Dr. Lauren Thompson Honored with McKendree University Grandy Faculty Award

(LEBANON, Ill., May 16, 2025) – Dr. Lauren Thompson, an associate professor of history, received McKendree University’s 2025 William Norman Grandy Faculty Award, given by the Alumni Association. Dr. Thompson accepted the surprise honor among wild cheers from faculty, staff, and students alike at the undergraduate commencement ceremony held on Friday, May 9 at the Lebanon, Ill., campus.

The Grandy Award is given annually to recognize commitment to students and the ideals promoted by the university. The award is named for Dr. William Norman Grandy, who served from 1952 to 1968 as a professor of philosophy and religion, and as dean of students, academic dean and interim president.

Dr. Thompson has been serving McKendree since 2017. She is known for caring a great deal about her students and recently won this year’s United Methodist Exemplary Teacher of the Year Award. In addition to her teaching duties, Dr. Thompson serves as a co-coordinator for McKendree’s University 101 program and as a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Evaluation Committee. She is also the co-advisor for the university’s Black Student Organization and a faculty advisor for Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Alpha Theta honor societies. She recently published a book, Friendly Enemies: Soldier Fraternization Throughout the American Civil War, and she is working on a second one about race and recreation in St. Louis. She was also tapped as a speaker in the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts’ Distinguished Speaker Series in 2021 and won the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award in 2019.

“Thank you to my students, my colleagues, faculty, and staff for this monumental award. It means the world to me. I put my heart and soul into seeing that my students enjoy their time here,” Dr. Thompson said upon receiving the award.

 

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