Fire Protection Publication's Assistant Director to Receive Award for Excellence in Advancement of the Land-Grant Mission

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Nancy Trench, assistant director of Fire Protection Publications (FPP) has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Sternberg Award for Excellence in Advancement of The Land-Grant Mission of Oklahoma State University. The award was presented at the University Awards Convocation on Wednesday, December 4th at 3:30 pm.

Trench was the first woman to earn a BS in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology from OSU, and she has used that degree to become the embodiment of how land-grant universities benefit the world outside of their traditional academic offerings.

“For the last 40 years she has been the creative innovator that has researched, influenced, taught, and changed the lives of thousands of emergency responders and life safety educators across the state, the nation and throughout the world. She has truly saved the lives of untold numbers of people through her fire prevention education,” said Cindy Ninde-Finkle, research coordinator for Fire Protection Publications.

Trench researched and developed the nation’s first developmentally appropriate fire safety education for young children and is recognized nationally as an authority about teaching fire safety to children.

She also researched and developed the Fire Safety Solutions for People with Disabilities program, which provides residential installations for smoke alert device equipment and provides home fire safety education that meets the needs of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, are blind, or have low vision, those with mobility impairments and people with cognitive disabilities.

Her peers nationally recognize Trench as a leader in the field of fire safety education, as a scholar who researches what she teaches, and as an extraordinary individual who shares that information with the world in order to save lives.

“No one has done more to support the mission of OSU Fire Service Training, IFSTA/FPP, and OSU in general than Nancy has done for nearly 40 years. We all love her and are extremely proud of receiving this recognition!” Mike Wieder, Associate Director Fire Protection Publications and Executive Director, IFSTA.

“This is an incredible honor for Nancy. Her 40 years of service to CEAT outreach and extension have made a significant difference in our state and nation’s fire service. The recognition is well deserved,” said Ed Kirtley, Assistant Dean of Outreach, College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.