Professor of American History
July 28, 2021
Shawnee State University has announced the 2021 Faculty Awards. As part of this year’s presentation, the recipient of the Shannon Lawson Faculty Service Award is Dr. Andrew Feight. A Professor of American History, Dr. Feight has been with the university’s Department of Social Sciences since 2001.
During his time at SSU, Dr. Feight has served on several university committees and teams, including the University Faculty Senate in which he served as the President for five years and is currently a Senator-at-Large and member of its Executive Committee. He was previously on the university’s Honors Program Advisory Committee and Strategic Planning Leadership Team, and he served as a representative to the Ohio Faculty Council at the Department of Higher Education. He is currently the Director of the Digital History Lab, the Coordinator of the History BA and the Digital Appalachian Studies Certificate programs. He helps coordinate the annual Constitution Day Public Lecture and most recently, in the fall of 2019, Dr. Feight organized and directed “Recovering Appalachia, a Symposium on Appalachian Studies in the Digital Age.” Since 2017, he has served as the on-campus Host-Site Supervisor of the Ohio History Service Corps (AmeriCorps) program, providing supervision to a full-time service member conducting community outreach and assisting with public history projects that support local historic preservation and heritage tourism in the region.
“When we work together and share our time and talents with students, colleagues, and the larger community, we can make great things happen here in Portsmouth and southern Ohio,” Dr. Feight said. “I’m honored to be recognized for my record of service and hope others will follow in the footsteps of Professor Shannon Lawson whose life and service is memorialized by this award.”
Dr. Feight has also been involved in the Portsmouth and southern Ohio region as a founding board member for the Portsmouth STEM Academy and the Scioto County Heritage Museum. He is active in several community-led projects, including Main Street Portsmouth’s “Dream, Build, Live. Here” lamppost banner project, which celebrates historical figures from the city’s past. He is also the developer and editor of “Scioto Historical” a free mobile app and website that explores the history of Portsmouth and the surrounding Appalachian region and promotes local heritage tourism.
The Shannon Lawson Faculty Service Award memorializes the impact of the late Dr. Shannon Lawson through her service to both the Portsmouth area and the university. The annual honor is awarded for “extraordinary dedication to service” as demonstrated by excellence in service to the university in the form of committee work, leadership roles in departmental, college or university projects or initiatives, leadership in service to students by sponsoring clubs, outings, academic conference travel, projects and activities that focus on campus service, social service projects, youth organizations, outreach clinics, and cultural events.