Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award Grant

The Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award, presented by the American Historical Association, recognizes exceptional history teachers who inspire and guide their students. This prestigious award emphasizes the importance of mentorship in education, highlighting qualities like support, honesty, and a commitment to student growth. Designed for secondary school teachers, it celebrates those who foster a deep appreciation for history and contribute to the personal and professional development of their mentees. The award is given every three years, reinforcing the value of dedicated mentorship in shaping future historians.

Background
The Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award was established to honor teachers of history who taught, guided, and inspired their students in a way that changed their lives. Mentoring is as important to the discipline of history as fine scholarship and good teaching. The ideal mentor is forthright, supportive, and constructively critical, committed to the student as a person, regardless of age or career goals.
While it is difficult to formulate a precise definition of this multifaceted process, there are some essential elements:
belief in the value of the study of history and commitment to and love of teaching it to students regardless of age or career goalsconsistent personal commitment by the mentor to the student as a personhonesty and integrity of the mentormentor’s contribution to the process of mentoring as a one-to-one partnership in learning that is comfortable to both, that is likely to endure and develop beyond the initial context as each learns from, gives to, and shares with the other, enriching both professional and personal lives
The Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award is given on a three-year cycle: graduate mentors (including combined graduate and undergraduate teaching); secondary school teachers, and undergraduate mentors (both two-and four-year colleges).

Eligibility

The 2025 award is for secondary school teachers.