STILLWATER, Okla. (U-WIRE) -- A geology school and a geophysics professorship are already named after him.

With a $70 million donation made to Oklahoma State this past March, Boone Pickens could have the football stadium named after him, too.

"I think Boone Pickens has earned it," said Lou Watkins, Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical Board of Regents member.

According to an OSU athletics news release, the athletic department will have a news conference regarding athletic facilities.

"We might name the stadium after him," Watkins said. "We are not renaming the field."

Watkins said the regents might discuss naming the stadium after Pickens in its board meeting Sept. 5.

Although Watkins expressed her enthusiasm for the donation to the stadium, she is worried it would overshadow the portion given toward academics.

"The figures going to the academic mission of the campus have been overlooked," Watkins said.

Pickens gave a $20 million trust to the Lewis Field expansion and $15 million generated from that trust toward a Boone Pickens General University Scholarship fund, according to an earlier OSU athletics news release.

Pickens' gift completes fund raising for the Next Level Campaign's Phase One project and also helps complete the south stands for the 2004 football season, according to the news release.

"Football, of course, is important -- our stadium was in bad need of repair," Watkins said. "It was a project that needed to happen."

In his will, Pickens also gave a $35 million testamentary gift, which OSU's athletic and academic areas will divide, according to the news release.

Brent Goodin, regents spokesman, said $15 million of the testamentary gift will go toward academics.

"I think it is extremely appropriate to name a stadium after an individual who has made unprecedented contributions to OSU," Goodin said.

However, Pickens' $70 million donation was not the first.

Since his 1951 graduation, Pickens donated $5 million toward academics, funded the Boone Pickens School of Geology at the Noble Research Center and established the Boone Pickens Scholars Fund in geology, along with other scholarships and university endowments, according to the news release.

"I appreciate the breadth of his contribution in that it supports the academic mission of OSU," Watkins said.

(C) 2003 Daily O'Collegian via U-WIRE.