CSULB History Professors Earn American Historical Association Award

A congratulations are in order for Professors Tim Keirn and Eileen Luhr of the History Department. Tim Keirn, coordinator of the Social Science Program at CSULB and lecturer in the Department of History and Liberal Studies, and Eileen Luhr, associate professor of History and advisor of the Social Science Credential Program, have recently won the American Historical Association’s (AHA) 2013 William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for their article, “Subject Matter Counts: The Pre-Service Teaching and Learning of Historical Thinking,” (The History Teacher, Volume 45, Number 4, 2012, pp 493-511).

The Gilbert Prize is awarded annually by the American Historical Association in recognition of outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of journal articles. The prize will be awarded during a ceremony at the Association’s 128th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, January 2-5, 2014.  The journal, The History Teacher, is published by the Society of History Education, and it is the only pedagogical journal affiliated with the AHA. CSULB’s own Dr. Jane Dabel of the History Department is the Editor of the journal.

Paul G.E. Clemens, the 2013 Asher Prize committee chair and professor of history at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, noted that “’Keirn and Luhr not only report on the diminishing role of history departments in preparing students to teach history in the secondary school system, but also show that new teachers who have combined rigorous undergraduate training in history with traditional pedagogic training in history education do better in the high school classroom.’”

Professor Keirn and Luhr’s work emphasizes the importance of secondary teacher training within the disciplines — a rare practice endorsed campus-wide at CSULB. Their work certainly shows the importance of what is accomplished in the College of Liberal Arts!

For further information on the William and Edwyna Gilbert award and the American Historical Association, please visit CSULB’s Department of History homepage.