For immediate release
Contact: Nicole Kranzler, 773-3426

SDSU professor/author wins state’s highest award for history

PIERRE – John E. Miller of Brookings, a history professor at South Dakota State University and a well-known state author, will receive the Robinson Award from the South Dakota State Historical Society April 12 at its annual meeting in Pierre.

The Robinson Award, named for the first state historian, Doane Robinson, and his son, Will G. Robinson, is the highest and most prestigious of the annual Governor’s Awards for History. The award recognizes a lifetime of historical achievements and contributions.

Miller has taught history courses at SDSU for 29 years in the fields of economic history, 20^th century history, South Dakota history and historical methods. His teaching, widespread publishing of articles and books, frequent talks and lectures to groups of all kinds and contributions to the South Dakota State Historical Society, the South Dakota Humanities Council and the Brookings County Historical Society truly make him an ambassador of South Dakota history.

The individual winner of this year’s Governor’s Awards for History is Charles “Chuck” Cecil of Brookings. The honored history organization is the Farmer Grotto Restoration Group of Farmer. The Herbert S. Schell Award goes to Suzanne Barta Julin of Missoula, Montana The Elementary History Teacher of the Year is the duet of Cheryl Ochsner and Carla Schopp of Warner Elementary in Warner, and the Secondary History Teacher of the Year is K. Lance VanderVorst of Herreid High School in Herreid.

“These individuals and organization all deserve our thanks and gratitude for helping to preserve the history of South Dakota,” Gov. Mike Rounds said. “Through their work, our state’s history will be available for future generations.”

Cecil, a retired journalist, newspaper publisher and director of development at SDSU, has greatly increased interest in and financial support for the Brookings County Historical Society and the County History Museum during the last five years. A 6-year member of the BCHS board, Cecil started a quarterly society newsletter, has written five books on Brookings and South Dakota topics, continues to write free-lance articles for newspapers and appears on a weekly radio broadcast in which he discusses history-related topics.

The eight members of the Farmer Grotto Restoration Group successfully organized a movement to restore an old 1933 artifact of Farmer -- the grotto of the former St. Peters Parish, a rock structure resembling a temple. The group raised nearly $16,000 in private funds from more than 200 individuals and organizations, and acquired a $3,000 grant from the State Historical Society’s Deadwood Historic Preservation Fund. The grotto has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Schell Award is given annually to the author of the best article published in South Dakota History. Julin’s article, “Art Meets Politics: Peter Norbeck, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Sylvan Lake Hotel Commission,” appeared in Volume 32, Number 2, Summer 2002 issue.

Ochsner and Schopp, third and fourth grade teachers in Warner, have been teaching for 17 and nine years, respectively. They teamed up six years ago to develop a South Dakota History Plan of Study. The program has grown each year and is now shared with other state schools over the state’s v-tel system.

VanderVorst, a 9-year teacher of history, assigns activities and projects with the hope that his students will learn to respect and honor our veterans by becoming involved with history. VanderVorst has his students learn by actually spending time with those who have lived through historical events, conducting interviews and recording them for future generations. VanderVorst’s students have archived more than 100 such historical interviews.

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