Gary Hess chosen to lead Ohio historians association

Gary Hess, Distinguished Research Professor of History, has been named president-elect of the Ohio Academy of History.

Gary Hess

Hess was elected during the group’s annual meeting in April. He will serve as president-elect this year and president next year, followed by a year as past president.

He becomes the fifth BGSU faculty member to lead the organization, which is largely made up of university and college professors, some high school history teachers, archivists and government historians.

In existence for about 85 years, the roughly 500-member group is “one of the oldest and most active associations in the country,” Hess said.

The academy seeks to promote the development and dissemination of historical knowledge among the citizens and students of Ohio. It promotes high standards of historical scholarship and teaching in the state's schools, colleges and museums. OAH also issues awards for outstanding publication, teaching, service, dissertations and public history.

Hess said there are several items of particular interest to the academy now. “Promoting teaching standards in the public schools is an issue that will continue to absorb interest,” he said. Another is insufficient state funding for museums and cutbacks that adversely affect historical sites.

“The Ohio Academy of History is the major professional organization of historians in the state. Our faculty have been involved with the academy since the beginning,” said Peter Way, chair of the history department. “Gary’s being named president is indicative of his stature in the field, both inside and outside of Ohio. It reflects well on our department and BGSU.”

This is Hess’s second presidency of a professional society. In 1991, he was president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

A widely known expert on the Vietnam War, he is the author of Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2001, as well as Vietnam and the United States: Origins and Legacy of War, and The United States’ Emergence as a Southeast Asia Power, 1940-1950.

In March he published an online opinion piece called “Bush as ‘War President’: The Lessons of History” on the History News Network.