Recognizing outstanding educators of America's founding principles and history

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JMC Announces Winners of
2024 Teaching Excellence Award
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Each year, the Jack Miller Center recognizes outstanding educators dedicated to teaching America's founding principles and history with our Teaching Excellence Award.

To select our annual awardees, JMC evaluates student nominations, field evaluations, and in-depth reports from the nominees themselves. Through our rigorous process, we find the best and brightest civic educators in America. It is always an experience that fills us with immense hope and demonstrates the ongoing influence great teachers have in the classroom and beyond.

“Civic education is all about empowering students to take responsibility for self-government,” JMC president Hans Zeiger said. “These teachers and scholars help students understand the inheritance of freedom that makes America exceptional. I am always encouraged by the Teaching Excellence Award winners, but it has been particularly inspirational this year to have a chance to celebrate the real victories these honorees are winning in the classroom.”
Senior Scholar Winners
Susan McWilliams Barndt (Pomona College)
Jonathan White (Christopher Newport University)

Junior Scholar Winner
Rudy Hernandez (University of Missouri)

K-12 Teacher Winner
Jane Highley (Devon Preparatory School)

Honorable Mention
Sergio de Alba (R.M. Miano Elementary School)
Congratulations, Susan, Jonathan, Rudy, Jane, and Sergio! Your efforts in (and out) of the classroom are appreciated!

Read more about these inspirational educators below!

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Susan McWilliams Barndt ([link removed]) is a Professor of Politics at Pomona College. In an age of student cynicism and polarization, she revitalizes her students’ faith in our political system and humanizes American politics: “I want them to understand that we can disagree with others about policy questions and still be friends with them—that we can still love them, even. I am old-fashioned enough to believe that democracy rests on our willingness to love our fellow human beings, even and perhaps especially when they behave in difficult ways.”
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Jonathan White ([link removed]) is Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University. He encourages his students to think critically while reading important primary texts, gaining a better understanding of America’s history and founding principles and developing as engaged and informed citizens. Aside from work on his many successful books and publications, White has a prolific record of mentoring students in their own research and publications: “…seeing the joy on their faces when they receive a real magazine, periodical or book in the mail with their name on it is extraordinarily satisfying for me as a professor."

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Rudy Hernandez ([link removed]) is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Missouri’s Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and Department of Political Science. Hernandez skillfully pairs primary and secondary sources in a way that connects current questions of American democracy with the American political tradition. His own enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity are an inspiration to his students, who embrace the rigor of his classes and eagerly engage in fruitful classroom discussion.
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Jane Highley ([link removed]) is a middle and high school teacher at Devon Preparatory School in Devon, Pennsylvania where she teaches government, civics, and U.S. history. She strives to create civility in a “classroom environment in which civil dialogue isn’t the norm.” With this as the standard, her students are free to ask questions that inspire discourse and a spirit of curiosity about different perspectives, rather than division. Her teaching continues to renew her love of this country, especially as an immigrant and naturalized citizen; it reminds her of the strength of our Constitution in withstanding the test of time for nearly 250 years.

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Sergio de Alba ([link removed]) is a 4th-6th grade teacher at R. M. Miano Elementary School in Los Banos, California, where he teaches Civil Rights and American History. De Alba makes a difference in the lives of his elementary school students, many of whom are underprivileged, by righting their misunderstandings of American government and showing them how they are a part of the American experiment: “Throughout my career, I have shown that this topic is not too advanced for this age group and how it develops a sense of pride for students when they are given an opportunity to make a difference and have their voices heard.”
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About the Jack Miller Center

The Jack Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars and teachers dedicated to educating the next generation about the core texts and ideas of the American political tradition.

We have four objectives while pursuing this mission:
1. renew the serious study of America’s founding principles and history in higher education;
2. transform K-12 teacher education for civics and history teachers;
3. build the premier online American tradition library and learning tool; and
4. grow the nationwide movement to strengthen American civic education.

Learn more at www.jackmillercenter.org ([link removed])

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