New OSU Center for the Humanities to enrich student experience
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Media Contact: Jennifer Kinnard | Assistant Vice President, Marketing & Communications of Oklahoma State University Foundation | 405-334-1022 | jkinnard@osugiving.com
Lifelong Oklahoma State University supporter Dean Stringer is ensuring the humanities have a strong presence at OSU with a gift to create an endowed chair for the new Oklahoma State University Center for the Humanities.
Stringer has consistently been one of the greatest influences on the humanities at OSU. He has endowed multiple chair positions and scholarship funds across campus. OSU President Kayse Shrum said his most recent gift, made through his estate, adds to Stringer’s impactful legacy.
“OSU is fortunate to benefit from Dean’s generosity,” Dr. Shrum said. “He has supported so many areas on our campus and has elevated the student experience, making Oklahoma State a better institution of higher education. His service to others exemplifies our land-grant mission and what it means to be a part of the Cowboy family.”
The center will bring together faculty, staff and students from the College of Arts and Sciences, including humanities scholars at the Edmon Low Library and interdisciplinary academic programs in Africana studies, American Indian studies, American studies, religious studies, and women’s and gender studies, offering a unified approach to the humanities at OSU.
“The humanities are fundamental to the broad-based education we provide at OSU,” said Dr. Jeanette Mendez, interim provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. “The OSU Center for the Humanities will give faculty, staff and students a unified identity and resources to work together and discuss incredibly important topics that will help strengthen the humanities at Oklahoma State University.”
The director of the OSU Center for the Humanities will hold the Dean Stringer Endowed Chair in the Humanities, which will be appointed by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, presently Glen Krutz. The chair will serve as a tenured faculty member and provide leadership for center programming. The center is likely to include an annual lecture series, an undergraduate fellows program, conferences and symposia, student research prizes, faculty research clusters and an innovative advocacy hub.
“The Dean Stringer Chair in the Humanities will provide the glue to bring together the Humanities Center as a new project at OSU,” Krutz said. “It will give the humanities an identity that is separate from a specific department in a way that will encourage everyone to get involved.”
OSU students will have access to top humanities scholars, allowing them to understand others through the study of cultures, history, language and the arts. The center will foster critical conversations at OSU about what binds humanity together.
Stringer said that academic excellence is an important standard for OSU, which is why he supports the humanities.
“Having an understanding and some real study of our culture is critical to the completeness of a person’s degree,” Stringer said. “This represents a wonderful step forward for the university and will bring an emphasis on the humanities that will enrich the student experience.”
Click here if you’d like to support the OSU Center for the Humanities.
The Oklahoma State University Foundation serves as the private fundraising organization for OSU, as designated by the OSU Regents. Its mission is to unite donor and university passions and priorities to achieve excellence.