Distinguished professor receives two speaking grants

NEW PALTZ — Distinguished professor Laurence Hauptman, a faculty member of the SUNY New Paltz History Department, recently has been awarded two grants. Hauptman received the Reginald Lenna Foundation visiting scholars grant and the 2003 New York Council for the Humanities Speakers grant.

For the Regina Lenna Foundation grant, Hauptman served as a visiting scholar at St. Bonaventure University and SUNY Jamestown Community College from Oct. 20 through Nov. 1. During this time, he addressed a variety of audiences, including college faculty, students, educators, the chamber of commerce and many others throughout southwestern New York State.

“It was an opportunity to convey what I have been working at for the last 30 years — Iroquois history,” said Hauptman. “And it helps to build bridges between the Seneca community and the non-Indian community of western New York.”

As the recipient of the 2003 New York Council for the Humanities grant, Hauptman will lecture at a variety of different venues on several topics including, his insight on the “Misconception about Native Americans,” “Native Americans in the Civil War,” “Iroquois Land Claims in New York State: Historic Origins,” and “George Catlin: Artist of American Indians.”

“Professor Hauptman is among the most renowned scholars of American Indian history in the world and his most recent honors further attest this,” said Louis H. Roper, associate professor and acting chair of the History Department. “His colleagues are proud to be his colleagues and most pleased with the luster he brings to our department and to SUNY New Paltz.”

Hauptman, a professor at SUNY New Paltz for 31 years, is the leading authority on the history of Post-Colonial Iroquois. He has been referred to as the most productive historian of Iroquois studies, according to author William T. Hagan, professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and the author of “The Sac and Fox Indians,” “Indian Police and Judges,” “United States-Comanche Relations,” and “The Indian Rights Association.”

Hauptman has authored 13 books about Native Americans and their tribal history. He is a two-time recipient of the Peter Doctor Memorial Award, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Iroquois for distinguished service beneficial to the image of the Indians. In September 1999, the SUNY board of Trustees appointed Hauptman a distinguished professor, the highest rank that can be achieved by a State University educator.