The History Section Presents 2023 Distinguished and Young Alumni Awards
The History Section at Eastern Michigan University is proud to announce that it will present two alumni with awards at the History Honors Reception on April 12, 2023. Former U.S. Representative Dennis Hertel will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award and Sarah Jessup will receive the Young Alumni Award.
Nominations for the awards were made by alumni and faculty from the History Section. The History Community Board selected the winners and is providing the awards. The History Community Board consists of alumni, friends, and faculty. It was formed in 2021. This is the first year that the board has awarded outstanding alumni for their achievements.
The winner of the Distinguished Alumni Award is the Honorable Dennis Hertel. Hertel was born in Detroit and earned a B.S. in History from EMU in 1971. He also earned a J.D. from Wayne State University before serving in the Michigan House of Representatives. In 1980, Hertel was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan’s 14th Congressional District as a Democrat. He served in the House from 1981 to 1993, during which time he was a member of the House Armed Services Committee, chaired the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, and was Ranking Member on the Research and Development Sub-Committee.
Rep. Dennis Hertel with President Joe Biden
In Departures on the House: How Retirements, Redistricting and Scandal Yielded a Near-Postwar Record of House Members Exiting in 1992 (2020), Scott Crass portrays Dennis Hertel as an effective and principled member of the Michigan House and U.S. Congress. “Throughout his 12 years in Congress (six terms) and as a member of the Armed Services Committee, he undertook numerous measures to combat what he viewed as a wasteful if not heinous display of government misuse.”
Since leaving Congress, Dennis Hertel has been Vice President of National Environmental Policy Institute and worked extensively with EPA. He has also served in leadership roles of the International Election Monitors Institute, the United States Former Members of Congress Association, the Council for a Community of Democracies, and the Congressional Hunger Center. He is currently a senior counselor with the Livingston Group. He remains active in Michigan political campaigns and lives in Harper Woods.
The winner of the Young Alumni Award is Ms. Sarah Jessup. Jessup was raised in Ohio and attended Eastern Michigan University from 2017 to 2020. During her time at EMU, Jessup served as President of Model United Nations and conducted original research on topics pertaining to Ukraine. In Summer 2020, she received the Title VIII Fellowship for Indiana University’s Summer Language Workshop to learn Estonian. She graduated summa cum laude in April 2020 with a double major in History and International Affairs.
Sarah Jessup at the University of Glasgow
After graduating from EMU, Sarah Jessup enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Programme of International Masters in Central and East European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. She was awarded an EU fully-funded scholarship and graduated with distinction, receiving her master’s in September 2022. Jessup has had internships at the U.S. Department of State, the Instytut Kościuszki, and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. She currently has a position at NATO ACT in the Office of the POLAD/International Affairs in Norfolk, Virginia.
Rep. Hertel and Ms. Jessup will receive their awards at the History Honors Reception on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at the EMU Student Center. The History Honors Reception is the History Section’s annual celebration of excellence. In addition to the alumni awards, the History Section will also announce the winners of its undergraduate and graduate scholarships, as well as recognize student presentations from the 2023 Undergraduate Research Symposium and the 2023 Graduate Research Conference.
The History Community Board will also be recognized at the History Honors Reception. The board currently consists of Ms. Michele Anderson, former Social Studies teacher and current lecturer at the University of Michigan; Dr. Kathleen Chamberlain, Emerita Professor of History at EMU, Ms. Kelly Haas, Social Studies Department Head at Huron Valley Schools; Maj. Gen. William Henderson (Ret.); Dr. Peter Higgins, Department Head of History and Philosophy at EMU; Dr. John G. McCurdy, Professor of History at EMU; Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Murphy, Associate Professor of History at EMU; Hon. Daniel S. Opperman, Chief Judge of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; Ms. Roxanne Reinhardt, Esq., associate attorney at Haynes Boone; and Dr. David Walton, Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Global Black Studies Program at Western Carolina University.
For more information about the EMU History Alumni Awards, please contact John McCurdy at [email protected].