Everyone is a winner
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report October 2009
How and why an organization honors its high achievers says a lot about the organization itself.
STLE members have until Oct. 30 to submit their nominations for the P.M. Ku Award and the STLE International Award. Steve Lemberger (left) with American Electric Power in Bridgeman, Mich., was the recipient of the 2008 Ku award for outstanding volunteer service. Immediate Past President Robert Bruce made the presentation.
Professional associations such as STLE give awards for two important reasons. The first and rather obvious one is to salute outstanding achievements by individuals in the field. But a second and equally important reason is to inspire others to the same or perhaps even greater levels of achievement.
Over the years STLE has done a masterful job of addressing this twin purpose through the annual selection process for our two most prestigious awards. Because this is award nominations season at STLE, the column this month is devoted to taking a look at the criteria for these two honors and encouraging members to get involved in the process by submitting their nominations to the selection committee.
The STLE International Award is the society’s highest technical honor, and it is given in recognition of the recipient’s outstanding contributions in tribology, lubrication engineering or allied fields. In addition to being prestigious, the award dates back to 1948, four years after the birth of the organization, when it was established as the ASLE National Award. With such a long history, the list of winners reads like a Who’s Who of the legends in the field of tribology and lubricants.
The P.M. Ku Award, which honors outstanding volunteer service on behalf of STLE, is named for the society’s 1969-70 president. In addition to serving in that position and many others, Ku played a pivotal role in establishing STLE’s highly respected publishing standards and editorial review process. Following his untimely death in 1978, the Ku Award was established to honor those future volunteers who demonstrated a similar measure of dedication and service to the organization. Interestingly, Ku was also one of the individuals honored with the International Award; it was presented to him in 1973 to recognize his technical contributions made while employed at Southwest Research Institute in Texas.
All STLE members are invited and encouraged to nominate a candidate for one or both awards. Details, including past recipient names, are posted on the STLE Web site. Submissions are due by Oct. 30 to Judy Enblom at STLE headquarters. You can e-mail her at
jenblom@stle.org. The selection committees present their recommendations to the STLE Board of Directors in January, and the awards themselves will be presented at the May 2010 Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Las Vegas.
STLE’s practice of presenting awards to honor both technical accomplishments and extraordinary volunteer service strikes me as being a testament to the essential character of our organization and its traditions. These twin awards symbolize the fact that this is both a society of experts and a society of dedicated volunteers who are imbued with a commitment of giving back to their profession and inspiring future award winners.
The implications of having that sort of spirit in an organization are immense. While STLE selects two award recipients each year, the real winners are the thousands of individuals around the world who make up this professional community and who will benefit from the dedicated involvement of past, present and future members.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.