Lookingbill receives national distinguished teaching award

Dr. Brad Lookingbill, professor of history, has been awarded the Eugene Asher Distinguished teaching prize through the American Historical Association, according to a news release issued by Columbia College. The Excellence in Teaching award was established in 1986 and is awarded to a history teacher at two- and four-year institutions as well as master's granting institutions. This recognition also includes a $1,000 cash award.

Lookingbill was nominated for the award by Dr. Michael Polley, associate professor of history. Polley said students and faculty are inspired by Lookingbill’s high standards, sense of humor and devotion to the craft of history. "Professor Lookingbill is one of the most student-oriented professors I have encountered in my 37 years in higher education," Polley said.

Dr. Terry Smith, executive vice president and dean for academic affairs, agrees that Lookingbill is deserving of the award. "He is not only Columbia College's most prolific young scholar, but he is also consistently rated by students as one of our very best teachers,” Smith said. “He receives accolades in general education classes as well as classes for history majors."

Lookingbill will be honored Jan. 8 at the General Meeting of the American Historical Association in San Diego. He said he feels privileged to teach students about his area of interest and expertise. "It is such an honor to receive recognition for doing something I love," Lookingbill said.

A member of the college faculty since 1996, Lookingbill has written two books: Dust Bowl, USA: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929-1941 (Ohio University Press, 2001) and War Dance at Fort Marion: Plains Indian War Prisoners (University of Oklahoma Press, 2006). Lookingbill also has written for multiple scholarly journals, including American Indian Quarterly and Reviews in American History.

He has received multiple awards, including the Governor's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2002 and the Columbia College Trustee's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007. In 2003 he was selected as a Frederick W. Beinecke Fellow in Western Americana at Yale University.