In 2022 I was absolutely astounded to be award the American Historical Association’s Eugene Asher Award for distinguished teaching.
According to the AHA, “Established in 1986, the Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes outstanding teaching and advocacy for history teaching at two-year, four-year, and graduate colleges and universities. The award is named for the late Eugene Asher, for many years a leading advocate for history teaching. The Society for History Education (SHE) shares with the AHA sponsorship of the award. It recognizes inspiring teachers whose techniques and mastery of subject matter made a lasting impression and substantial difference to students of history. Members of the AHA and SHE submit nominations to the Committee on Teaching Prizes.”
The award committee said, “Katie Stringer Clary’s teaching materials demonstrate that she is a creative teacher who is committed to engaging students in public history from an inclusive framework. Her syllabi provide a breadth of resources and activities for students to develop historical thinking skills. The use of the UnEssay Project, for instance, taps into creative responses to a question while still requiring historical research, while Reacting to the Past scenarios help students to develop a historian’s sense of sourcing and perspective.”
Clearly this wouldnt be possible without my amazing students!!
4 former students, my community partner and friend Chief Hatcher, and a colleague nominated me, and I will forever treasure their nomination letters and comments.
Since I found out about this award I’ve had some time to reflect on those comments and my 7.5 years teaching and… wow. How did I get so lucky to have such an amazing and sometimes absurd job? Also, I spend most of my time pointing at things or wielding power tools, turns out.
Katie Stringer Clary, PhD 