Kotlowski Named 2010 SU Distinguished Faculty Award Honoree
SALISBURY, MD---A nationally known presidential historian and Fulbright scholar, Dr. Dean Kotlowski is the 2010 Salisbury University Distinguished Faculty Award honoree.
Celebrating his 10th year at SU this semester, the history professor earned critical acclaim for his book Nixon’s Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy, published by Harvard University Press. His work earned him an invitation to speak at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, CA, where his presentation was broadcast by C-SPAN. He also has been interviewed by National Public Radio and U.S. News & World Report, among others.
“He is an outstanding, highly dedicated teacher, his scholarly record is among the strongest the University has ever seen, and his service to the community both within and outside the University has been excellent,” said Dr. Maarten Pereboom, dean of the Charles R. and Martha N. Fulton School of Liberal Arts and a former colleague in the History Department.
Kotlowski has helped students hone their skills as historians through hands-on research. As co-founder of the Fulton School’s Brown Bag Lunch Discussion Series, he has “fostered a sense of community within the school while promoting scholarship among its faculty,” said Pereboom.
“While he could certainly hold his own with the PBS News Hour panel of presidential historians, his work testifies also to a profound concern for marginalized and downtrodden peoples, the environment and this country’s interactions with the rest of the world, all absolutely vital to a vibrant and meaningful U.S. history curriculum,” he added.
Kotlowski has worked extensively with area teachers and given numerous talks in the community.
Supporting Kotlowski’s nomination for the award, Dr. Stephen Gehnrich, chair of SU’s Biological Sciences Department, recalled his own time in the classroom as a student of the professor: “Dean maintains a very comfortable atmosphere in the classroom, allowing each student to have a say … while he listens carefully and responds respectfully. His breadth and depth of knowledge is truly astounding.”
SU’s History Club has honored Kotlowski with a Best Advisor Award. In 2009, he also earned the Fulton School’s inaugural Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship.
Dr. James Welsh, SU professor emeritus of English and founder of the international journal Lit/Film Quarterly, praised Kotlowski for his willingness to share his knowledge with students and colleagues throughout the world:
“Dr. Kotlowski has also set a very high standard for participating in international conferences. I am amazed by the variety of places Dean has been invited to lecture abroad, extensively in the United Kingdom and other far-ranging venues such as the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, India.
“In over 40 years of university teaching, both at home and abroad on two Fulbright assignments, I have encountered perhaps hundreds of professors, but not all of them, alas, would I consider intellectuals, as I most certainly do consider Dean Kotlowski. In facing new ideas and new challenges, he is, in a word, intrepid.”
In addition to publishing in eight refereed journals in the past decade, Kotlowski also has spent time researching what he hopes will be another key book in American political history: a biography of 1930s presidential hopeful and first U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Paul McNutt. In 2008, Kotlowski was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to continue his research in the Philippines. While there, he taught a version of his popular “America in the 1970s” course to students at De La Salle University in Manila.
He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in history from Indiana University and his B.A. in history from Canisius College, Buffalo, NY.
For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.