Fairweather named Distinguished Lifetime Educator
Floyd Fairweather, professor emeritus of humanities, was named Distinguished Lifetime Educator at the annual Employee Appreciation Banquet today. The award is made to a retired faculty member who has exhibited outstanding contributions to the university during their employment and after retirement.
Fairweather retired in May of 1993 from Minot State University after 32 years of dedicated service. Initially, Fairweather came to Minot State University in 1961 to teach English, French and speech at Minot Model. Gradually, he moved over to the Division of Humanities, where he taught English, speech, literature, costuming, art history and humanities. He received his bachelor’s degree in art from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn. Fairweather served four years during the Korean War in the U.S. Air Force, chiefly in the St. Louis area and in Tokyo, Japan. He completed his master’s degree at the University of Idaho, Moscow.
During his years at Minot State, Fairweather brought art history and the humanities alive for countless students in the courses he taught. He was also a distinguished artist whose talents were in demand for projects as diverse as the opera sets and private-painting commissions. His students looked forward to his lectures, slides and enlightenment on technique, content and what it means to live as an artist, and more importantly, as a human being. He taught with characteristic energy and wit. Fairweather’s former students remember the high standards to which he held them and acknowledge that they learned so much, appreciated so much more and learned to love the subject, through the passion of its presentation. He also engaged the regional community through the pursuit of his interests in antiques. Ultimately, he donated many of his antiques to the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.
After retirement, Fairweather remains engaged in the art community and pursues an interest in the antique-seeking community.
03/09/09