OSU veterinary research receives boost from three endowed faculty positions

$1 million in gifts to focus on small animal internal medicine, bio-medical laser surgery

Oklahoma State University announced today $1 million in donations received from three foundations and one estate gift to fund two endowed professorships and one chair within the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences.  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 gifts will provide nearly $4 million of impact in endowed funds.
 
Contributing donors include the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the McCasland Foundation, the Patricia Henthorne Estate and the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation.
 
“We sincerely appreciate these wonderful gifts from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the McCasland Foundation, the Zarrow Foundation and the late Patricia Henthorne. They will help us do important work at OSU,” said OSU President Burns Hargis.    
 
A $500,000 gift from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund will create a small animal internal medicine chair located within OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. The Joan Kirkpatrick Chair in Small Animal Internal Medicine Veterinary Medicine will engage with faculty in other veterinary departments to augment research and teaching in one of several sub-disciplines of internal medicine including infectious diseases.
 
“We made the gift to the Veterinary Center in small animal internal medicine as it provided an excellent opportunity to permanently honor Joan Kirkpatrick and her love for animals and the Veterinary Center,” said Liz Eickman, Kirkpatrick Family Fund executive director. “We hope the gift will have lasting impact in attracting the best faculty to provide excellent training for all future veterinarians.”
 
A $250,000 gift from the McCasland Foundation will create a clinical professorship in bio-medical laser surgery within OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences.  The Duncan, Okla.-based foundation made the gift to encourage excellence in teaching and scholarship for the veterinary-based professorship.  
 
“We made the gift to the Veterinary Center in bio-medical laser surgery because of the matching impact to endow a $1 million faculty position,” said Barbara Braught, McCasland Foundation Executive Director. “It is our hope the gift will expand the laser research discoveries the foundation has funded through a professorship the last twelve years and enhance the application of laser within veterinary medicine.”
 
A $250,000 combined gift from the late Patricia Henthorne and Tulsa-based Zarrow Foundation will endow a clinical professorship in small animal medicine.  The gift was initially received as a realized estate gift of $200,000 by a trust established by Patricia Henthorne. Trustees of the estate approved elevating the gift to a professorship for a quadruple match and greater impact, but wanted to assure it had small animal focus in the Veterinary Center. The Zarrow Foundation stepped forward to contribute $50,000 to fully endow the professorship.
 
“This was too good of an investment to not be supportive based on the fact our gift could eventually become a $1 million endowed faculty position for small animal shelter medicine through the Veterinary Center,” said Judy Kishner, Zarrow Foundation trustee. “We’re interested in supporting OSU with the possible impact for the city of Tulsa through partnership with the city and OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences.”
 
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.
 
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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