Pistol Pete has now added another title to the end of his name – fisherman.

Bill Fisher, research ecologist with the Oklahoma cooperative fish and wildlife research unit and adjunct professor at OSU, came up with the idea for a Fisheries Scholarship in the natural resource ecology management department (NREM), and the fundraising material to get it going.

“At the last NREM awards banquet, I realized that we’ve got a lot of forestry scholarships, wildlife has several and range has some,” said Fisher. “But there were no fisheries scholarships.”

The new scholarship was born, in part, because of Fisher’s near 20 years of interaction with fisheries students at OSU.

“(Fisher) is absolutely the driver behind this,” said Keith Owens, NREM head. “We’re very excited.”

After brainstorming with Kathy McNally at the OSU Foundation about the scholarship and how to raise money for it, selling fishing lures with a fishing Pistol Pete logo seemed like a great idea. The near 4-inch long lures can be used for more than just fishing.

“It would be a great Christmas gift; you could hang it on your tree, and you could actually fish with it,” said Fisher.

Five-hundred lures have been made and are available for a $25 donation to the scholarship endowment. Once the endowed scholarship reaches $12,500 at the OSU Foundation, a $500-per-year scholarship will be available to a graduate fisheries student.

“We’re all excited about this,” Fisher said. “This is a chance to bring some interest to the fisheries degree program and try to attract outstanding fisheries students.”

The $500 can be used for tuition, books or any educational expense, said Owens.

Another $500 endowed scholarship will be available when an additional $12,500 is raised in the interest yielding account. Fisher said that the first scholarship earned will be for a graduate student and the next for an undergraduate.

Rather than continuing to add numbers of scholarships each time an additional $12,500 is raised, Fisher would like to see the amount of the two scholarships increased.

“In the best case, we’d like to have more scholarships for larger amounts,” said Fisher. “We initially thought it would be better to increase the $500 to $750 or $1,000. By the time we raise another $12,500, $500 might not go very far. Books alone in a semester may cost up to $750.”

The scholarship will be awarded each year, with students competing to earn the additional financial assistance.

To support the scholarship by donating $25 for a “Fishing with Pete” lure, visit the Fishin' with Pete page, or contact Kerry Dallen at 405-744-9429 or by e-mail at kerry.dallen@okstate.edu.

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REPORTER/MEDIA CONTACT: Sean Hubbard Communications Specialist Agricultural Communications Services 145 Agriculture North Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 74078-001 Phone: 405-744-4490 Fax: 405-744-5739 E-Mail: sean.hubbard@okstate.edu

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