When the United States of America celebrated its 200th birthday in 1976, engineering student Bryan Burns of Eva, Oklahoma, and geography professor Dr. Robert Fite — leaders in the campus bicentennial celebrations — were looking ahead to 2076. The OSU Bicentennial Trust was established to allow funds raised through dollar-per-person contributions to be invested to benefit the education of students who will be celebrating the USA’s 300th birthday. There were over 10,000 donors.