Tahlequah Hospital Foundation Commits $250,000 to OSU for
Rural Graduate Medical Education
Oklahoma State University announced today a $250,000 gift from the Tahlequah Hospital Foundation to create an endowed professorship of rural graduate medical education at OSU. 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 gift will have the impact of $1 million in endowed funds.
The Oklahoma foundation made the gift to encourage excellence in teaching and scholarship to ultimately benefit rural Oklahoma communities. Earnings from the endowed position will provide support for salary augmentation, participation in conferences, curriculum development and research expenditures.
“The response from our alumni and friends has exceeded our wildest expectations,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “Inspired by Boone Pickens’ astounding generosity, donors answered the call to make a lasting difference and open a new and exciting chapter at OSU. We sincerely appreciate what the Tahlequah Hospital Foundation is doing for OSU academics and research.”
In order to take full advantage of the state’s dollar-for-dollar match, and make the most significant impact on OSU academics, the Tahlequah Hospital Foundation made the gift prior to the July 1 change in the state’s endowed chair matching program. This gift is part of the $66.8 million in endowed faculty gifts OSU announced recently.
“It has pretty much always been our mission that we do whatever we can to enhance the healthcare delivery in Tahlequah,” said Gary Chapman, chairman of the foundation’s board of directors. “I’ve been impressed with [OSU Medicine] for a long time, which is basically right here in our front yard. This gift gives us a chance to work with someone with a long history of great results and success. When we make an investment in a candidate we certainly hope that they will return to us, and that will help us years down the line.”
Jean Van Delinder, chair of the OSU Faculty Council, said, “OSU is poised for growth and further prominence but to realize its full potential we must continue to attract and retain top scholars and researchers. These chairs highlight the important role that scholarship and teaching play at Oklahoma State University, and they are made possible through the generous support of donors who value excellence in scholarship and want to help OSU continue to nurture a strong faculty.”
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.
Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, Oklahoma State University is a five-campus, public land-grant educational system that improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation, and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach. OSU has more than 32,000 students across its system and nearly 21,000 on its Stillwater campus; with students from all 50 states and around 110 nations. Established in 1890, OSU has graduated more than 200,000 students who have made a lasting impact on Oklahoma and the world.
The Oklahoma State University Foundation serves as the private fundraising organization for OSU, as designated by the OSU Regents. Its mission is to unite donor and university passions and priorities to achieve excellence.
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