Congratulations to Dr. Nancy Beck Young for her recent award of a Moores Professorship!

The Moores Professor’s Program was established to honor full-time tenured faculty who have achieved the rank of full professor at the University of Houston and who have made outstanding contributions in the areas of:

• Research, Scholarship, and/or Creative Activities;
• Teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level;
• Service in governance or other uncompensated services at departmental, college, university, national, and/or international levels.

The purpose of the Moores Professors Program is to encourage and support continued excellence by providing funds for individual career development.

Dr. Nancy Young is a full professor in the UH Department of History, as well the Associate Director of the UH Center for Public History. She is a prominent scholar of 20th century US politics, one of the nation’s leading historians of the US Congress, and a major figure in the study of US women’s history. She has produced an extensive scholarly corpus in all of these areas and several of their subfields. A prolific writer, she has already published five books and is currently revising the completed manuscript draft of a forthcoming sixth book that is under contract.

Among her publications are Why We Fight: Congress and the Politics of World War II (University Press of Kansas, 2013), a study that ambitiously reframes the struggles over the New Deal during the Second World War by highlighting the unique role of the legislative branch of the US government.

Last year, Professor Young released her book, Two Suns of the Southwest: Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater and the Battle Between Liberalism and Conservatism (University Press of Kansas), a comparative study of LBJ and Barry Goldwater and the competing political traditions they represent.

Dr. Young is further researching three ambitious projects. The first is a “dual biography” of Vice President John Nance Garner and his spouse and Chief of Staff, E.R. Garner. The next project is a pioneering work of synthesis on the idea and the institution of the “First Lady”, a subject that has long been sidelined by the overwhelming focus on the entirely male- institution of the presidency. Last but not least, she is preparing a study of the shift from midcentury liberal politics to contemporary conservatism, examined from the vantage point of Texas politicians ranging from LBJ to George W Bush.

Along with her impressive scholarship contributions, Dr. Young continues to teach courses, mentor students, and actively serve on administrative committees at the departmental and college levels. Off-campus, Dr. Young is an important leader in serving her field. Frequently invited to referee manuscripts for numerous university presses, including Oxford, Yale, Texas, Texas A&M, and Kansas, she reveals a deep generosity to contribute to the historical profession.

In addition, as Associate Director of the UH Center for Public History, Dr. Young is a critical part of the CPH community, advising public history graduate students and playing a strategic leadership role in the efforts to expand the public history undergraduate program.

Dr. Young’s outstanding commitment to her scholarship, her students, her colleagues, and the mission of the University of Houston demonstrate that the prestigious award of a Moores Professorship is well deserved – a fitting recognition of a scholar whose contributions have gone beyond the State of Texas to truly have a national impact.