Pawling Resident Elena Mejorado Receives Laska Award from New England History Teachers Association
FRANKLIN, MA (12/07/2022)– Dean College is pleased to announce that senior history majors Scott Kirshy and Elena Mejorado have received the Laska Award from the New England History Teachers Association (NEHTA).
Kirshy and Mejorado were awarded this honor for demonstrating excellence in the history classroom and for their work digitizing over 100 back-issues of the New England Journal of History during their internship with the Journal. Kirshy, who will graduate in December 2022, and Mejorado, who will graduate in May 2023, were nominated for this award by Dr. David Dennis, professor of history and program coordinator for the humanities, and Dr. Rob Lawson, professor of history and director of the honors program at Dean. Dennis and Lawson are also on the editorial board of the New England Journal of History, which is housed at Dean and published by NEHTA.
“Scott’s sense of joyous intellectual curiosity in the learning of history has stood out from the moment he first arrived at Dean and has translated into excellent work in the classroom,” said Dennis and Lawson. “He also has gone above and beyond through his work as history peer tutor in the Theodore and Cynthia Berenson Center for Writing, Mathematics and Presentation Excellence at Dean, and through his efforts to digitize back issues of the New England Journal of History.”
“Elena brings a sense of thoughtfulness, wit, and reflection to her study of history,” Dennis and Lawson added. “She’s not always the first person to speak out in class, but when she does speak, she commands the respect of her faculty and peers. She tackled her internship digitizing back issues of the New England Journal of History with tremendous energy and organizational skill.”
Kirshy and Mejorado were presented the awards by Linda Morse, NEHTA president, during the Dean College 5th Annual History Reception at the Franklin Historical Museum on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Each student received a monetary award and complimentary membership in NEHTA.
The Laska Award is named for the late, well-known history professor, Dr. Vera Laska (1928-2005), a Kidger prize winner, and her husband Andrew J. Laska, who was a successful businessman. Both served with the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II. Dr. Laska, a native of Czechoslovakia, received her Ph.D. in American History from the University of Chicago. She taught at the University of Illinois, Roosevelt University in Chicago, and for many years at Regis College, where she chaired the Department of History and the Division of Social Sciences. She was the author of over 300 articles and reviews and seven books, the best known of which are “Women in the Resistance” and “Two Loves of Benjamin Franklin: Women and Diplomacy.” Andrew Laska was instrumental in founding branches of the Kendall Company in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and retired as a director of marketing for the company’s International Division.
To learn more, visit www.dean.edu.
Founded in 1865, Dean College is a private, residential college located in Franklin Massachusetts, 45 minutes from Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. Dean College offers baccalaureate degrees, associate degree programs, as well as a robust schedule of part-time continuing and professional education credit and certificate programs throughout the calendar year.
