frankeaton
06-28-2008, 10:40 PM
Mike Holder donates $1 million to OSU business school
By Andrea Cohen
Staff Writer
STILLWATER — Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder found himself pondering a difficult question this month after OSU alums Malone and Amy Mitchell gave the athletic department nearly $30 million.
“I thought, how do you say thank you to someone who gave that much support and showed that much faith in what you’re trying to accomplish?” Holder said of the Mitchells, who also gave an equal amount to the university’s business school to start and entrepreneurship program. “And I thought perhaps (Holder’s wife) Robbie and I should show support for what he’s trying to accomplish, and of course we support the academic side as well,” Holder said.
To that end, the Holders gave $1 million this week to the new entrepreneurship program in the form of an endowed chair.
“I think he also wanted to demonstrate that he’s part of the entire university team, not just the athletic side,” OSU president Burns Hargis said.
With that gift Holder estimates that he and his wife have given the university more than $2.5 million, including a $500,000 scholarship they endowed in the name of Vernon Grant in 2006.
“The good news is this won’t be our last gift,” Holder said. “The bad news is we don’t have as much money as Boone and Madeleine Pickens.”
Pickens, of course, is part of the reason that the Holders’ gift of $1 million will actually be a gift of $4 million. This spring the billionaire donor gave $100 million to fund endowed chairs and agreed that his donation can be used to match other donations to faculty chairs. The Holders' doubled donation then also qualified for matching dollars from the state of Oklahoma.
“Being a typical woman shopper, a bargain hunter, (Robbie) looked at it and saw you get a 75 percent discount,” Holder joked. “Who can give up that kind of deal?”
For the athletic director the gift is also personal. Holder has a degree in marketing and an MBA from OSU’s business school.
“He’s always been a stickler for the academic part of the college experience,” Hargis said. “His golf teams always had one of the best graduation rates, and that’s important to him. He’s got an MBA himself, and I’ve seen him use that very skillfully himself over the years.”
On Saturday Holder spoke about the importance of having a strong academic faculty, comparing professors to the coaches he hires.
“Like in athletics, the most important commodity we have is our students,” Holder said. “But students are here four to six years. Coaches can be here – well, I coached for 30 years. Our most successful programs have had coaches who stayed many years. And like quality coaches bring quality athletes, quality professors bring quality students. We need to figure out a way to pay our faculty better, and these gifts give us a chance to do that. This is a way in investing in the future of the university.”
:food-smiley-004::party-smiley-018::music-smiley-005::action-smiley-033::koolaid::koolaid::koolaid::cool-smiley-027:
By Andrea Cohen
Staff Writer
STILLWATER — Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder found himself pondering a difficult question this month after OSU alums Malone and Amy Mitchell gave the athletic department nearly $30 million.
“I thought, how do you say thank you to someone who gave that much support and showed that much faith in what you’re trying to accomplish?” Holder said of the Mitchells, who also gave an equal amount to the university’s business school to start and entrepreneurship program. “And I thought perhaps (Holder’s wife) Robbie and I should show support for what he’s trying to accomplish, and of course we support the academic side as well,” Holder said.
To that end, the Holders gave $1 million this week to the new entrepreneurship program in the form of an endowed chair.
“I think he also wanted to demonstrate that he’s part of the entire university team, not just the athletic side,” OSU president Burns Hargis said.
With that gift Holder estimates that he and his wife have given the university more than $2.5 million, including a $500,000 scholarship they endowed in the name of Vernon Grant in 2006.
“The good news is this won’t be our last gift,” Holder said. “The bad news is we don’t have as much money as Boone and Madeleine Pickens.”
Pickens, of course, is part of the reason that the Holders’ gift of $1 million will actually be a gift of $4 million. This spring the billionaire donor gave $100 million to fund endowed chairs and agreed that his donation can be used to match other donations to faculty chairs. The Holders' doubled donation then also qualified for matching dollars from the state of Oklahoma.
“Being a typical woman shopper, a bargain hunter, (Robbie) looked at it and saw you get a 75 percent discount,” Holder joked. “Who can give up that kind of deal?”
For the athletic director the gift is also personal. Holder has a degree in marketing and an MBA from OSU’s business school.
“He’s always been a stickler for the academic part of the college experience,” Hargis said. “His golf teams always had one of the best graduation rates, and that’s important to him. He’s got an MBA himself, and I’ve seen him use that very skillfully himself over the years.”
On Saturday Holder spoke about the importance of having a strong academic faculty, comparing professors to the coaches he hires.
“Like in athletics, the most important commodity we have is our students,” Holder said. “But students are here four to six years. Coaches can be here – well, I coached for 30 years. Our most successful programs have had coaches who stayed many years. And like quality coaches bring quality athletes, quality professors bring quality students. We need to figure out a way to pay our faculty better, and these gifts give us a chance to do that. This is a way in investing in the future of the university.”
:food-smiley-004::party-smiley-018::music-smiley-005::action-smiley-033::koolaid::koolaid::koolaid::cool-smiley-027: