An award for the St. Louis Public Schools’ social studies teacher of the year has been named in honor of David T. Konig, Ph.D., professor of history, of African & African American Studies and director of the Legal Studies Program, all in Arts & Sciences, and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.
The St. Louis Public Schools David Thomas Konig 2009 Middle/Secondary Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award was presented to Melanie W. Vierling, who teaches at L’Ouverture Middle School, during an Oct. 27 ceremony at the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Naming the award for Konig recognizes his continuing and ongoing dedication to the St. Louis Public Schools, said Linda Riekes, development officer for the St. Louis Public Schools.
Riekes said Konig has provided leadership and significant academic content for the district’s middle and high school Teaching American History grants programs — “With Liberty and Justice for All” and “In Pursuit of the American Dream” — funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
In addition to helping develop the content of the programs, which provide intensive professional development to American history teachers to raise student achievement, he works closely with teachers to apply their new knowledge and skills in their respective classrooms.
“Dr. Konig is a brilliant scholar, an outstanding teacher and a nurturing colleague, the epitome of school and university colleagues,” Riekes said. “It is important to recognize and celebrate this incredible person who has influenced the lives of so many teachers and their students.”
“My watchword has always been ‘community,’ which can be intellectual, social or political,” Konig said. “Being part of Teaching American History is being part of one such community — the educational community that reaches out to all students at all levels.
“Working together with the teachers, I hope, leads to understanding that we all live in yet another community — the community of our shared past, which has to be the foundation of our shared present.
“Creating this award recognizes the commitment of the people of St. Louis toward that goal through nourishing and supporting their teachers. It is very gratifying to be part of that.”
Vierling receives $1,000 from the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation and $500 in professional development and supplies from the Parsons Blewett Memorial Fund.
Konig, who joined the WUSTL faculty in 1973 and whose research includes early American legal history, is no stranger to teaching awards himself, having received the Arts & Sciences Teaching Award, the Interfraternity Council Performance in Teaching Award and the 1984 Founders Day Distinguished Faculty Award.