People of NHD
To fulfill National History Day’s mission of improving the teaching and learning of history, the Executive Director, Dr. Cathy Gorn, works closely with the NHD staff to set the parameters for the international NHD program and annual competition, create materials for students and teachers, provide training and support to affiliate programs, and coordinate the annual NHD National Contest.
Staff
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees is the governing body of NHD, providing strategic oversight for the organization.
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Celie Niehaus, President
Jon Gillum, Vice President
Steven Goldberg, Treasurer
Noralee Frankel, Secretary
Richard Prasse, Chair, Governance Committee
Courtney Chapin, Co-Chair, Development Committee
Donald Wildman, Co-Chair, Development Committee
Sarah Aschbrenner
Marisa Atkinson
David Behring
Thomas Downs
Cosby Hunt
Richard Kurin
Sherry Rollo
Renee Romano
Dana Schaffer
Hannah Tofte
The Honorable Robert Wilkins
Advisory Council
The Advisory Council, comprised of representatives from partner organizations and agencies, advises the Board of Trustees and the national staff on issues of programming and helps to connect NHD with other national organizations.
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Beth Boland
Nicholas E. Coddington
Michelle Anne Delaney
Brendan Gillis
Noralee Frankel, Chair
Julian Hipkins, III
Hayley Johnson
Daniel Goldmark
Elisabeth M. Marsh
Rebecca Martin
Lawrence Paska
Lee Ann Potter
Philip M. Soergel
Phoebe Stein
Executive Council of Coordinators
The Executive Council of Coordinators, comprised of elected and appointed representatives among NHD’s affiliates (states, territories, and countries), offers insights and expertise from the local level.
Local Affiliates
NHD works collaboratively with its affiliate programs, which are independently run by a variety of institutions. NHD’s affiliates are the backbone of the overall program, serving the teachers and students in their respective areas.
NHD Founder
Dr. David Van Tassel, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, founded National History Day in 1974 to encourage students to analyze historical events and draw conclusions about their impact on human society. He believed that asking students to center their projects around a common theme would enable them to consider why their topic was important in history and to learn the importance of historical perspective.
Continue reading about the first history day
Though it began as a local competition in Cleveland, Ohio, thanks to Dr. Van Tassel’s outreach efforts, the program grew rapidly, and in 1980, 19 states attended the first National Contest.
In 1990, Dr. Van Tassel received the NEH’s Charles Frankel Prize for Public Programming in the Humanities for his pioneering work. Although Van Tassel passed away in 2000, his legacy lives on through the 600,000+ secondary school students worldwide who bring history to life with their research and analysis.
