| Faculty Profile - Dr. Andrew August |
Penn State Abington faculty member receives University's Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching
Andrew G. August, associate professor of history at Penn State Abington, was among four Penn State faculty members awarded the University's 2008 George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching.
The award, named after Penn State's seventh president, was established in 1989 as a continuation of the AMOCO Foundation Award. It honors excellence in teaching at the undergraduate level.
Professor August is one of the most sought-after teachers at Penn State Abington not only in regularly scheduled classes but also honors sections, undergraduate research projects and independent studies. He teaches a variety of history courses in which he seeks to engage his students in the lives of men and women in the past, ideas generated in historical context, and perspectives developed by historians studying the past.
He published a book in 2007 titled, The British Working Class: 1832 to 1940 (Pearson/Longman), which chronicles the experiences that fostered a sense of belonging among the working class in Britain during the mid-1800s.
"In many different ways," he said, "I hope my courses exceed student expectations by inviting them to engage with history as lived experience, as dynamic ideas and as an academic discipline."