Dr. Paul Benson
Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release – Nov. 9, 2012
(DALLAS) – Dr. Paul Benson has taught history for decades. Little did he know that he was making history himself, creating a legacy that has been recognized nationally by the Association of Community College Trustees. Benson, whose colleagues describe him as “an institution” at Mountain View College, recently received ACCT’s 2012 Western Regional Faculty Excellence Award during the group’s annual Community College Leadership Congress, held in Boston. He was one of five regional winners honored.
ACCT is a nonprofit educational organization of governing boards that represent more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern more than 1,200 community, technical and junior colleges in the United States and beyond.
History and humanities have been the love of Benson’s academic career. He started that journey in 1965 as an instructor in Alabama Freedom Schools (sponsored by the Tuskegee Institute – now Tuskegee University), where he held classes beneath shade trees and in country churches. He joined the Dallas County Community College District in 1970 at Mountain View College, where he still teaches today. Benson also continues to build the legacy he started as creator and director of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “Workshops on Thomas Jefferson,” which were held at the Library of Congress and Monticello in 2011.
“This award is really a tribute to the Dallas County Community College District, which has always provided the people of Dallas County with superb opportunities in higher education,” said Benson. “I am simply a servant of that system.”
“Dr. Paul Benson’s sense of history and dedication to his students have made him a model for other educators,” said Dr. Wright Lassiter Jr., DCCCD’s chancellor. “He inspires his students to learn, and he shares his knowledge with community members and his colleagues through voluntary efforts that make their lives richer. We are proud of his accomplishments as a faculty member and as an innovator in higher education.”
Using his gift for storytelling and an enthusiasm for learning, the MVC history professor motivates students; his classes fill quickly. A believer in first-hand knowledge, Benson is an advocate of field trips and nontraditional settings that encourage learning. As a result, he created more than 1,600 field trip and tour experiences during his career. “I am simply trying to motivate students to take a greater interest in learning,” he explained.
A sample of those experiences and programs that Benson created include (in addition to the NEH Thomas Jefferson workshops): NEH Landmarks Workshops on “Concord and Transcendentalism”; “Religions of Asia,” a lecture series for the Trammell Crow Center’s Collection of Asian Art; the “Women in Mythology” lecture series for the Dallas Museum of Art; the North Texas Community College Consortium’s humanities series; “Project Southern Cross,” presented by DCCCD plus Australian and New Zealand colleges; and many others.
The Dallas area has benefited from Benson’s work through other programs, including the “Don Dorsey American Religion Lecture Series” (presented in Dallas); the “King-Fowler American History Lecture Series” (presented in Irving); the “Ancient History Lecture Series” (presented for Scottish Rite Temple in Dallas); and “RetroFest,” a historical vignettes program for Irving residents.
At the state level, Benson’s contributions also reflect his dedication to history. He created and served as chairman of the Greater Dallas Sesquicentennial publications committee, through which he crafted “Texas 150: A Dallas Sesquicentennial Journal,” which was published in 1986 in the Dallas Morning News. He also created and directed the Lone Star Music Festival for the State Fair of Texas in 1986. He co-created the Texas Cultural Alliance and directed that group’s “Excursion” student travel program for more than 20 years.
Those creative efforts to motivate student learning have been recognized at national, state and regional levels with honors and awards that illustrate Benson’s dedication to teaching, the humanities and service to education and his community. At the national level, the Community College Humanities Association honored him in 1999 with the National Distinguished Humanities Educator Award. He also received the National NISOD Teaching Excellence Award (University of Texas) in 1996, National Innovator of the Year Award for Project Renewal (1986) from the League for Innovation in the Community College, the DCCCD Miles Production/Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012, Outstanding Humanities Educator Award from the North Texas Community College Consortium in 2005, the Distinguished Service Award from the Community College Humanities Association in 1991 and others.
For more information, contact Ann Hatch in the DCCCD office of public and governmental affairs at (214) 378-1819 or at
ahatch@dcccd.edu.
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