WSU faculty member in the department of history, Clif Stratton, has been awarded the Eugene Aster Award from the American Historical Association, for the mandatory freshman course, History 105 Roots in Contemporary Issues.

“It’s an honor… It took me awhile to put it into perspective, I talked to my dissertation adviser shortly after it was announced and she was rattling off the list of past recipients and some of them are like major — everyone on the graduate level knows them,” Stratton said.

The course was developed collaboratively with others in the history department and focuses on core issues that could correlate with issues in the modern world and on creating assignments that best worked with goals of the university.

“Clif was instrumental in designing and implementing the class, and has shared selflessly of his expertise with his colleagues as we develop the program,” said Raymond Sun, head of WSU history department. “Obviously, receiving the American Historical Association’s award for excellence in teaching is a tremendous honor for Dr. Stratton — he earned it largely for his creative work in designing and teaching RCI.”

Stratton and others believe that freshman are not given enough training on how to write and find sources, and the Roots in Contemporary Issues course helps them hone in on that skill.

“It is great working with Professor Stratton, he is very engaging with students,” said Renee Torres, first year master student who works with Stratton. “I have learned to try and be innovative and connect and engage with students,” she said.

History 105 has proven to be a much more rigorous course then the previous model of it. Yet, student evaluations have improved even though good grades have become harder to earn. 

There was a push for smaller class sizes in 105, and that was granted so students would have the opportunity to engage with each other and talk in small groups about course topics and issues. 

One goal of this class is to help prepare students for other classes that are harder and give them the tools to be able to succeed in an upper-division course. 

Some immediate goals for Stratton are to develop new issues that are up to date with the contemporary issues in our world today, and to be more intentional about the disciplinary nature with the issues discussed in class. 

“This course is not a choice for students and it should provide students with the foundation to understand the other kinds of knowledge they encounter somewhere else on this campus,” Stratton said.

When Stratton was asked the question, “The education system is a renaissance model in a highly technology evolving environment, do you believe it still works and if so why?” 

To Stratton the answer is yes; the education system still works because no one can learn everything they need to by having information delivered to them by technology. They need to be challenged in the classroom and learn how to connect with other students, communicate their ideas, and learn to problem-solve. 

“Technology doesn’t teach you how to write or communicate. It doesn’t take into account idiosyncrasies of humans and emotion, computers can’t foresee those things,” Stratton said.​