Walt Terrie was a faculty member and applied demographer at Florida State University and an active member of the Southern Demographic Association. After he died suddenly in 1997, SDA and FSU began awarding the Walt Terrie Award to recognize the “best paper presented at the SDA Annual Meeting on an applied topic, especially one relating to state and local demography.” The award is chosen by a committee appointed by the SDA President and including at least one FSU faculty member.

Past Winners of the Terrie Award include:

2007: Stanley K. Smith, Stefan Rayer and Eleanor A. Smith
Aging and Disability: Implications for the Housing Industry and Public Policy in the United States

2007: Guangqing Chi
Knowledge can Improve Forecasts: The Consideration of Non-Demographic Factors for Small-area Population Forecasting

2006: J. Gregory Robinson
A Demographic Analysis of the Estimates from the 2005 ACS Gulf Coast Area Special Products

2005: Qian Cai
New Techniques in Small Area Population Estimates by Demographic Characteristics

2003: Stanley K. Smith and Jeff Tayman
An Evaluation of Population Projections by Age

1999: Jeff Tayman, David Swanson and Charlie Barr
We Are What We Measure: Toward a New Approach for Assessing Population Forecast Accuracy

1997: Stanley K. Smith and June Nogle
An Experimental Methodology for Estimating Hispanic Residents for States and Counties

posted December 2007

The Terrie Award Fund has grown through the generosity of a number of SDA members so it is within a realistic striking distance of $10,000, the amount necessary to permanently endow it and maintain the current annual cash prize of $400. Information is provided below on the Terrie Award and fundraising efforts to date – including a special challenge grant from Jerry McKibben that will be an instrumental incentive.

A fundraising campaign is underway to complete the endowment for this award. Begun in earnest last year by David Swanson, the award fund has grown substantially in the past year. Our goal by the end of this year is to not only complete the endowment but have enough so that we will be able to maintain at least the current level of the award in perpetuity.

Our fund raising target is roughly $4,000. Dr. Jerry McKibben has generously offered to match contributions up to a total of $2,000, making the fund raising goal very possible in a short period of time. Please consider the E. Walter Terrie Award Fund for your end-of-year philanthropy.

Contributions can be made either by check or electronically using a credit card. Specifics follow:

BY CHECK:
Mail the check made out to the FSU Foundation to The Florida State University Foundation, 2010 Levy Avenue, PO Box 3062739, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2739. Be sure to specify the E. Walter Terrie Award Fund #4885 as the destination for your gift.

VIA THE WEB:
Go to the FSU Foundation website and use your credit card to make a contribution. If you prefer, you may also print out the form and mail your check to the Foundation. Again, be sure to specify the E. Walter Terrie Award Fund #4885 as the destination for your gift.

Questions can be addressed to Ike Eberstein at the Center for Demography & Population Health, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2240, 850-644-7108, Eberstein@fsu.edu.