10 Jul 2023 Hendrix College history professor honored
CONWAY — Hendrix College has announced Dr. Allison K. Shutt, a faculty member in the Department of History since 1997, as the new Elbert L. Fausett Distinguished Professor of History. Shutt, the sixth Hendrix faculty member to hold the position, will be formally installed at a convocation set for 11:10 a.m. on Aug. 24.
Established in 1980, the professorship honors Elbert L. Fausett (1903-1985), a leading Arkansas business executive, realtor and long-time friend of the College. Previous recipients include Dr. George H. Thompson ’48 (history, 1980-1991), Dr. Robert C. Eslinger (mathematics, 1997-2004), Dr. Thomas E. Goodwin (chemistry, 2004-2016), Dr. Stella M. Čapek (sociology, 2017-2019), and Dr. Matthew D. Moran (biology, 2019-2022).
Shutt holds M.A. (African Studies) and Ph.D. (History) degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. (History) degree from William Smith College. Throughout her time at Hendrix, she has received numerous commendations for her work, including an Exemplary Teaching Award from the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and several grants for research, including a Hendrix Odyssey Professorship.
In 2015, Shutt’s first book, Manners Make a Nation: Racial Etiquette in Southern Rhodesia, was shortlisted for the British African Studies Association’s Fage-Oliver Book Prize, which is “awarded biennially to the author of an outstanding original scholarly work published on Africa during the preceding two years.”
“The prize committee called the book ‘rare and innovative,’ ‘original and engaging.’ For me, those four words constitute the highest praise a work of scholarship can receive,” wrote one nominator. “It’s also significant that she has not let up. She’s a senior faculty member who continues to improve her teaching, make her leadership felt in the community, and forge ahead with her scholarly life. It can’t be easy to stay as productive as she is when her subject’s primary materials are literally an ocean away.”
She is currently working on another book, Jasper Savanhu: History and Historiography.
Shutt’s “Doing History” course, which features Reacting to the Past role-playing games, is popular with students and well known among her colleagues.
“Everyone in Mills [Center for Social Sciences] can attest to the success of those classes, as we hear debates bursting loudly from her classroom,” a group of colleagues wrote in nominating her for the Exemplary Teaching Award. “Allison shows all her students that history can be alive and relevant.”
Shutt joins five other faculty members who hold distinguished professorships:
Dr. Carol West, the Harold and Lucy Cabe Distinguished Professor of English;
Dr. Jennifer Peszka, the Virginia A. McCormick Pittman Distinguished Professor of Psychology;
Dr. Alex Vernon, the M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of English;
Dr. John Krebs, the Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Music; andDr. Lyle Rupert ’82, the C. Louis and Charlotte Cabe Distinguished Professor of Economics and Business.
