Headshot of Dr.Edward L. Ayers

Dr. Edward L. Ayers

He/Him
Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities and President Emeritus
Curriculum Vitae

  • Profile

    Edward Ayers has been named National Professor of the Year, received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama at the White House, served as president of the Organization of American Historians, and won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history. He served as the founding chair of the board of the American Civil War Museum. He is the executive director of New American History, an online project based at the University, designed to help students and teachers to see the nation’s history in new ways. His newest book is American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860.

    Expand All
    • Grants and Fellowships

      Fulbright Fellowship – John Adams Professor of American Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, 1995

    • Awards

      Awards for Scholarship

      • National Humanities Medal, awarded by the President of the United States, 2013
      • Albert J. Beveridge Award, American Historical Association, for the best English-language book on the history of the US, Canada, or Latin America from 1492 to the present, 2004
      • Bancroft Prize for Distinguished Book in American History, Columbia University, 2004
      • Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, School of Graduate Studies Award for Outstanding Achievement, Yale University, 2003
      • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected as member in 2001
      • E-Lincoln Prize for Best Digital Project on the Era of the American Civil War, given by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute and Gettysburg College, 2001 ($40,000)
      • Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award, given by the Southern Historical Association for the best book in Southern history, 1993
      • James Rawley Prize, given by the Organization of American Historians, for best book on the history of race relations in the United States, 1992
      • National Book Award, Finalist for Nonfiction, 1992
      • Pulitzer Prize, Finalist for History, 1992
      • J. Willard Hurst Award for Best Book in American Legal History, cowinner for 1984-1985, Law and Society Association

      Awards for Teaching and Service

      • National Professor of the Year for Research and Doctoral Universities, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Council for Support and Advancement of Education (CASE Award), 2003
      • James Harvey Robinson Prize for Outstanding Aid to Teaching History, American Historical Association (AHA), 2002
      • State Council of Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, 1991 (a $5,000 award and statue presented by Virginia's Governor)

    • Memberships

      American Historical Association, Chair of Ad Hoc Committee on Digital Scholarship, 2014-2015

      Organization of American Historians, President-Elect, term beginning in 2017

      American Council on Education, executive committee, 2008-2012

      National Humanities Center, board, 2007-2011

      National Council for the Humanities, appointed by the President of the United States to advise the National Endowment for the Humanities, 2000-2004

    • Professional Experience

      Co-Editor of the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, University of Richmond Digital Scholarship Lab

      Director, "The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War"
      A website that has attracted millions of users and won major prizes in the teaching of history.

      Co-Host, BackStory with the American History Guys
      A nationally syndicated radio and podcast show sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

      President, University of Richmond (2007-2015)

      Buckner W. Clay Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia (2001-2007)

      Hugh P. Kelly Professor, University of Virginia (1993-2007)

      Professor, University of Virginia (1992-1993)

      Associate Professor, University of Virginia (1986-1992)

      Assistant Professor, University of Virginia (1980-1986)

      Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1999-2000)

  • Selected Publications
    Books

    America's War:  Talking about the Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries, (co-published by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, 2011)

    America on the Eve of the Civil War, edited with Carolyn R. Martin (University of Virginia Press, 2010)

    The Crucible of the Civil War: Virginia from Secession to Commemoration, edited with Gary Gallagher and Andrew Torget (University of Virginia Press, 2006)

    What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the South and Southern History, (W.W. Norton, 2005)

    In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863, (W.W. Norton, Fall 2003)

    The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War--The Eve of War, CD-ROM and book, co-authored with Anne S. Rubin, (W. W. Norton and Company, 2000)

    The Oxford Book of the American South: Testimony, Memory, and Fiction, edited with Bradley Mittendorf (Oxford University Press, 1997)

    All Over the Map: Rethinking American Regions, co-editor and co-author, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996)

    The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction, (Oxford University Press, 1992; paperback edition, 1993; abridged edition, 1995; 15th Anniversary Edition, 2007)

    The Edge of the South: Life in Nineteenth-Century Virginia, edited with John C. Willis (University Press of Virginia, 1991)

    Vengeance and Justice: Crime and Punishment in the Nineteenth-Century American South, (Oxford University Press, 1984; paperback edition, 1986)

  • Links
    EdwardAyers.com