Florida State history professor is Florida Professor of the Year

Jonathan Grant

Jonathan A. Grant, a professor in The Florida State University Department of History, can lay claim to an academic honor that truly distinguishes him from his peers: He has been named the 2008 Florida Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Grant, whose teaching areas include the histories of Russia, Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and World War I, was officially recognized on Nov. 20 during a U.S. Professors of the Year award program hosted by the Carnegie Foundation in Washington, D.C.

"I was very surprised to learn that I had been named as the Florida Professor of the Year," Grant said. "There are so many of my colleagues in the history department and across this campus who are excellent teachers. I hope this award helps call attention to Florida State's commitment to high-quality undergraduate education."

The U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country — those who excel in teaching and positively influence the lives and careers of students. Sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, it is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.

Grant's involvement in undergraduate education includes having served as director of Florida State's Bryan Hall Learning Community from 2004 to 2008 and serving as associate chair for undergraduate studies in the history department since 2007.

"Jonathan Grant has been honored with several university teaching awards, and it's wonderful to see him getting this kind of national recognition," said Professor Elna Green, chairwoman of Florida State's Department of History.

Grant received his bachelor's degree (1986) and two master's degrees (1989 and 1990) from Indiana University before earning his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin in 1995. A specialist in modern Russian history, he is the author of "Big Business in Russia: The History of the Putilov Company in Late Imperial Russia, 1868-1917" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999). His most recent book, "Rulers, Guns, and Money" (Harvard University Press, 2007), deals with the global army trade in the age of imperialism.

Grant's current research examines the arms trade in Eastern Europe during the interwar period from 1919 to 1939. This work is part of an international research project on the global arms trade and disarmament headed by Meiji University in Tokyo.

All undergraduate instructors in the United States, of any academic rank and at any type of undergraduate institution, are eligible for the Professor of the Year award. Entries are judged by top U.S. educators and other active participants in education.

Visit www.usprofessorsoftheyear.org for more on the program.

By Barry Ray