History Professor Wins Award for Book on the Texas Revolution

December 2, 2015

Georgia Southern University’s Department of History Professor, Craig H. Roell’s, Ph.D., 2013 book, Matamoros and the Texas Revolution, was named the first place winner of the 2015 Presidio La Bahía Award.

Matamoros and the Texas Revolution explores the importance of the Mexican city Matamoros, located just across the Rio Grande and on the modern-day border of Mexico and Texas, and its impact on the 1836 Texas Revolution.

Roell is a Texas native and received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas in 1986. He has won several awards for his teaching at Georgia Southern including the Ruffin Cup from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the Georgia Southern University Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has twice been named the Wells/Warren Professor of the Year, presented annually by members of the Gamma Beta Phi honor society.

Roell is also the author of Remember Goliad: A History of La Bahia, The Piano in America, 1890-1940, and Lyndon Johnson: A Bibliography, Vol. 2.

The Presidio La Bahía Award seeks to promote research into Texas heritage and the influence of the Spanish Colonial period on Texas culture, laws, customs, architecture, religion, and art.

The Sons of the Republic of Texas consists of members who have direct lineage to the settlers of the Republic of Texas prior to being annexed by the United States and joining as the 28th state in 1846.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is the largest of the eight colleges that make up Georgia Southern University, and it plays a central role in every student’s core of knowledge. CLASS, also described as the University’s College of the Creative Mind, prepares students to achieve academic excellence, develop their analytical skills, enhance their creativity and embrace their responsibilities as citizens of their communities, their nations and the world. CLASS offers more than 20 undergraduate degrees and several interdisciplinary minors from its 11 departments and five academic centers. CLASS offers eight master’s degrees, two graduate certificates and one doctoral degree. For more information, visit cah.georgiasouthern.edu.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. GeorgiaSouthern.edu.