AALL & Thomson West - George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment

Updated: 11/22/2006
Contact: AALL Membership Coordinator

George A. Strait Minority Scholarships are awarded annually to college graduates with meaningful law library experience who are members of a minority group as defined by current U.S. government guidelines, are degree candidates in an accredited library or law school, and who intend to have a career in law librarianship. Applicants must show evidence of financial need.

The application is available as a PDF file. To view and print the application, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 (or higher).

Download George A. Strait Application

A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, George A. Strait (1914-1989) was an outstanding law librarian and long-time AALL member. He held several titles at the Harvard Law School Library during a twenty-year span (1956-1976), which was interrupted twice: in 1967-69, when he built the library collection at Northeastern University School of Law (Boston), and in 1972-74, when he built the library collection at the Antioch School of Law (Washington, DC). After leaving Harvard, he was Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law at the University of Iowa College of Law. In recognition of his career achievements, George Strait was awarded the AALL (now Marian Gould Gallagher) Distinguished Service Award in 1989, and in 1990 the AALL Executive Board made the minority stipend a permanent part of the Association's scholarship program and named it in his honor.

Thomson West, a provider of e-information and solutions to the U.S. legal market, generously contributed $150,000 as the initial endowment. West’s challenge to American Association of Law Libraries’ members and friends resulted in over $100,000 of additional contributions to the Fund. The Fund now supports the education of minority students who wish to pursue their career goals in law librarianship.

"Thomson West has been a long-time supporter and sponsor of the AALL, and the heart of our partnership has been education and outreach," said Anne Ellis, director of librarian relations for Thomson West. "We also understand the importance of diversity in the legal profession and feel strongly about supporting programs that can promote greater diversity and opportunity for law librarians. This endowment underscores that commitment."