Breaking Bread, Building Futures: OSU Agriculture celebrates Agricultural Hall's Grand Opening and Dedication
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Media Contact: Mack Burke | Associate Director of Media Relations | 405-744-5540 | editor@okstate.edu
Sunlight cascades through the atrium of Agricultural Hall, illuminating it with bright light.
Orange, black and white balloons provide a festive backdrop around the room as faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends gather. The quiet chatter fades as Dr. Jayson Lusk, vice president and dean of OSU Agriculture, steps to the podium.
“We have a lot to celebrate,” Lusk said. “Not only are we celebrating the opening of our new facility, but we also are proud of the work we are doing to embrace the land-grant mission to promote learning, advance knowledge, enrich lives and stimulate economic development.”
The new Agricultural Hall opened its doors in August 2024 after three years of construction and additional years of planning and fundraising. The state-of-the-art facility is home to all three pillars of OSU’s land-grant mission — the Ferguson College of Agriculture, OSU Ag Research and OSU Extension.
Lusk, OSU President Kayse Shrum, OSU/A&M Board of Regents Chair Jimmy Harrel and Ferguson College of Agriculture Associate Dean Cynda Clary broke a 5-foot loaf of bread to commemorate the grand opening of Agricultural Hall.
“We were able to open the building right before the start of the fall semester, and as soon as those students hit the doors, this building came alive and made all that hard work worth it.”
When the original Agricultural Hall, now dubbed Legacy Hall, was formally dedicated in 1969, university dignitaries broke a loaf of bread rather than cut a ribbon. Breaking the bread symbolizes OSU Agriculture’s commitment to nourish the world.
“This ceremony marks the completion of our cutting-edge facility and a time to celebrate the significance of how OSU Agriculture is advancing the land-grant mission of teaching, research and Extension,” Lusk said. “I want to thank the Cowboy family and friends for supporting the New Frontiers campaign and making this building a reality.”
The grand opening occurred during OSU Land-Grant Week, Sept. 9-13, where faculty, staff and students participated in various activities across campus, showcasing how OSU is helping advance the land-grant mission.
“The opening of this facility is a transformational milestone for OSU Agriculture,” Shrum said. “It further cements OSU’s position as a leader in innovation and will help us continue to recruit promising students and world-class faculty. The work students and faculty will undertake at Agricultural Hall truly embodies our land-grant mission to address society’s most pressing challenges and will elevate teaching, research and Extension efforts critical to the state’s economy, citizens’ safety and quality of life.”
Following the grand opening, faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends gathered to dedicate the building and participate in a Ferguson College of Agriculture Family Tailgate on Oct. 5.
The Cowboy Marching Band kicked off the event, their songs ringing through the Monroe Street Courtyard in front of Agricultural Hall. More than 300 Ferguson College of Agriculture supporters attended the event. Guests played cornhole, enjoyed food and designed custom hats with commemorative patches to mark the dedication and tailgate.
During the dedication, Lusk, Shrum, and Harrel spoke about the importance of the building to OSU Agriculture and the university. Hailey Spray, a food science senior from Riverton, Wyoming, also shared her experiences as a Ferguson College of Agriculture student during the construction and opening of Agricultural Hall.
“The building stands not only as a home to new classrooms, labs and offices, but also as a testament from our alumni toward the collaboration and innovation they want to continue to spark from our college,” Spray said. “For myself and other students, this provides various support resources as we navigate our college careers.”
Surrounded by university leadership, Baylee Bowen, an agribusiness senior from Chandler, Oklahoma, and Easton Fraser, an animal science senior from Grapevine, Texas, joined Spray in front of Agricultural Hall to cut a large, orange ribbon to dedicate the building.
The day before the dedication, New Frontiers cornerstone and major gift donors attended an open house to visit their named spaces.
“This was a dream becoming a reality,” said Larry Ferguson, New Frontiers campaign cornerstone donor. “Our mission hasn’t changed. It’s to feed the world, and this couldn’t have happened without all of us together.”
OSU alumni Larry and Kayleen Ferguson unveiled a historic gift through their Ferguson Family Foundation in January 2020, which launched the $50 million New Frontiers capital campaign, helping to build a new home for OSU Agriculture and renaming the college the Ferguson College of Agriculture.
Over 600 donors contributed to the campaign, including 10 cornerstone donors who gave $1 million or more, 104 major gift donors and 31 major gift industry donors and corporate donors.
Reaching its fundraising goal in record time, it is recognized as one of the fastest capital campaigns at OSU and the first academic capital campaign of this magnitude to reach its campaign goal before the building opened.
“OSU Agriculture has some of the most loyal and dedicated friends and alumni,” Shrum said. “Their support for this project speaks to the significance of this facility.”
The cutting-edge facility prioritizes collaboration in strategically designed spaces throughout the building. It features 25,855 square feet of flexible research laboratory space in addition to seven interactive classrooms and a lecture hall to increase innovation.
The building has approximately 4,000 square feet of collaborative spaces — where students, faculty and staff are encouraged to meet, study and socialize.
“We were able to open the building right before the start of the fall semester, and as soon as those students hit the doors, this building came alive and made all that hard work worth it,” Lusk said. “The building has been full of students meeting, studying and socializing in collaboration spaces. This building truly is a student-facing friendly space they are using to have an entirely transformative experience at OSU.”
The Hilst Center for Student Success is a welcoming destination for students to study alongside their peers and provides access to helpful academic resources.
New features include dedicated club and study rooms and huddle rooms throughout the building’s three floors.
With more than 60 student clubs and organizations within the Ferguson College of Agriculture, the club and study rooms allow space for groups to meet or study. The 19 huddle rooms provide areas for faculty to interact with each other and engage with students.
Agricultural Hall is also home to Larry and Kay’s Dairy Bar. The original Dairy Bar, housed in the old Dairy Building, was a memorable part of the OSU experience for many alumni. The reimagined venue provides an environment to build relations and bring back a tradition that has been missing for nearly 20 years.
“Watching everyone interact in the Ag Hall lobby or in line at Larry and Kay’s Dairy Bar has been so refreshing,” Fraser said. “Our new home provides many more opportunities for collaboration, connection and conversation, and that doesn’t even start to describe the impact it will have. I have seen the engagement the space encourages in class, and I am excited about the advancements in research and Extension that will be possible with all the new resources.”
Photos by: Mitchell Alcala, Alyssa Hardaway and Ainsley Treesh
Story by: Ainsley Treesh | STATE Magazine