USU Professor of History Susan Grayzel
By Abigail Petrey, CHaSS Communications Intern
Susan Grayzel, history professor at Utah State University, has been selected as the 2024 Norm Jones Faculty Fellow. She will hold this title for the 2024 calendar year and receive $4,000 in recognition for her work.
To be considered for this award, faculty must be tenured in the Department of History, demonstrate excellence in the main area of their role statement, and have shown a strong performance in the other two areas over the past three full years. This honor is given to faculty considered “all-rounders” in their work, representing the career of Professor Emeritus Norman Jones.
Grayzel is an internationally renowned scholar, winner of prestigious fellowships, and author of multiple works exploring the implications of gender in war. Beyond this, she has developed several new courses at USU and continues to seek collaborative and creative ways to increase her educational impact.
The selection committee emphasized the statewide outreach of her Bringing War Home project focused on collecting and preserving objects and object stories from veterans, members of military families, and civilians about U.S. participation in modern wars.
“Dr. Grayzel is the real thing,” said the selection committee. “She excels in all three areas of her research, teaching, and service, making her a clear choice for an award modeled on the career of Professor Norman Jones.”
The 2024 Norm Jones Graduate Student Fellow has been awarded to Deven Salisbury. This award is given to a graduate student who has demonstrated commitment to scholarship and service in the History Department and to the community. He will receive $1,000 in recognition.
Salisbury is a second-year student in the Ancient Languages and Cultures Master’s Program, currently analyzing contradictory aspects of the god Dionysus and seeking to explain the differences between archaic and classical versions of the deity.
The selection committee noted that Salisbury has taken advantage of numerous opportunities to showcase his research, including at two Phi Alpha Theta conferences in 2023. An essay of his won the award for Best Graduate Paper at the regional conference, and he has also been a frequent Latin Lab volunteer.
The Norm Jones and Cecile Gilmer Benefice recognizes exceptional faculty and students while celebrating Jones’ career as a distinguished historian, award-winning teacher, department head, and director of general education at USU.
Maria Luisa Spicer-Escalante, a professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Utah State University, is a recipient of a Fulbright Specialist Program Award for 2024-2027.
After an intense day of competition, the Utah State University Speech & Debate Team won the College Public Forum League National Championship. The championship took place virtually on May 4 and featured the country’s best novice college debate programs.
