Transcript Staff

Two new gifts to the University of Oklahoma totalling $15 million were announced at the OU Board of Regents' regular meeting Thursday afternoon.

One of the largest gifts in OU history -- a $12.5 million commitment from Aubrey K. McClendon and his wife, Kathleen B. McClendon -- will fund various academic and athletics projects.

The gift from the chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corporation and his wife accompanies a $2.5 million donation from Chesapeake.

The donation from the McClendons will benefit OU's Honors College and the OU Debate Program, and it also will fund two new major athletic capital projects -- the OU Boathouse on the Oklahoma River just south of downtown Oklahoma City and a new housing facility east of the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman for students and student-athletes.

The gift includes $5.5 million to endow the OU Honors College, including support for Study Abroad Scholarships, the OU Debate Program and a new endowed chair in Energy Policy.

The gift also will fund three new endowed chairs established as part of a new Institute focused on the historic and political roots of the American Constitution and form of government.

"OU will immediately find itself, as we recruit these individuals (to the institute), among the top four universities in the country" with a focus on America's constitutional roots, Boren said at the regents' meeting.

In recognition of the gift, the Honors College will be named for Aubrey's parents, Joe C. McClendon and Carole Kerr McClendon. In addition, the OU Debate Program in the Honors College will be named for Shannon T. Self, a longtime friend and colleague of Aubrey's and a founding director of Chesapeake Energy Corporation.?

The gift also includes $5 million to support a new residential facility for students and student-athletes adjacent to the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. That housing facility will be conducted in two phases as the outdated Sooner Housing Center is traded in for newer facilities.

The gift also includes $2 million to help build the OU Boathouse on the Oklahoma River just south of downtown Oklahoma City.

The McClendons did not come to the meeting Thursday, but Boren read a statement written by Aubrey McClendon.

"I am especially excited about naming the Debate Program in honor of my good friend Shannon Self, a former OU debate team member and my most trusted business advisor for the past 25 years," he said.

In addition, he wrote, he admired his parents who were both excellent students at OU.

"I hope that future students at OU's Honors College will aspire to live as successfully as my parents have -- I am very proud of them and grateful for their enormous influence on my life."