The Oklahoma State University College of Arts & Sciences announced the creation of a new endowed faculty chair, the Dean and Carol Stringer Endowed Chair in American Literature.  The chair is made possible by a recent $1 million gift from Dean Stringer.  This is on top of a previous $1 million gift from Stringer in 2013 to create the Dean Stringer Endowed Chair in Political Science. 

Richard Frohock, Head of the Department of English, and Bret Danilowicz, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, were on hand for the announcement.  Frohock believes the chair will boost the department’s national profile.

“The Dean and Carol Stringer Chair in American Literature is of enormous significance to our department,” he said.  “It will allow us to hire a distinguished senior faculty member in American literature who will conduct cutting edge research and offer courses of the highest quality to our undergraduate and graduate students. Moreover, the endowed funds will allow this faculty Chair to bring authors and scholars of American Literature to the OSU campus every year, which will allow us to serve the OSU and Stillwater community, help us strengthen an area of departmental expertise, and raise our national profile in the instruction of American literature.”

Jeanette Mendez, current Interim Associate Dean of Research and former Head of the Political Science Department, relayed similar comments regarding the endowed faculty chair in political science.

“An endowed chair brings the high quality of research and teaching that has an immeasurable impact of student learning and engagement and faculty mentoring,” she said.  “The endowed chair will also bring interest and visibility to the department.  The entire department is excited about the possibilities that come with hiring faculty of this caliber.”

An Oklahoma native, Stringer graduated OSU with a political science degree in 1958.  He went on to Harvard Law School where he received his LL.B. in 1961.  He formerly worked at Crowe & Dunlevy where he was the Chairman of the Board (1999-2000); Chairman of the Litigation Department (1987-2000); President (1979-1981) and Member of the Executive Committee (1975-1981, 1986-1988).  He also served in the Oklahoma Army National Guard for a total of 10 years, attaining the rank of major.

For many years, Stringer has given back to OSU, both financially and through service.  He was appointed as a Member of the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma State University and A&M Colleges (1986-1994), served as Vice-Chairman (1989-1990), and Chairman (1990-1991).  Stringer took his role as Member of the Board extremely serious, becoming known as the inquisitor for asking questions during each meeting.  Stringer was known to make tough decisions and to stand in the minority when he disagreed.  Among the highlights during his tenure were the increased funding for the library, the creation of the Regents Distinguished Teaching Award and the campaign to raise scholarship funds.  During his time on the Board of Regents and since, Stringer was a tireless advocate for the establishment of the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at OSU and those efforts were rewarded with the installation of the Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on the Stillwater campus in 2013. 

Beyond his role as a Regent, Stringer has also served as President of the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association (1972-1973); Director of the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association (1964-present); Trustee and Governor of the Oklahoma State University Foundation (1981-1982); Chairman of the Oklahoma State University Foundation (1982-1985); Governor of the Oklahoma State University Foundation (1996-present) and Director of the Oklahoma State University’s Friends of the Library (1994-present).

Based on service and success, he has received many honors throughout his career. He received the Oklahoma State University Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1979; the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award in 1994; and the Department of Political Science Outstanding Alumni Award in 1994. And in 1998, Stringer was inducted into the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association Hall of Fame.