By Taylor Paraboschi
Michael D’Innocenzo, professor of history, has received the Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Historical Association (AHA). The Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award aims to acknowledge teachers “whose techniques and mastery of subject matter made a real difference to students of history,” according to a University Relations press release.
“The first I heard of the award was when I received the letter stating that members from my department nominated me,” said D’Innocenzo. “As I proceed in the eighth decade of my life, and enter my 48th year at Hofstra, the notification of the AHA teaching nomination is particularly sweet.”
Throughout his 48 years at the University, D’Innocenzo has proven time and time again an unwavering loyality to his students and his work and he shows no signs of retiring in the near future.
“[When considering retiring] I did indicate that there could be two opt-out factors: One, if I had severe health failures and two, if my students and/or colleagues gave me notification of slippage, which I’ve indicated to several of them would be an act of high friendship.” D’Innocenzo said in a letter to AHA. “All of the courses I have developed, as well as the extensive programs I have created in dozens of public libraries and for community organizations, relate to Jefferson’s theme of fostering informed civic engagement, I always strive to assist people of all ages to develop perspectives from history so that they can avoid becoming prisoners of the present.”
“Michael D’Innocenzo was an outstanding teacher when he started at Hofstra and now, almost five decades later, he is still an outstanding teacher,” said Herman Berliner, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, in a University press release. Berliner added that D’Innocenzo not only inspired his students, but that he was also a role model for the faculty at the University.
One of D’Innocenzo’s students, Michael LaFemina, fondly remembers his time with D’Innocenzo. “I was a student of his in the fall of my senior year, but he’s been a mentor and friend ever since, inspirational for professional and personal reasons,” said LaFemina. “Professor D’Innocenzo embodies learning. He hasn’t stopped inquiring, deepening his knowledge or empowering the students of this university.”
D’Innocenzo said growing up in a house full of immigrants was one of his reasons for appreciating education. “Growing up in a household of immigrants where my grandparents never spoke English, although they had lived in the U.S. for about 50 years, and where my father had three years of education in Casalbordino on the Adriatric coast, and my mother five years, I had an early and keen appreciation of the opportunity that choosing Americans associated with this country.”
D’Innocenzo’s dedication to teaching his students about ways to improve the world stems from the discrimination he felt as a child. “As a kid, and through the time I prepared to become a college teacher, I was dismayed by negativity and discrimination against others and often sought to speak out against it and to change it.”
His hard work and dedication has not gone without recognition either. While attending Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., he received the Freling Smith Essay Prize for his history honor’s paper on Charles Beard and the Constitution. He has also received the Harry H. Wachtel Distinguished Teaching Professorship for the Study of Non-violent Social Change Award for his work toward non-violent means of achieving social justice. He has also been a influential figure in developing the Center for Civic Engagement and also wrote a column for the Chronicle in the 1980’s.
“Professor D’Innocenzo is a good teacher because he’s a genuinely good human being,” said LaFemina. “He cares about his craft- he is a fantastic historian and offers those who take his classes or share a meal with him an opportunity to be excited by history in a way few others can.”