(WASHINGTON, D.C.)— Augsburg College’s Phillip C. Adamo, associate professor of history and director of the College Honors Program, was named the 2015 Minnesota Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Adamo, who was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States, was recognized November 19 in a proclamation by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges who declared it “Dr. Phillip C. Adamo Day in the City of Minneapolis.”

“Phil expands the imaginative possibilities for students through the design of innovative and powerful learning experiences that foster critical thinking, advanced cognitive abilities, and habits of deep reflection,” said Karen Kaivola, Augsburg College Provost and Chief Academic Officer.

“He has answered his call to inspire, mentor, and educate students, providing serious challenges for the most advanced learners while guiding all students with compassion. Phil exemplifies and embodies Augsburg College’s mission to be a new kind of student-centered urban university, small to our students and big for the world.”

A national and statewide recipient of numerous awards and honors — in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and history — Adamo joined Augsburg’s History Department in 2001. Since that time, he has been awarded Augsburg’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Learning, the Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship award, and the CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Medieval Academy of America. While in graduate school at The Ohio State University, Adamo received the Graduate Associate Teaching Award, the Provost’s Teaching Fellowship, and the Clio Award for Outstanding Teaching in History.

Adamo is the second Augsburg College faculty member to be honored by Carnegie/CASE. In 2004, Professor Emeritus Garry Hesser earned the prestigious award.

CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program since 1981. This year, a state Professor of the Year was recognized in 35 states. Adamo was among those, and was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.

About Augsburg College: Augsburg College offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campuses located in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and in Rochester. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

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Minnesotans are invited to make history by taking part in the innovative Historyapolis Project which is using Facebook, Twitter, and the public to write the stories of the City of Minneapolis for an upcoming book.

“The citizens of our state are hungry for complex stories that will help them understand how Minneapolis became the wonderful, complex and contradictory place that it is,” said Kirsten Delegard, founder of the Historyapolis Project and scholar-in-residence at Augsburg College. “This project, the first to undertake the City’s history since 1940, will create a central clearinghouse where people can find a full story of our past.”

Delegard said that the decision to use the internet and social media to share and gather information will allow a broad community of people to participate in the project and to develop a serious but accessible historical work that bridges the gap between the academic domain and larger world.

The Historyapolis Project’s inventive approach recently was awarded an $82,000 Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage grant – the first time an academic department of history has received funding from the Arts and Cultural Heritage program for such a project. The grant supports engaging students in the research process and, according to the Minnesota Historical Society, creates a “central hub for the interpretation of Minneapolis history and an innovative model for urban collegiate history departments.”

“The awarding of this grant establishes Augsburg as a center for the study of Minneapolis’ past, one in which the broader public will play a powerful role,” said Michael Lansing, associate professor and chair of the Augsburg History Department. It builds on the Augsburg History Department’s long-term commitment to the public work of history and to expanding its role in the discipline of “public history” – a discipline that comprises the many and diverse ways in which history is applied to real-world issues.

Bringing the Historyapolis Project to Augsburg, Lansing said, extends this commitment into the digital arena, incorporating tools and skills that are increasingly critical for the practice of public history.

“This transformational research project creates an incredible immersion experience for students and is public work that brings the practice of history into the world,” Lansing said.

Background: Join the Historyapolis Project of Augsburg College by:

• “Liking” and contributing to the project on
• Following Historyapolis on Twitter at

Augsburg College is set in a vibrant neighborhood at the heart of the Twin Cities, and offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 4,000 students of diverse backgrounds. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community that is committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

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