The first director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station on campus, James C. Neal, is credited as a tireless and dedicated early leader for the college who personified the land-grant ideal. Neal also taught natural sciences as well as providing research to help the farmers of Oklahoma Territory. His efforts eased the earliest difficulties associated with establishing a college. In 1895, Neal recruited students to help build a pond to use as a reservoir to solve water shortage problems on campus, known today as Theta Pond.
