathey Jameson, Dr. L.M. and Peggy Sullivan, John and Pam McDougal and the M.B. Seretean Foundation.

A $250,000 gift from sisters Phillips and Schenk establishes an endowed professorship in elementary education to honor their mother, Alice, a Kansas school teacher. The professorship will support preparation for future and current elementary educators, provide technical assistance and consultant support to classroom teachers on effective instruction and engage in research that supports local curriculum and service decisions.

A $250,000 combined gift from Belle Terre, N.Y., resident Ledbetter and Oklahoma City resident Lemon will endow a professorship in counseling psychology and diversity.

A $250,000 endowed professorship in college student development was secured through 15 donors to help prepare graduates to work with college students in many ways. Donors to the fund are Farris of Katy, Texas; the Andersons of Holdenville; the Halligans of Stillwater; the Whites of Tulsa; Close of Tulsa; Graham of Houston; Clerico of Tulsa; Jameson of Davis; the Sullivans of Edmond; and the McDougals of Edmond.

The Soddy Daisy, Tenn.-based M.B. Seretean Foundation gave $250,000 to establish a health and human performance professorship within the college. The foundation is named after the late M.B. “Bud” Seretean, a philanthropist, wellness advocate and 1949 marketing alumnus.

The university also announced three donations totaling $1 million to the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. They are worth $4 million after matches by Pickens and the state.

Contributing donors are the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the McCasland Foundation, the Patricia Henthorne Estate and the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation.

A $500,000 gift from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund will create a small animal internal medicine chair. The Joan Kirkpatrick Chair in Small Animal Internal Medicine Veterinary Medicine will engage with faculty in other veterinary departments to augment research and teaching in one of several sub-disciplines of internal medicine including infectious diseases.

A $250,000 gift from the McCasland Foundation will create a clinical professorship in bio-medical laser surgery. The Duncan-based foundation made the gift to encourage excellence in teaching and scholarship for the veterinary-based professorship.

A $250,000 combined gift from the late Henthorne and Tulsa-based Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation will endow a clinical professorship in small animal medicine.

The gift was initially received as a realized estate gift of $200,000 by a trust established by Henthorne. Trustees of the estate approved elevating the gift to a professorship for a quadruple match and greater impact, but wanted to assure it had small animal focus.

The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation stepped forward to contribute $50,000 to fully endow the professorship.

All donations were made prior to the July 1 deadline, when the state limited its endowment-matching program. Now there is a $5 million statewide annual cap.

     

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