OSU announces five new faculty positions to benefit agricultural college
Friday, August 1, 2008
Forward-thinking visionaries provide funding for chairs, professorships
View Full List of Endowed Faculty Chair Announcements
Contributing donors include the Lew Meibergen Family, Jack and Joyce Stuteville, First
Capital Bank, Charles and Linda Shackelford, the 4-H Foundation and an anonymous equine
donor.
“We sincerely appreciate what the Meibergens, the Stutevilles, First Capital Bank,
the Shackelfords, the 4-H Foundation and our anonymous donor are doing for OSU. These
important gifts will make a lasting difference and help open a new and exciting chapter
at OSU,” said OSU President Burns Hargis.
A $250,000 gift from the Lew Meibergen Family will establish a plant and soil sciences
professorship. The chairman of Johnston Enterprises Inc, Lew received an animal science
degree from OSU in 1953. Founded in 1893, Johnston Enterprises Inc. has served as
Oklahoma’s largest and oldest independent grain and seed dealer and has been passed
down through four generations of the Johnston family.
“It’s so important to keep up with what’s available and developed in terms of new
varieties and strains that are both drought and insect resistant,” said Lew. “I hope
that OSU will come out with varieties and crops that benefit our producers, and ultimately,
we hope that OSU will receive royalties from these findings that they’ll be able to
put back into additional research.”
A $250,000 gift from Kingfisher residents Jack and Joyce Stuteville and First Capital
Bank will establish an agriculture education professorship in honor of Jack’s high
school agriculture teacher, Rodger Howell. The Rodger Howell Memorial Professorship
in Agricultural Education will focus on preparing an educated workforce to meet industry
needs.
The CEO of First Capital Bank of Guthrie and Kingfisher and current Kingfisher Mayor,
Jack received an agriculture education degree from OSU in 1969. He currently serves
on the board of trustees of the OSU Foundation, and is also involved in a cattle and
farming operation in Kingfisher and Okeene-Hitchcock area. Additionally, Jack is
a former agricultural teacher at Waukomis and Lomega. Joyce also received an OSU
degree in elementary education in 1969.
“[Howell] was such a special individual who knew how to capture your attention and
he really encouraged my interest in agriculture,” said Jack. “I think teachers, specifically
ag teachers in Oklahoma, make a big difference. It’s not a glamorous profession and
these teachers don’t often get the recognition they deserve. We simply hope our gift
honors these educators and helps the industry continue producing quality ag teachers
for our state.”
A $250,000 gift from Charles and Linda Shackelford will create a horticulture and
landscape architecture professorship. The Jones, Okla. residents are owners of TLC
Nursery & Greenhouses, Inc. The gift will particularly focus on floriculture and greenhouse
management.
Linda said, “The OSU Horticulture program and its great people have been very good
to us at TLC Nursery as have the wonderful people of Oklahoma City and around our
state that shop at TLC. This was our chance to say thank you to the Oklahoma gardeners
and plant lovers who shop with us and to support the Horticulture program that helped
train us and many of our TLC team members and assist us to this day with valuable
research, information and training.”
Charles said, “We hope this gift will encourage more young people to explore the field
of floriculture and help teach them to serve future generations of Oklahomans as they
explore the wonder of plants and grow to appreciate the joy of gardening.”
To say thanks for the gift, Hargis surprised the Shacklefords by entering the set
during the taping of the TLC sponsored “Let’s Talk Gardening” show. The episode will
air Aug. 9.
The 4-H Foundation of Oklahoma made a $250,000 donation to support an extension 4-H
specialist. Currently OSU has a statewide presence in all 77 counties where an OSU
extension officer resides in nearly every county.
An anonymous donation of $250,000 will create an equine science professorship within
OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The donor credited the
donation to a sincere belief that relationships with horses are a very good experience
for anyone, and especially want to extend the opportunity to young people. The gift
was also given based upon a belief in education, and how interacting with horses can
build character and responsibility.
“We’re extremely excited about what this can do for the youth and students with interest
in horses,” said Dave Freeman and Steve Cooper, OSU equine professors. “We have a
tremendous horse industry in the state of Oklahoma and an ever growing need for education
both through Cooperative Extension and resident instruction at OSU. We are overwhelmed
with the generosity of the donor, who is a true friend of youth, horses and OSU, especially
evidenced by wishes to remain anonymous so not to bring any attention to the donor
personally.”
In order to take full advantage of the state’s dollar-for-dollar match, and make the
most significant impact on OSU academics, each donor made their gift prior to the
July 1 change in the state’s endowed chair matching program. These gifts are part
of the $66.8 million in endowed faculty gifts OSU announced earlier.
Endowed professorships and chairs are academic designations which provide support
for faculty salary, graduate assistantships, equipment and research needs, as well
as other support. These endowed faculty positions allow a university to attract and
retain the best and the brightest academic minds in the world.