The award was presented on May 30 at the annual Midwestern History Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Midwestern History Association has presented its 2024 Frederick Jackson Turner Award for Lifetime Achievement to Tom Isern, NDSU professor of history and University Distinguished Professor.
The award was presented on May 30 at the annual Midwestern History Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jeff Wells, president of the association and holder of the Dennis and Vaune Johnson Endowed Chair in U.S. History at Dickinson State University, presented the award at the conference luncheon.
The citation, read by Jon K. Lauck, editor of the Middle West Review, noted not only Isern's substantial record of research and publication, but also his engagement as a public intellectual through his weekly feature on regional history and folklore, Plains Folk, on Prairie Public radio, and his weekly livestream devoted to balladry of the Great Plains, the Willow Creek Folk School.
Previous recipients of the Turner Award include Margaret Beattie Bogue, John E. Miller, James H. Madison, William Cronon and R. Douglas Hurt.
Isern has worked at NDSU since 1992. He traveled to Grand Rapids State University for the Turner Award presentation, as did Suzzanne Kelley, Editor-in-Chief of North Dakota State University Press and editorial board member for the Middle West Review.
Photo by Suzzanne Kelley
