LEWISTON, Idaho – Amanda Van Lanen, a professor of history at Lewis-Clark State College since 2013, has been named chair of the Humanities Division, LC State Dean of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences Martin Gibbs has announced.
Since 2015, Van Lanen has served as assistant to the chair of the Social Sciences Division where she has coordinated general education assessment.
In addition to teaching at LC State, she has served on numerous campus committees, including a term as chair of the Faculty Association. In 2019, she received the Fernandez Faculty Excellence Award, which recognizes a faculty member who meets the highest standard of academic excellence in instruction, leadership, or scholarship. In 2022, she was a recipient the Idaho Gem Innovative Educator Award for Social and Behavioral Ways of Knowing.
Van Lanen earned a bachelor’s in history at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tenn., and a master’s and doctorate in history at Washington State University. Her book, “The Washington Apple: Orchards and the Development of Industrial Agriculture,” published in 2023, traces the origins, evolution, and environmental consequences of the Washington state apple industry. She is currently a speaker for Humanities Washington.
Van Lanen will begin her new role on July 1, 2024.