Kent State University at Ashtabula Associate Professor of History Bradley Keefer, Ph.D., was recently named one of ten finalists for the University’s most prestigious teaching honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award. The award is sponsored annually by the Kent State Alumni Association and is presented to three full-time faculty members who demonstrate extraordinary teaching in the classroom and the devotion to touching the lives of students.
Keefer has taught on the Ashtabula Campus since 2007. Prior to that, he served as an adjunct faculty member at the Kent, Stark and Tuscarawas Campuses.
“I am very pleased to be a finalist for the Kent State Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award,” Keefer said. “It is particularly gratifying that some of my students took the time to nominate me among the many excellent faculty members here at Kent State Ashtabula. While I may not be the most technically savvy instructor they encounter at the university, students seem to sense how much I enjoy teaching and it creates a memorable experience for all of us. Their enthusiasm, efforts, and positive feedback provide endless inspiration to keep me doing what I do.”
Keefer holds a Ph.D., master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in history – all from Kent State. His courses taught include U.S. History Formative and Modern Periods, Sectional Conflict and Civil War, History of Ohio and American History Through Popular Music, among many others. His areas of expertise include war and memory, preservation, commemoration, the Civil War and Spanish-American War.
Outside the classroom Keefer is an active Civil War and colonial period living historian and has participated with the 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as an interpretive NPS volunteer at the Gettysburg National Military Park, Antietam National Battlefield, and Appomattox Court House National Military Park. He has also served or serves on the provost’s tenure and promotion boards, the Kent State Ashtabula United Way committee, the Kent State May 4th National Historic Landmark Committee and the May 4th 50th Anniversary Commemoration Committee.
This is the fourth time in the last six years Keefer has been named a finalist for the Distinguished Teaching Award. This year’s award winners will be announced at the University Teaching Council Conference in October.
Kent State Ashtabula has had three previous winners of the Distinguished Teaching Award: Associate Professor of Chemistry Ann Abraham, Ph.D. (2013), English Associate Professor Deb Bice, Ph.D. (2010), and Emeritus Associate Professor in Nursing and former Dean and Chief Administrative Officer Susan Stocker, Ph.D. (1999).
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