May 21, 2008

T. Boone Pickens Donates $100-Million to Oklahoma State U.

As oil prices rise to historic heights, the billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is sharing some of the wealth with Oklahoma State University, his alma mater.

Today, a day after Mr. Pickens, the founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, made news for predicting on CNBC that the price of crude oil would break the $150-a-barrel mark this year (it closed at a record $129 a barrel on Tuesday), Oklahoma State announced that Mr. Pickens was donating $100-million for endowed chairs and professorships at the institution.

The university said the gift was the largest for academic purposes in state history, but it is less than Mr. Pickens’s $165-million donation for Oklahoma State athletics in 2006.

“My goal has always been to make OSU more competitive in all areas,” Mr. Pickens said today. “I believe my donations to athletics and now this gift to academics will do just that.”

With the new gift, Mr. Pickens, a 1951 graduate, has given approximately $400-million to Oklahoma State. The most recent gift, which can be matched with state funds, is expected to endow more than 150 positions. The university now has 101 endowed chairs. —Kathryn Masterson

Comments

1. The best part is that their donor base is so very, very wide.

   — Edmon    May 21, 02:23 PM    #

2. It is nice to see that a large donation to a relatively affordable public institution and not a overpriced elite private one that few middle class students can afford to go to.

   — warren    May 21, 03:09 PM    #

3. I didn’t mean to imply that OSU shouldn’t have gotten the money. I am trying to suggest that the major donor base needs to be wider than one eighty year old.

   — Edmon    May 21, 03:18 PM    #

4. Excuse me, but Pickens last nine-figure gift encouraged another very big gift. Let’s see if they announce some additional multi-million dollar gifts after this one.

   — Bruce    May 21, 03:40 PM    #

5. I’m sure that they are making every effort to expand the donor base. I think when an institution has a donor giving sums of money this large, it’ll always make the headlines. Furthermore, I believe that the last donation made by Mr. Pickens was followed by the endowment of a college.

   — Vinay    May 21, 03:45 PM    #

6. Some folks seem to find a cloud in every silver lining.

   — Jay    May 21, 04:32 PM    #

7. As a former employee of the OSU Foundation, I can say that Mr. Pickens’ previous gift to athletics inspired a great number of our alums to give, both to athletics and to academics (including endowing a college). Mr. Pickens not only gave $100M to endow chairs and professorships, but agreed that the funds could be used to match other donors and allow them to name the chair and select the academic program to be supported. That is true philantropy that encourages a wider base of donors!

   — Gary    May 21, 04:45 PM    #

8. Have you not seen the meddling that Mr. Pickens has been up to since he started “donating”? It is ridiculous. You can have all of the professorships you want. Faculty will not want to go to OSU with that type of environment.

   — Fellman    May 21, 04:59 PM    #

9. Fellman, can you provide specifics about the “meddling” that Mr. Pickens has been up to? Doubt it. You’re a joke.

   — Pat    May 21, 07:44 PM    #

10. My goodness, you Okie’s sure know how to look a gift horse in the mouth! Could you just say “thank you!” and take up the academic freedom issues (which you should, of course, uphold) in another forum? Arkie

    — E McKee    May 22, 10:00 AM    #

11. I don’t normally direct comments to previous individuals but as to McKee’s comments…Since I currently work for OSU, am an Okie and an alum; you sure enjoy stereotyping us. This university is thankful and proud of the donations Pickens has made thus far. For parents who invest in their students education they want to know they are paying for quality and he has insured that with $100 million plus the state’s matching that amount…there are endless possibilities for the future of this University. We welcome those who desire to give to OSU and show our appreciation accordingly. OSU True

    — ME    May 22, 11:53 AM    #

12. Yes, I’m sure you are and others there are. I was teasing (and chastising) those, who probably aren’t even “Okies”, because I felt a little bad that a generous donor might see some of the critical comments on this blog. I know nothing of the specifics; I just saw the generous donation and thought it was very nice.

    — Above    May 22, 01:53 PM    #

13. Gift Horse?
    What has not been mentioned, in detail, is that taxpayers in Oklahoma, without their agreement will be required to match Boones gift (s) ? All the while our infrastructure is crumbling along with our State budget. A minimum of 200+ Million will be “matched” with state bond issues,(read credit/encumbered funds). I’m all for Higher Ed and thankfull for Boone’s gift, but not to the exclusion of other equally important needs in Oklahoma.
    By the way, many of my fellow Oklahomans feel that the term “Okies” is a disparaging, (not your fault) term arising from the“Grapes of Rath” days. We Oklahomans have come a long way from those days. Now, everybody covets our abundant water and Energy.

    — Mark    May 27, 12:32 PM    #

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