Middle Atlantic American Studies Association Names Award for La Salle University Professor Francis Ryan

La Salle University Professor and Ardsley resident Francis J. Ryan will need to have a great excuse to miss future meetings of the Middle Atlantic American Studies Association (MAASA) – it has named one of their awards after him.

Ryan, Director of the American Studies program at La Salle, suggested to the MAASA Executive Board that it allow undergraduates to present research at its yearly conference. The board agreed, and in April 2007 honored Ryan by naming the award for the best undergraduate research project after him. Coincidentally, the first recipient of the Francis J. Ryan award was La Salle senior Jaclyn Keammerer.

“It is an honor,” says Ryan, who earned a bachelor’s degree at La Salle in 1969 and has been teaching there since 1976.

“I find that I am intellectually curious by nature and have a talent for instilling the same curiosity in my students,” says Ryan, “My training as a teacher is interdisciplinary – English, History, and Education. American Studies combines these fields and others.”

“American Studies encourages students to see connections between things, for example the history of the West and its literature,” says Ryan, “This gives students a fuller grasp of the American experience.”

Four years ago, Ryan proposed to MAASA that it give students an opportunity to discuss their research, and he has been coordinating the undergraduate roundtable at the MAASA conferences ever since.

Prior to teaching at La Salle, Ryan taught high school for 18 years, and believes it’s important for undergraduate students to conduct research with faculty.

“Dr. Ryan effectively communicates his extensive knowledge in American Studies in a motivating and meaningful way for his students,” says Keammerer, “His teaching style and enthusiasm for the subject consistently captivated me and my classmates. When you enter Dr. Ryan’s class, you want to participate, you desire to learn. Dr. Ryan holds high expectations for his students, compelling them to grow as critical thinkers, as independent learners, and as scholarly writers.”

Keammerer’s award-winning project was The Catastrophe of the Continuous Countertop: How the American Kitchen Stove Became a Back-Breaker. “It examines the development of the 36-inch stove-top and counter-top height as a barometer of the changing roles of women in American culture,” she says.