An award fund established in 2011 designed to aid faculty members in the Murray State department of history to pursue research and writing has now been fully endowed by Terry Strieter and his wife, Sara Fineman Strieter.
Strieter is a professor and the chair of the department of history, and is in his 36th year at Murray State. Fineman owns an occupational safety business, STEP (Safety Training & Environmental Protection) that consults with various local and regional businesses on compliance with government regulations.
The couple also owns, with Fineman’s brother, a local coffee shop, Fidalgo Bay.
Named The Sara and Terry Strieter History Faculty Research Award, this initiative will have a significant impact on the ability of faculty members to accomplish scholarly pursuits.
This research award is competitive and will be distributed annually with the first award recipient to be chosen as early as the fall of 2013. Recipients will have their teaching load reduced for a semester to have time to conduct and compile research. The award funds the cost of having part of their classes taught by someone else. Applicants will be full-time faculty members in the department of history, with at least one year of service.
“The Sara and Terry Strieter History Faculty Research Award is meant to promote the tradition of excellence in scholarship for which the department has long been known,” said Strieter. “With the countless demands on faculty time, we have long felt the desire to help the many faculty in the department who wish to continue their scholarly pursuits. This new research award is our small contribution to aid these hard-working faculty so that they may contribute to the growth of historical knowledge in their various fields of expertise.”
Strieter explained how faculty scholarly works are important to Murray State’s students.
“By remaining on the cutting edge of the continuously changing scholarship in the various fields of knowledge our department faculty teaches and does scholarly research in — the underdeveloped world, the history of the United States and European history — our students benefit from the depth of knowledge of their instructors by receiving the most up-to-date information possible,” Strieter noted. “Further, we teach our students that history is constantly evolving and to remain current one must develop an attitude of life-long learning.”
Additional gifts are being actively sought to allow for the first award recipient to be chosen next fall. Gifts to The Sara and Terry Strieter History Faculty Research Award in honor of the Strieters and the MSU department of history can be made through the office of development at Murray State.
