OSU announces gifts to fund five new endowed faculty positions in engineering
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Three positions funded by pooled donations from hundreds of donors
View Full List of Endowed Faculty Chair Announcements 
Contributing donors include Lew & Myra Ward and Ray & Linda Booker as well as several
pooled donations to the Dale F. Janes Professorship in Fire Protection, the Wilson
Bentley Professorship in Industrial Engineering & Management and the Centennial Professorship
in Architecture and Architectural Engineering.
“We sincerely appreciate everything the Wards, Bookers and our many pooled donors
have done for OSU and want to say a special thanks for these important gifts,” said
OSU President Burns Hargis. “The response from our alumni and friends has exceeded
our wildest expectations. Inspired by Boone Pickens’ astounding generosity, donors
answered the call to make a lasting difference and open a new and exciting chapter
at OSU.”
A $500,000 gift from Enid, Okla. residents Lew & Myra Ward will create a petroleum
engineering chair to support the college’s emerging interdisciplinary petroleum engineering
program. The Founder of Ward Petroleum, Lew began the company in 1963 near Enid.
Since that time Ward Petroleum has drilled more than 800 wells in the Anadarko and
Arkoma Basins, some as deep as 22,000 feet.
“I gave because there is a great need for engineers and President Hargis asked me
to help,” said Lew Ward. “We would like to build a fleet of engineers!”
Tulsa residents Dr. Ray and Linda Booker provided a $250,000 donation to the college
to create an aerospace engineering professorship. The president of Aviation Technologies,
Inc., Ray received a mechanical engineering degree from OSU in 1957.
“I want to inspire students to be more than they ever thought they could be,” said
Ray. “I gave because I care and I can.”
Additionally, three professorships were setup through substantial donations made from
a collective group of donors.
More than $370,000 was received from 528 donors to create a fire protection and safety
technology (FPST) professorship honoring former FPST department head Dr. Dale F. Janes.
Once the professorship was named, head of the fire protection and safety technology
department Michael Larrañaga, FPST faculty, volunteers and alumni phoned and e-mailed
more than 1,000 potential donors to raise the $250,000. In just three and a half
weeks, combined efforts raised more than $370,000 to fund the professorship from donations
ranging from $15 to $25,000. Janes was department head of the School of Fire Protection
and Safety Engineering Technology from 1971-1981
“We made strategic phone calls to influential alumni and individuals and organizations
associated with our program who helped us create the momentum to raise the $250,000,”
said Larrañaga. “We realized that to be successful, we needed to solicit both large
and small donations. Immediately, potential donors realized that their donation
would be quadrupled and that we could make this a reality.”
$250,000 was received from 20 donors to create an industrial engineering and management
(IE&M) professorship honoring former IE&M department head Dr. Wilson Bentley. Bentley
served OSU’s engineering college for more than 23 years from 1957-1971, 14 of those
years as head of the department of industrial engineering and management. Supporters
credit him with influencing a generation of engineers and helped them develop their
potential as pioneers of industry throughout the country.
“Professor Wilson Bentley had a dramatic and profound effect on the careers of many
of the students he mentored,” said Karl N. Reid, dean of the College of Engineering,
Architecture & Technology. “His career advice for many was priceless. He left an
indelible impact on the field of Industrial Engineering & Management as well. He
and professor H. G. Thuesen were pioneers in the development of graduate and research
programs in engineering at OSU.”
Approximately 30 donors united to fund a $450,000 professorship within the school
of architecture; the school’s first ever endowed faculty position. Fundraising efforts
for the chair capitalized on the 100th anniversary of the school. OSU’s School of
Architecture has been educating students that have had stellar student careers and
have gone on to excel in their professional careers at some of the best firms in the
world.
“I am so proud and impressed at the tremendous response we had from our alumni,” said
Randy Seitsinger, school head. “This is a wonderful opportunity to add tremendous
value to the School of Architecture and with the matching gift to make the most of
the contributions. This new endowment will help us celebrate 100 years of excellence
in education for architects and architectural engineers and provide us resources for
excellence in our next 100 years.”
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.