LaGarrett King, an associate professor in the Department of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum, has recently been awarded the Isabelle Wade Lyda and Paul C. Lyda Professorship, a two-year enhancement award to promote a faculty member’s research plan.

King’s research centers on improving the teaching and learning of Black history in schools and society. He is the Founding Director of the CARTER Center for K-12 Black History Education – a national center dedicated to research, teacher professional development, and creating networks between K-12 Black history educators around the country and internationally.

King will use the financial award associated with the professorship to further the goals of the center and improving Black history education in the nation’s schools. He has also received early career scholar awards from the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for Social Studies and the American Educational Research Association.

Isabelle Wade completed three degrees from MU, including a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1921 and a Master of Arts in Education in 1935. Paul and Isabelle Wade Lyda established the Isabelle Wade Lyda and Paul C. Lyda Professorship Fund to “attract distinguished professors to the University of Missouri at Columbia in the fields of Education or Law.”