Alumni give $57.2 million to Oklahoma State

During a ceremony on OSU's main campus in Stillwater, university officials said the gift from Amy and Malone Mitchell, who both graduated from OSU, will be used to create an entrepreneurship program within OSU's Spears School of Business and to provide support to athletic programs.

Of the gift, $22 million has been designated for endowed chairs--teaching positions funded from proceeds of investments--within the business school.

The gift consists of 1 million shares of stock in Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy Inc., which the couple, using a $500 loan, founded under the name Riata Energy in 1984--one year after they graduated from OSU. Malone Mitchell, who served at various times as the company's chairman, president and chief executive officer, retired from SandRidge in December 2006 to start other companies.

Only oilman and alumnus T. Boone Pickens, who has previously given OSU gifts of $165 million for athletics, $100 million for academics and $70 million split between the two areas, has given more to the university in a single gift.

Pickens' $100 million gift was made last month.

"Boone Pickens was a critical role model for me as a student, inspiring me to pursue an aggressive business career," Malone Mitchell said Thursday. "That career has blessed us financially. As we got to know Boone personally and his vision for winning at life and heartfelt desire to improve the university, his examples clarified for us that it was not enough to just wish for a better Oklahoma State--we had to act!"

The Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents last Friday approved the creation of the department of entrepreneurship, a program that Malone Mitchell said he wants to see emphasized.

"We want to see Oklahoma State University become a place for students who want to learn how to start and operate their own business," he said.

"We started our first business in school. ... Since that time, we've been addicted to the excitement of entrepreneurship. We just want to help students learn at an earlier age what it took us years and years to learn, so we can accelerate the success of the young people and build jobs in our state and our nation."