An upcoming dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony honors a Murray State alum known for her generous donations to the University and her donation to the department of biological sciences. 

The Easley Conservation Stewardship Area is a new University owned space for students in biology and wildlife conservation courses to perform hands-on community work and apply what they’ve learned in class.

A dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, on Martin Chapel Road with parking availability at Martin’s Chapel United Methodist Church. The dedication will include speakers Ron Patterson, president of Murray State, Melissa Easley, donor of the property, Andrea Darracq, a professor of wildlife biology, and Micheal Johnson, a refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided.

Easley, a graduate of the classes of 1964 and 1990 and a 2024 Golden Horse Shoe Award recipient, has a long history of supporting the University and surrounding community through donations and volunteer work. Among her philanthropy projects are the establishment of the Sid and Melissa H. Easley Leadership Scholarship and the Sid Easley Lecture Fund, made in honor of her late husband Sid Easley, a former Board of Regents chair and 1987 Golden Horse Show Award recipient. The Easley Conservation Stewardship Area is the family’s latest gift to their alma mater.

The Easleys have owned the property since the 1970s, but their original plan to build a house there never came to fruition. Kevin Munsey, director of development for the Jesse D. Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology and the School of Nursing and Health Professions, has worked closely with Easley in the past two years to organize the donation and development of the space.

“(Easley) had always kept it because she likes to be outside, watching birds and butterflies,” he said. “It’s a real, true love and passion of hers.”

Munsley said the goals of the dedication ceremony are to bring awareness of the space to the community, but most importantly, to honor Easley’s generosity.

“This is a very, very generous and important gift, and we want to make sure that she is honored in a way that’s fitting of it,” Munsey said. “(Melissa and Sid Easley) both really wanted to give back to Murray State. … Their personalities are very giving and very much blue and gold through and through.”