The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) is pleased to announce that Charter Fellow Douglas Ambrose has received the 2014 Sidney Wertimer Award for excellence in teaching at Hamilton College’s annual Class & Charter Day ceremony.  The award, which is voted on by students, recognizes a member of the faculty who has served as an outstanding teacher “mentor and active participant within the Hamilton community.”  The award is named after a professor of economics, much beloved by students, who died in 2005 after decades of service to the College.

AHI's Doug Ambrose addresses guests at a recent AHI event.

Ambrose has taught at Hamilton College since 1990. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton. His teaching and research interests include early America, the Old South, and American religious history. His publications include Henry Hughes and Proslavery Thought in the Old South  (1996) and a co-edited volume (with Robert W. T. Martin) The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton: The Life and Legacy of America’s Most Elusive Founding Father  (2006). In 1996, Ambrose received Hamilton College’s Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award.  He is the second member of the AHI to receive the Wertimer Award.  Resident Fellow Chris Hill won it in 2010 during the last year of his term position at the College. 

“What makes this award special,” observed AHI Charter Fellow Robert Paquette, who has taught classes with Ambrose, “is that the award is determined by a vote of Hamilton College undergraduates.  I have long claimed that Doug is one of the very finest professors at Hamilton College.  In class he gives memorable performances that distill complex bodies of information into a form that make it intelligible—and exciting—for the weakest student.  He teaches history according to the highest standards; he doesn’t preach on a soapbox.”