David Goss Receives Marv Wilson Award

K. David Goss, professor in the practice of history, has received the 2015 Marv Wilson Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities. Professor Goss, who gets rave reviews for his teaching, directs Gordon’s minor in public history and museum studies, which trains undergraduates to step directly into jobs in the museum field. He has leveraged long-standing relationships to help place Gordon students in internships with institutions such as the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem.
In the last five years Goss has also produced two books focusing on late 17th-century Massachusetts, The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide and Daily Life During the Salem Witch Trials (both published by Greenwood Press). Currently he is writing a study of the interrelationships and activities of one generation of Victorian Boston’s social elite.
While working with the Caleb Loring Scholarship Project in 2007, he was introduced to Mrs. Joanne Patton. As a result, the Patton Project was established, in which Gordon interns were invited to visit The Patton Homestead in Hamilton, and began cataloging
the Patton Family Papers from the early 1800s to the present. These include the personal and military papers of both General George S. Patton Jr. of World War II fame and his
son, Major General George S. Patton IV, a commander during the Vietnam War. So far, thirty-five interns have participated in the program, learning the professional skills
of an archivist under the direct supervision of Patton Project archivist Carol Mori.
In addition to having his name engraved on the award plaque in Frost Hall, Professor Goss will receive an additional $1,000 for funding expenses to enrich his teaching and scholarship in the coming year.
The Marv Wilson Award was established in 2006 through the generosity of Gordon alumna Betsy Gage Pea ’79 and her husband, Barry. The award honors Dr. Wilson for his many years of passionate teaching, and encourages other faculty to strive for similar success in the classroom. Previous Wilson recipients are Drs. David Wick (history), Damon DiMauro (French), Mark Gedney (philosophy), Pilar Pérez-Serrano (Spanish), Ian DeWeese-Boyd (philosophy and education), Sharon Ketcham (theology and Christian ministries), and Graeme Bird (linguistics and classics).

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