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November
4, 2005
DH 05 RH23
Contact: Russ Hudson,
Media Relations Coordinator
(310) 243-2455/2001
rhudson@csudh.edu
Historical Society Gives CSUDH Historian Its Highest Honor
Judson Grenier, emeritus
history professor, and founding chair of CSU Dominguez
Hills’ Department of History, received the Fellows
Award Medallion from the Historical Society of Southern
California (HSSC) in October. It is the highest award the
Society gives and they are bestowed, on average, only every
four years.
The award was presented during a ceremony at the Huntington
Library. Grenier was one of four to receive the award. All
four recipients received the Fellows Award for their “uncommon
lifetime achievements in the pursuit of history,” as
stated in The Southern Californian, the HSSC’s
publication.
Grenier joined Dominguez Hills in 1966 and taught for 27
years. He also co-directed the California State University
Oral History Project and has been an active participant in
researching and documenting, as well as lecturing and teaching
about, the history of Los Angeles, the South Bay, and Southern
California. The historian has won many awards, including
the first of Dominguez Hills’ Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished
Teacher Awards, which he was given in 1974 [see http://www.csudh.edu/univadv/IDH0800/Gibson0800.html].
In 1987, he wrote California Legacy:
The Watson-Dominguez Family. In 1999, HSSC published his book, Golden
Odyssey: John Stroud Houston, California’s First
Controller. Among other activities, Grenier is currently
at work on a biography of George Carson, after whom the
city of Carson is named.
“It’s quite an honor to be included among the
Fellows Awards recipients,” Grenier says. “It’s
a special group, and to be elected to it was a very fine
experience. They bestow the medallions only every four or
five years, so I will be able to wear mine at the next one
for an official ceremony. And, I like going to the Huntington.”
Another pleasure of the evening, he points out with enthusiasm,
is that all four of his children were able to be there for
the ceremony, even though one came from Chicago and another
from Northern California. It wasn’t their first experience
with HSSC, however: “About 30 years ago I was on the
board of directors,” Grenier recalls, adding, “I
took the opportunity to bring HSSC members to Dominguez Hills.”
Grenier has never really left the campus. He can be seen
on campus or at CSUDH functions and he currently is still
active on a committee headed by
James Sudalnik, professor, Communications
Department. They are producing a 30-minute video of the 1910
Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field, the
first air meet in the United States, which was held next
to what is now the Dominguez Hills campus. “Much of
it is done,” Grenier comments, “We’re just
waiting now for the rest of the funding to come through.” He
is also in his 21st year on the editorial advisory board
for the magazine, California History, a quarterly
from the California Historical Society, and he is the secretary
for the statewide California State University Emeritus and
Retired Faculty Association. “I may give that position
up soon, though, to become the archivist, a position that’s
open,” Grenier says.
He adds: “The position would be very good for me.
Since Dominguez Hills is the official archives site for the
CSU system, it means my work as archivist would be here.
Right on the campus.”
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University Communications & Public Affairs
Welch Hall, B-363
1000 E. Victoria St.
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