Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 5/2/00
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   65

Editors: Photo accompanies release
SLU'S KURTZ RECEIVES LIFETIME MERIT AWARD
     HAMMOND -- Michael Kurtz, dean of Southeastern Louisiana University's Graduate
School and professor of history and political science, has been awarded a lifetime merit award by
the Louisiana Historical Association.
     Kurtz is the eighth person -- the first from Southeastern -- to receive the association's
Garnie W. McGinty Lifetime Meritorious Award. He accepted the award at LHA's annual
meeting in March. The award honors those whose careers reflect long-standing service to LHA, a
distinguished record of scholarship in Louisiana history and a lifetime record of promoting the
study of the state's past.
     An LHA member since 1969, Kurtz has served as president, vice president and board of
directors member. He also has been a member of LHA's publications, membership, investments
and prize selection committees, as well as its committee to foster the teaching of Louisiana
history.
     Kurtz is co-author of "Earl K. Long: The Saga of Uncle Earl and Louisiana Politics" and
"Louisiana: a History," now in its third edition. He has written more than a dozen articles on state
history that have appeared in journals and papers of the North Louisiana Historical Association,
the Southeast Louisiana Historical Association, "Readings in Louisiana History," "A Dictionary
of Louisiana Biography," and "Regional Dimension," a publication of Southeastern's Center for
Regional Studies. 
     His most recent publication, "Louisiana Since the Longs," which he edited in 1999,
includes articles on the social, cultural, educational, economic and religious history of Louisiana 
                             (MORE)
KURTZ RECEIVES LHA AWARD   Add One
during the past four decades.
     Kurtz is one of only two historians who have won both the General L. Kemper Williams
Prize for Best Manuscript in Louisiana History and the General L. Kemper Williams Prize for
Best Publication in Louisiana History. He was selected as a LHA Fellow in 1996.
     Kurtz's frequently lectures throughout the state on Louisiana history have included
inaugural ceremonies at the Louisiana State University School of Design and the Old State
Capitol.  He participated in a special panel at the Louisiana Capitol on the 100th anniversary of
the birth of former governor Huey P. Long and presented a lecture at the ceremonies celebrating
former U.S. Senator Russell B. Long's 80th birthday. He has also served as a consultant to
Louisiana Public Broadcasting for its forthcoming series on Louisiana history and appeared in
Baton Rouge television station WBRZ's series on Louisiana in the 20th century.
     Kurtz has taught a Louisiana history seminar to Southeastern graduate students, who have
presented papers and won awards from organizations such as the LHA, Phi Alpha Theta national
honor society for history students, the Southeast Louisiana Historical Association, the Gulf Coast
History Society and the Southwest Social Sciences Association.
     Kurtz is a past recipient of Southeastern's President's Award for Excellence in the
categories of both research and teaching.
                            - SLU -
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsp00.htm