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

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

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

• Sevan G. Terzian & Patrick A. Ryan, eds., American Education in Popular Media: From 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 & Leigh Ann Osborne. International College Students. (pp. 237-263). Eds. Michael J. Cuyjet, Mary F. Howard-Hamilton, & Diane L. Cooper, Multiculturalism on Campus: Theory, Models, and Practices for Understanding Diversity and Creating Inclusion (Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2011).
• Sevan G. Terzian. Custodialism and Career Preparation in a Comprehensive High School, 1929-1942. Eds. Barry M. Franklin & Gary McCulloch, The Death of the Comprehensive High School? Historical, Contemporary, and Comparative Perspectives, Vol. 1 (New York: Palgrave Press, 2007), 19-36.
• Sevan G. Terzian History of the American High Schol. Eds. Kathryn M. Borman, Spencer E. Cahill, & Bridget A. Cotner, The Praeger Handbook of American High Schools (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2007), 214-221.
• 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.
• Sevan G. Terzian & Leigh Shapiro, Corporate Science Education: Westinghouse and the Value of Science in Mid-Twentieth Century America, Public Understanding of Science (published online May 21, 2013): 1-20.
• Sevan G. Terzian, The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair and the Transformation of the American Science Extracurriculum. Science Education 93 (September 2009): 892-914.
• Sevan G. Terzian, Adventures in science: casting scientifically talented youth as national resources on American radio, 1942-1958, Paedagogica Historica 44 (June 2008): 309-325.