Mentoring au Sens Large

Mentorship is one of the most rewarding but least rewarded aspects of the professoriate. There are countless undergraduate teaching awards at most institutions of higher learning, and the three North American learned societies in French history grant a number of book and article awards; in addition, the Western Society for French Historical Studies has recently introduced its Tyler Stovall Mission Prize for demonstrated commitment to achieving equity and inclusion in the production and transmission of knowledge about the Francophone world. But the flagship association for US historians, the American Historical Association, has exactly one award for mentoring: the Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award, established in 1992. It is, moreover, given on an alternating cycle to graduate mentors, secondary school teachers, and undergraduate mentors (at both two- and four-year colleges), meaning that superb graduate mentors are recognized only every third year. Herrick Chapman was so recognized in 2021, which came as no surprise to those who know him.