Three members of the history department community were recognized by the College of Humanities and Fine Arts for their contributions to the department, research, and teaching. From education to public engagement to scholarship, all three awardees play essential roles in ensuring our students’ success and uplifting our department’s scholarship in the history field and beyond.
The College Outstanding Teacher Award went to Daniel Gordon, a historian of political and social ideas. This award is presented annually within HFA to faculty who have made significant contributions to undergraduate student education. The recipients are celebrated for exceptional teaching, mentoring, and curriculum development efforts, and for their impact on students' lives. Upon receiving the award, Gordon shared that he is, “grateful to have excellent colleagues in the history department... And grateful to the College of Humanities for helping to create a terrific environment for research and teaching."
Gordon directs the department’s Honors program and has overseen many undergraduate theses, providing guidance and helping students deepen their scholarship. One of his students reflected that Gordon taught students to think like academics. He described how Gordon “taught me how to absorb the ideas and style from materials and synthesize them with my own individuality. He truly gave me the space and guidance to evolve as a writer and thinker.”
Historian of the French Revolution Jennifer Ngaire Heuer is one of four inaugural Dean’s Fellows, and has been named Outstanding Fellow in recognition of her research, teaching, and creativity. The fellowship supports research and professional development for a three-year term. Heuer shared, "I am grateful to my colleagues, both in history and in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, for choosing me for this award; I am truly delighted to receive it!"
Heuer’s nominator noted her “international reputation and collaborations, her leadership in and service to the profession, and (above all) her outstanding publication record.” In just one of many examples of her distinguished scholarship, Heuer’s most recent monograph, The Soldier’s Reward (Princeton University Press, 2024) won the David H. Pinkney Prize for the most distinguished book in French history. A reviewer of the book wrote, “with its innovative approach that brings together military history, cultural history, social history, gender history, and the history of emotion, The Soldier’s Reward will be essential reading for decades.”
The department’s Outreach and Community Engagement Director Jess Johnson received the annual HFA Outstanding Staff Award, which recognizes two recipients college-wide for their contributions to their department or college.
Johnson’s nominators spoke of her work expanding the department’s online education programs, sharing the work of the history department with broad audiences, and building community-based programs and partnerships, all of which “enhance our ability to make an impact on the world.” In particular, her nominators shared how she transformed the department’s Feinberg Series – a public-oriented educational series that puts major social issues in historical context – into an offering that is “truly global in nature.” Describing her work on the series as tireless, collaborative and creative, nominators note that “it has become increasingly commonplace to encounter people from across the country and around the world who have heard of the UMass history department because of the events Jess has organized.”
Congratulations to Daniel Gordon, Jennifer Heuer, and Jess Johnson for their contributions to the department and HFA!