Dr. Keith A. Erekson has been appointed by the president of The University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Diana S. Natalicio, to oversee planning for the celebration of the University’s centennial in 2014. Erekson will coordinate both the study of the institution’s history and the planning of commemorative events and programming.
A new report authored by Erekson and published by the Texas Faculty Collaborative for Social Studies created a small firestorm in the media, claiming state and national headlines during the same week in November 2011 that Americans voted in the general election, Rick Perry said “oops” in a Republican primary debate, Penn State fired Joe Paterno, and Herman Cain and Justin Bieber responded to critical allegations. After a liberal political activist organization wrote a press release that tacitly distorted the nature of the report, the story spread like wildfire through liberal media outlets until it escalated into a “damning,” “slamming,” and “ripping” attack by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry. Thankfully, more sensible journalists soon waded in to remind the public that the report provides numerous clear recommendations for addressing two daunting challenges facing K-16 history educators in the state of Texas–dozens of overlapping educational standards and a crisis in K-12 college preparation. [Click here to learn more]
Arts and Humanities in Higher Education has published Erekson’s “From Archive to Awards Ceremony: An Approach for Engaging Students in Historical Research.” The article presents a model–derived from his book Everybody’s History–for teaching advanced students to how to conduct historical research by guiding them from primary source work in the archives through a public presentation. AHHE is an international peer reviewed journal that publishes articles, reviews, and scholarly comment relating to the arts and humanities in higher education.
“Former FFTF Fellow Keith Erekson Receives Prestigious ‘Outstanding Teaching Award’ from the University of Texas” [Read article]
Today the Board of Regents of the University of Texas system presented its prestigious Outstanding Teaching Award to Keith A. Erekson. His teaching performance over three years was rigorously examined by students, campus leaders, and external judges. He received a bronze medallion, a certificate, and cash prize–sharing $1.8 million with 72 faculty members from the across the UT system.
UTEP press release | UT Regents press release | Official website
The Journal of American History has published Erekson’s “Putting History Teaching ‘In its Place.’” The article uses the example of the “Lincoln Inquiry” to urge history teachers to remember the importance of places–the archives and the presenter’s podium–in teaching students to do history. The Journal of American History is the leading scholarly publication and the journal of record in American history.
