Wheeling Jesuit President Richard A. Beyer presented Dr. Jeffrey Rutherford, assistant professor of history, with the Rev. Edward Gannon, S.J., Outstanding Teaching Award during recent commencement ceremonies. Honoring Rutherford for his teaching, research and mentorship of students, the award represents the highest honor available to WJU faculty.
“I am very honored to receive the award as I realize the real importance of teaching to the University’s mission. It means a lot to me to be recognized by the administration, my fellow faculty and our students for my efforts in the classroom,” Rutherford said.
Named in honor of former professor, Rev. Edward Gannon, S.J., the outstanding teacher honoree is nominated by students and faculty, then voted on by a select committee of faculty and alumni council members. All nominees are faculty who have distinguished themselves as outstanding teachers and scholars and exemplified the Jesuit tradition of service to the University and wider community.
“Fr. Gannon was one of the first professors at Wheeling College. His demanding, yet nurturing, style of teaching epitomizes cura personalis, the development of the full individual, which is the goal of the faculty at Wheeling Jesuit University,” according to Dr. Stephen Stahl, Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Rutherford joined Wheeling Jesuit faculty in the fall semester of 2008. Rutherford received his doctoral degree in Modern European History from the University of Texas in 2007. He also earned his master’s degree in Modern European History, from State University of New York at Albany in 1998 and his Bachelor of Arts in history from State University of New York at Binghamton in 1996.
He specializes in modern German history with research focus on the German army and its combat and occupation practices in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. He is interested in military history, the development and practice of total war, Europe during the “Age of Ideologies” and comparative ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Rutherford teaches a variety of classes including: The History of the Holocaust, The Ordeal of Total War: The Second World War in Europe and Asia, Modern Russia and the Soviet Union, 1854-1989, Comparative Genocide in the Modern World and The World in the Twentieth Century. He resides in Wheeling with his wife Bridget and children Ryan, 8, and Rachel, 5.
