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 idea.

Neal also taught natural sciences as well as providing research to help the farmers of the 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.