About

I am a professor of social foundations of education in the School of Teaching & Learning. I teach graduate and undergraduate courses on the history of American education and the philosophical foundations of education. My scholarship has focused on the history of the American high school; the history of science, gender, and education in the postwar era; and conflicts among different governing bodies in education in the latter half of the twentieth century. My book, Science Education and Citizenship:  Fairs, Clubs, and Talent Searches for American Youth, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in January 2013. I also co-edited a book, American Education in Popular Media: From the Blackboard to the Silver Screen, published in 2015 by Palgrave Macmillan. I am currently researching a book-length study of the racial and cultural dimensions of giftedness in twentieth-century American education.

Research Interests

Achievement, Education Types, Educational Studies, Gender Issues, Gifted Education, History of Education, Philosophy of Education, Qualitative Research, Race / Ethnicity Issues, Science Education, Secondary / High School Transition, Social Studies Education, Socioeconomic Foundations

Education

• Ph.D. - Indiana University, 2000, History of Education
• Ph.D. - Indiana University, 2000, American Studies
• M.A. - Indiana University, 1993, History
• B.A. - Cornell University, 1991, History (cum laude)

Professional Appointments

• Professor, University of Florida, School of Teaching & Learning, 2014-present.
• Associate Professor, University of Florida, School of Teaching & Learning, 2006-2014.
• Assistant Professor, University of Florida, School of Teaching & Learning, 2004-2006.
• Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, & Foundations, 2000-2004.

Activities and Honors

• Robert B. Primack Memorial Foundations of Education Faculty Award, 2023-2024
• University of Florida Term Professor, 2019-2022
• Board of Directors, History of Education Society, 2013-2016.
• Board of Editors, History of Education Quarterly, 2012-2015.
• Graduate Teacher of the Year, College of Education, University of Florida, 2012-2013.
• University of Florida Research Foundation Professor, 2009-2012
• University of Florida Teacher of the Year, 2007-2008

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

• Sevan G. Terzian & Patrick A. Ryan, eds. American Education and Popular Media: Fro the Blackboard to the Silver Screen (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
• Sevan G. Terzian, Science Education and Citizenship: Fairs, Clubs, and Talent Searches for American Youth, 1918-1958 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
• Sevan G. Terzian & Sage Wright, “Creativity and American Education from the Progressive through the Postwar Era: Purposes, Meanings, and Measurements.” American Educational History Journal 50 (2023) (in press).
• Sevan G. Terzian & Hannah Williams, “‘Deprived and disadvantaged’: federal advocacy for gifted youth in the United States, 1967-1987,” Paedagogica Historica (2023). DOI: 10.1080/00309230.2023.2225424
• Sevan G. Terzian, “Compensatory Education for Conserving African American Talent: Origins of the National Achievement Scholarship Program, 1955-1972.” American Educational History Journal 49 (2) (2022): 95-109.
• Sevan G. Terzian, “’Subtle, vicious effects’: Lillian Steele Proctor’s Pioneering Investigation of Gifted African American Youth in Washington, D.C.” History of Education Quarterly 61 (3) (August 2021): 351-371
• Sevan G. Terzian, “History of Technology and Education.” (pp. 554-567). eds. John L. Rury & Eileen H. Tamura, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Education (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019)
• Sevan G. Terzian & Leigh Ann Osborne, “International College Students.” (pp. 232-255). eds. Michael J. Cuyjet, Chris Linder, Mary F. Howard-Hamilton & Diane L. Cooper, Multiculturalism on Campus: Theory, Models, and Practices for Understanding Diversity and Creating Inclusion. Second Edition. (Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2016).
• Sevan G. Terzian & Leigh Shapiro, “Corporate Science Education: Westinghouse and the Value of Science in Mid-Twentieth Century America,” Public Understanding of Science 24 (2) (2015): 147-166.
• Sevan G. Terzian & John L. Rury, “‘A highly selected strain of guinea pigs: The Westinghouse Science Talent Search and Educational Meritocracy, 1942-1958,” Teachers College Record 116 (5) (2014): 1-33.