Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award Recipients
This award was established in 1991 in tribute to Nancy Lyman Roelker (1915–93), to honor her career and concern for students. It honors teachers of history who taught, guided, and inspired their students in a way that changed their lives. Mentoring is as important to the discipline of history as fine scholarship and good teaching. The ideal mentor is forthright, supportive, and constructively critical, committed to the student as a person, regardless of age or career goals.
2019
Stephen J. Sullivan, Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, NY
2018
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Univ. of Texas at Austin
2017
Kelsey Kauffman, Former Higher Education Program, Indiana Women’s Prison
2016
Neal Shultz, The Campus School of the New Rochelle School District
2015
Brian Balogh, Univ. of Virginia
2014
Leonard Rosenband, Utah State Univ.
2013
Shari Conditt, Woodland High Sch., WA
2012
Peter Onuf, Univ. of Virginia
2011
Elizabeth Blackmar, Columbia Univ.
2010
Christopher Lee, Zephyrhills High Sch., Zephyrhills, FL
2009
Lynn Hunt, Univ. of California, Los Angeles
2008
Warren Roberts, State Univ. of New York, Univ. at Albany
2007
Christine Hays, Poudre High Sch., Fort Collins, CO
2006
Bruce Schulman, Boston Univ.
2005
John Howes, Univ. of British Columbia
Mary Rothschild, Arizona State Univ.
2004
Karen Green, Aspen High Sch., Aspen, CO
Robert May, Northwestern-Edison Comm. High Sch., Flint, MI
2003
Thomas Brady, Jr., Univ. of Califorina, Berkeley
2002
Steven Volk, Oberlin Coll.
2001
Barry Bienstock, Horace Mann Sch., Bronx, NY
Margaret McKee, Castilleja Sch., Palo Alto, CA
2000
Nell Painter, Princeton Univ.
1999
Gary Kates, Trinity Univ., Tex.
1998
Estelle Freedman, Stanford Univ.
1997
Thea Glicksman, Okemos High Sch., Okemos, MI
1996
Terry Seip, Univ. of Southern California
1995
Joan Scott, Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton Univ.
Reginald Zelnik, Univ. of California, Berkeley
1994
Marjorie Bingham, St. Louis Park High Sch., MN
Edward Prentice, Jr., Rogers High Sch., Rogers, AR
1993
Michael Ebner, Lake Forest Coll.
1992
William Bouwsma, Univ. of California, Berkeley
2019 Roelker Award
Stephen J. Sullivan, Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, NY
Stephen J. Sullivan has made a difference in his students’ lives. His 30-plus year teaching career “has never been about showcasing what he knows,” but aimed at inspiring and exciting students about history. They recall how “Sully” led the class in singing “John Brown’s Body,” used an “outrageous analogy,” or impersonated a historical figure. Mostly they remember that he taught them how to think and write about history in order to grasp its significance.