ASU Senior Receives Top Honor

Joshua Logsdon, a senior in Angelo State University’s Honors Program, has been selected as one of only 15 recipients nationwide of the 2014 Gilder Lehrman History Scholar Award by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York.

The award recognizes outstanding graduating college seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence, dedication to the study of American history, and a commitment to public service and community involvement. Logsdon will join the 14 other recipients in New York June 6-9 for History Scholars Weekend, a program of special presentations, meetings with eminent history and American studies scholars, and tours of historic archives.  He will receive his award at a dinner sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute at the conclusion of the weekend.

A history major from Lometa, Logsdon submitted a portion of his honors thesis, “West Texas Welfare: The Pauper System in West Texas, 1876-1930,” as the writing sample for his History Scholar Award application.  His article previously won the Best Student Essay Award at the West Texas Historical Association Meeting earlier this month, for which he received a $400 prize and the opportunity to publish his paper in the West Texas Historical Association Review. 

Through the ASU Honors Program’s Community Leadership Initiative, Logsdon has served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Fort Concho National Historic Landmark, and he has also served as president of ASU’s chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society.

Currently a student assistant in ASU’s West Texas Collection, Logsdon is also completing an internship involving the collection of oral histories of Vietnam veterans.  He has also made multiple research presentations at regional and national history and Honors Program conferences.  His research is funded in part by an Undergraduate Research Fellowship from ASU’s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Research.  His faculty research mentors are Dr. David Dewar, associate professor of history, and Dr. Shirley Eoff, professor of history and Honors Program director.

“Josh’s success in these regional and national competitions is a tribute to his own intelligence and work ethic, but also to the quality of the training and educational opportunities he has received at ASU and in the Honors Program,” Eoff said.  “He has developed into a fine young historian who will be a superb ambassador for Angelo State and the ASU Honors Program as he continues his studies.”

Logsdon will graduate with Highest University Honors in May with a Bachelor of Arts in history with minors in philosophy, Spanish and German.  He will enter Texas Tech University’s graduate history program in June with plans to eventually earn a doctorate in history and pursue a career in university teaching and research.