ASU professor receives Governor's Preservation Award
Professor Noel Stowe is being honored for his outstanding achievements in preserving Arizona’s historic resources through the public history program he guides at Arizona State University. He received the 2008 Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Award and was recognized June 13 at the Arizona Statewide Historic Preservation Partnership Conference.
“Noel Stowe has worked tirelessly as a public historian to preserve historic documents, archives and monuments. His knowledge and commitment have helped Arizona preserve its heritage,” says Deborah Losse, dean of humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “The award is a well-deserved recognition of his contributions.”
Stowe was nominated for the honor by William Collins, deputy state historic preservation officer. Collins, an ASU alumnus, earned a bachelor’s degree in history and economics in 1986, a master’s degree in economics in 1990 and a doctorate in history in 1999.
“The Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Award will be presented to Professor Noel Stowe in recognition of his years of service as founder and guiding spirit behind the ASU Department of History's Public History Program,” Collins says. “Over the years, this nationally recognized program has graduated numerous public history and historic preservation professionals who now apply their knowledge and skills across the country, in academia and outside, to promote public appreciation of our shared cultural and historic heritage.
“The public history program at ASU is a valued partner in the efforts of the State Historic Preservation Office and other preservation organizations in ensuring that history students enter the professional world with both sympathy for historic places and a resume of the highest professional skills and knowledge,” Collins says.
Stowe began his ASU career in 1967 as an assistant professor in the department of history. His areas of expertise are public history, the Southwest, Mexico and Latin America.
He served as chair of the department from 1998 to 2007. Stowe also served as senior director of the graduate program in public history from 1980 to 2007. Previously, he was associate dean of ASU’s Graduate College from 1991 to 1994 and 1995 to 1996.
Stowe earned a bachelor’s degree in history and social studies in 1963 and a doctorate in history in 1970 from the University of Southern California.
A prolific author, Stowe’s book, “Arizona at 75: The Next 25 Years,” was published by the Arizona Historical Society with the ASU Public History Program. The book was part of the program’s cooperative project with the Arizona Historical Society to commemorate Arizona’s Diamond Jubilee with assessments by leading historians and to provide recommendations on preserving Arizona’s historical documentation. Stowe’s other publications include “Accountancy in Arizona” and “California Government: The Challenge of Change.”
Stowe has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Park Service, American Historical Association, and Arizona Humanities Council.
A member of the Arizona Historical Society Museum, Stowe also serves on numerous boards in Arizona and its communities. He has served on committees of the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission (Arizona Centennial), American Historical Association, and Organization of American Historians. He is a committee member of the American Association for State and Local History and the National Council on Public History.
In 2004, Stowe received the Friend of the Humanities Award from the Arizona Humanities Council. The same year he was bestowed the Gary S. Krahenbuhl Difference Maker Award from the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 2007, he received the James V. Mink Oral History Award in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Oral History in the Southwest from the Southwest Oral History Association.
Since 1982, the Arizona Heritage Preservation Honor Awards annually recognizes 10 people, organizations and projects that represent outstanding achievements in preserving Arizona’s prehistoric and historic resources. The awards are sponsored by the Arizona Preservation Foundation and the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, a division of Arizona State Parks.