Fort Valley State University News February 14, 2013 Georgia Association of Historians honors FVSU's Christine Lutz A Fort Valley State University assistant professor of history received a shock during an annual conference on Feb. 9. The Georgia Association of Historians named Dr. Christine Lutz as the winner of its 2013 Warren Spencer Award for her article "The People! The People!: African-American leaders on Africans and Asians at the Turn of the 20th Century." The prestigious state honor is given to the best article that appeared within the Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians during a three-year period. The honor is named in memory of University of Georgia professor Warren Spencer, a supporter of the journal who encouraged history researchers to conduct scholarship. Articles written from 2009-2011 qualified for the 2012 contest. Lee Ann Caldwell, vice president of the Georgia Humanities Council said they wanted to surprise Lutz with the recognition. To ensure that the award would remain a secret, the committee called Dr. Fred van Hartesveldt, GAH journal's co-editor and chair of the FVSU Department of History, Geography, Political Science and Criminal Justice, to ensure that Lutz would be attending the conference. "I was told to break the news if she wasn't coming," said van Hartesveldt. Thankfully, he learned that Lutz would be traveling to St. Simon's Island, so he didn't need to give away the surprise. "Dr. Lutz was very surprised when her name was announced," said Caldwell, who said Lutz didn't realize she'd won the distinguished honor, at first, when her name was called. "We were all looking out into the crowd, and had to tell her to stand up to come get her award with the plaque." Lutz's article dealt with the issue of African-Americans' historical identity. She argued that leading African-American intellectuals had not measured collective identity in comparison with whites only. The scholar examined how leading thinkers like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Jessie Barber and black missionaries, like John Wesley Cromwell, described a collective identity of African Americans against other cultures in Asia and Africa. "I wanted to write about how African American's identity varied in a world context," said the assistant professor of history, whose specialty is Atlantic world history. Originally, van Hartesveldt was scheduled to serve on the judging committee for Lutz's article. "I had to recuse myself from the judging panel," said van Hartesveldt. "Chrissy is my friend and colleague. I wanted to ensure that she received the award fair and square, and that no favoritism was shown. I was delighted, of course, after she won." "I'm really happy about this award," said Lutz, who is enthusiastic about the recognition, but believes that it is also a win for the department. "The entire FVSU history department deserves respect for their scholarship efforts," she continued. "Some of our senior historians are just amazing people, and there are individual historians in the department that deserve it more than I." For more information, contact the social sciences department at (478) 825-6230. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.