Hy Berman, Public Historian and Media Star
Hy Berman, a Professor in the Department of History, was one of the recipients of the 2002 Outstanding Community Service Awards. Hy is a remarkable member of the University of Minnesota community. He's an historian of high repute, specializing in the history of American labor and immigration. But he's best known on campus and throughout the state for his work in connecting these themes to ongoing life in Minnesota through presentations on radio and television. These presentations have made him arguably the University's leading "media star". The citation of his Outstanding Community Service Award reads
Professor Berman has dedicated himself to taking history into the community to advance its relationship to current events and the real world around us. He has educated the citizens of the state about the impact of Minnesota history on contemporary local, state, national, and international events. As a public historian and, as one endorser of the nomination called him, “the face in the community who symbolizes the University of Minnesota,” Dr. Berman has made a lasting contribution to the well-being of society.
Each Outstanding Community Service Award winner acknowledges his or her community partners at the award banquet. Prof. Berman's are an unusual bunch for an academic: Twin Cities Public Television; Media Services Incorporated: Public Affairs, Counseling, and Media Relations; Minnesota Public Radio; and KARE 11 TV News.
During April, 2005, the Twin Cities weekly public affairs program, Almanac, "asked historian Hy Berman to come up with the five biggest things that have changed in Minnesota during the past 20 years." The first four items on the list, at the Almanac web site where you can watch the clips in RealVideo, are
- Minnesota's Growing Racial Diversity
- Minnesota's Changing Economy
- Minnesota's Changing Demographics
- Minnesota's Changing Politics
- Internationalizing Minnesota
To see and hear the fifth, you'll have to go to the RealVideo of Almanac's 20th Anniversary broadcast.
Those of us who value public engagement, and wish that we could do it more and better, cannot but envy Hy Berman's gift and commitment.