Burnis Morris, Marshall University’s Dr. Carter G. Woodson Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, has been selected as a 2016 History Hero, for which he will be honored during the West Virginia History Day at the Legislature program Friday, Jan. 29.
The program will be held in the State Theater at the Culture Center, on the grounds of the State Capitol in Charleston, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Morris was nominated by the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Foundation Inc., for his work and support of the foundation’s historical programs and services.
“I am truly honored and humbled to have been selected as a 2016 History Hero,” Morris said. “This is an honor I don’t take lightly.”
The program is expected to last about an hour. The honorees will then go to the House of Delegates gallery, where it is anticipated they will be recognized during the floor session.
Joseph N. Geiger Jr., director of West Virginia Archives and History, informed Morris of his award in a letter dated Jan. 8, 2016.
“We again congratulate you on this most deserved recognition for your many contributions on the preservation and promotion of West Virginia’s history,” Geiger wrote in his letter to Morris.
Sponsors of West Virginia History Day at the Legislature include the Archives and History Commission, Friends of Culture and History, the Mining Your History Foundation, the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia Inc., the West Virginia Association of Museums, the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, and the West Virginia Humanities Council.