EMU Today

YPSILANTI — The history program at Eastern Michigan University is proud to announce that it will present two alums with awards at the History Honors Reception on April 12. Former U.S. Representative Dennis Hertel will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, and Sarah Jessup will receive the Young Alumni Award.

Alums and faculty made nominations for the awards from the history program. The History Community Board selected the winners and is providing the awards. The History Community Board formed in 2021, consists of alums, friends and faculty. This is the first year the board has awarded outstanding alumni for their achievements.

The winner of the Distinguished Alumni Award is the honorable Judge Dennis Hertel. Hertel was born in Detroit and earned a Bachelor of Science in history from EMU in 1971. He also earned a law degree from Wayne State University before serving in the Michigan House of Representatives. In 1980, Hertel was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan’s 14th Congressional District as a Democrat. He served in the U.S. House from 1981 to 1993. During that time, he also was a House Armed Services Committee member, chaired the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, and was Ranking Member on the Research and Development Sub-Committee.

In “Departures on the House: How Retirements, Redistricting and Scandal Yielded a Near-Postwar Record of House Members Exiting in 1992 (2020)”, Scott Crass portrays Dennis Hertel as an effective and principled member of the Michigan House and U.S. Congress. “Throughout his 12 years in Congress (six terms) and as a member of the Armed Services Committee, he undertook numerous measures to combat what he viewed as a wasteful if not heinous display of government misuse,” said Crass.

Since leaving Congress, Hertel has been vice president of the National Environmental Policy Institute and worked extensively with the Environmental Protective Agency. He has also served in leadership roles at the International Election Monitors Institute, the United States Former Members of Congress Association, the Council for a Community of Democracies and the Congressional Hunger Center. He is currently a senior counselor with the Livingston Group. He remains active in Michigan political campaigns and lives in Harper Woods.

The winner of the Young Alumni Award, Sarah Jessup, was raised in Ohio and attended Eastern from 2017 to 2020. During her time at EMU, Jessup served as president of Model United Nations and conducted original research on topics about Ukraine. In the summer 2020, she received the Title VIII Fellowship for Indiana University’s Summer Language Workshop to learn Estonian. She graduated summa cum laude in April 2020 with a double major in history and international affairs.

After graduating from EMU, Jessup enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Programme of International Masters in Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. She was awarded an EU fully-funded scholarship and graduated with distinction, receiving her master’s in September 2022. Jessup has interned at the U.S. Department of State, the Instytut Kościuszki, and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. She currently has a position at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia.

Hertel and Jessup will receive their awards at the History Honors Reception on Wednesday, April 12, at the EMU Student Center. The reception is the history program’s annual celebration of excellence. In addition to the alumni awards, the history program will announce the winners of its undergraduate and graduate scholarships and recognize student presentations from the 2023 Undergraduate Research Symposium and the 2023 Graduate Research Conference. 

The History Community Board will also be recognized at the History Honors Reception. The board currently consists of Michele Anderson, former social studies teacher and current lecturer at the University of Michigan; Kathleen Chamberlain, emerita professor of history at EMU, Kelly Haas, social studies department head at Huron Valley Schools; Major General William Henderson (Ret.); Peter Higgins, department head of history and philosophy at EMU; John G. McCurdy, professor of History at EMU; Mary-Elizabeth Murphy, associate professor of history at EMU; Chief Judge  Daniel Opperman of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; Roxanne Reinhardt, Esq., associate attorney at Haynes Boone; and David Walton, assistant professor of history and director of the global Black studies program at Western Carolina University.

For more information about the EMU History Alumni Awards, please contact John McCurdy at jmccurdy@emich.edu.

About Eastern Michigan University
Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 14,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and its graduate school. National publications regularly recognize EMU for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. Visit the University’s rankings and points of pride websites to learn more. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website. To stay up to date on University news, activities and announcements, visit EMU Today.