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Hartsville, S.C. — Coker College history professor Shawn Lay has received the 2006 Excellence in Teaching Award from South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc. (SCICU).

The award is given to one faculty member at each of the 20 SCICU member institutions who demonstrates the highest standards in teaching methods and encourages students to strive for excellence. Award winners, who were honored at a banquet in Columbia on April 4, received a certificate and a $3,000 professional development grant.

“Shawn is the quintessential teacher and scholar,” said Coker College president Dr. James Dawson. “He has demonstrated throughout his career a commitment for excellence that embraces the student and the academy.”

An associate professor of history and chair of the department of history, philosophy and religion, Lay joined the Coker College faculty in 1996. He earned his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Texas-El Paso.

Lay’s expertise is the United States social, political and urban history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He has added a number of courses to Coker’s curriculum on the Civil War, the Vietnam War and the African American experience. In 2002, Lay was voted Master Professor of the Year by the students of Coker College and he was designated a Governor’s Distinguished Professor by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.

An award-winning author, Lay has published two well-received books on the Ku Klux Klan. He has also written essays and reviews in a number of dictionaries, encyclopedias and major scholarly journals, including the Journal of American History, American Historical Review and the Journal of Southern History.

“I am delighted Shawn has received this award,” said Dr. Ronald Carter, provost and dean of the faculty. “He is the standard bearer of teaching excellence and scholarship at Coker College. He has a passion for encouraging intelligent, independent thought and he speaks across boundaries that promote diversity on campus.”

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April 7, 2006