OSU Agriculture names Champions for 2023

Monday, June 26, 2023

Media Contact: Mandy Gross | Senior Manager of Strategic and VP Communications | 405-744-4063 | mandy.gross@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University will honor individuals who have demonstrated a continuing commitment to agricultural sciences and natural resources.

Win and Kay Ingersoll and Jon Newell are recipients of the 2023 Champion for OSU Agriculture Award. The honorees will be recognized during the OSU Agriculture Honors ceremony on Oct. 20.

“These individuals embody the ideals and mission of OSU Agriculture and support our rich tradition and history of improving the quality of life for Oklahomans through science-based research,” said Thomas G. Coon, vice president and dean of OSU Agriculture. “Each of the honorees makes us proud, and we look forward to recognizing them and celebrating their achievements.”

Established in 2011, the Champion for OSU Agriculture Award recognizes individuals who are not graduates of the university’s Ferguson College of Agriculture but who have brought distinction to the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

The division is comprised of the Ferguson College of Agriculture and two state agencies: OSU Extension and OSU Ag Research.

Learn more about each honoree below or visit OSU Agriculture Honors online.

Win and Kay Ingersoll, Inola

Ranching has been part of the Ingersoll family since 1915 when the late Win Ingersoll’s great-grandfather, Robert McFarlin, started the McFarlin Ranch. The ranch was one of the first and largest Oklahoma ranches in the 1900s and continues to thrive today under the guidance of Win Ingersoll’s widow, Kay, and the couple’s family.

Both Win and Kay Ingersoll attended OSU in the early 1960s, where they reconnected before marrying in 1965. After their wedding, the couple took over the ranch as the fourth generation to manage operations. That family tradition has carried on to their daughters, Joleta Ingersoll and Wendy Keener, and Kay Ingersoll hopes it continues to her four grandchildren.

Agriculture and OSU had major impacts on the Ingersoll family as both daughters also graduated from the university. The Ingersolls joined the New Frontiers campaign, which continues to raise funds for the new teaching, research and Extension facility for OSU Agriculture. They also created an endowment to fund scholarships in the OSUDepartment of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and make their ranch available for wildlife research.

Before Win Ingersoll’s passing in 2020, the couple decided to become Cornerstone Donors together, and now the Academic Suite on the first floor of the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall will pay homage to Kay Ingersoll’s beloved husband.

Jon Newell, St. Louis, Missouri

Newell knew after his first science class in grade school that he wanted to be a scientist. He received both his bachelor’s degree and doctoral degree in chemistry from OSU in 1963 and 1967, respectively. His emphasis was in biochemistry, which was based in the ag college, but his degrees were granted by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Newell spent 30 years working as a senior research manager and scientist at Anheuser-Busch Inc. He also received a business degree in 1990 and currently owns a commercial real estate rental business in Hemet, California.

One of Newell’s most satisfying projects during his career was developing a method to make autolyzed yeast extract, a popular food ingredient used primarily as a flavor enhancer in processed foods such as broths, bouillons, soups, meats, sauces, dressings, ready-to-eat meals and snack foods.

Other successful projects included qualifying genetically modified canola oil to fry potatoes, implementing an instrumental method to measure frying oil stability and commercializing honey roast peanut butter.

Newell credits OSU for his success in attending a college he could afford and meeting friends with whom he still maintains contact today. He is honored to be recognized for the endowments he created in the OSU Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and is motivated to continue funding scholarships in the future.