Department of History Faculty Honored with Back-to-Back Awards

Four Department of History faculty members were recently recognized for their distinguished scholarship. Spanning a myriad of specializations, they received awards acknowledging their numerous contributions to the field, in both publication and education. The recipients are:

Peter Holquist, Associated Professor of History, has received the 2010 award of "Distinguished Editor" from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals for his work on the journal Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. Holquist's teaching and research focus upon the history of Russia and modern Europe.

Stephanie McCurry, Professor of History and Undergraduate Curriculum Chair, has won the 2010 Merle Curti Award of the Organization of American Historians for her book Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South. McCurry is a specialist in Nineteenth Century American history, with a focus on the American South and the Civil War era, and the history of women and gender. The award is given annually for the best in American social and intellectual history.

David B. Ruderman, the Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History and the Ella Darivoff Director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, was awarded the 2010 National Jewish Book Award in History for his latest work, Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History. The prestigious award, which Ruderman also won in 1982, was established over 60 years ago and is considered the most prestigious of its kind.

Thomas Sugrue, the David Boies Professor of History and Sociology, has been named the President-Elect of the Urban History Association, carrying on a Penn History tradition (Lynn Lees served as President in 1993, Michael Katz in 2003). The Association calls for renewed interest in the study of the history of the city in all periods and geographical areas.