Robert Cvornyek, assistant teaching professor in social science at Florida State University’s Panama City (FSU PC) campus, has received the inaugural Provost Sally McRorie Excellence in Teaching and Service Award.
Dean Randy Hanna announced this year’s award on May 2, saying the faculty at FSU Panama City established it in 2022 to acknowledge exceptional work in the classroom and in the community.
“The McRorie Award is most meaningful because it recognizes the intimate connection between teaching and societal uplift,” Cvornyek said. “Courageous teachers never stop thinking about how they can share course content in ways that address collective issues of equity and justice, regardless of discipline.”
The award will be presented annually as part of events leading up to commencement and was created in honor of former FSU Provost Sally McRorie.
During McRorie’s tenure, the university brought in its most talented and diverse classes, set records for the number of first-year applications for admission and enrolled the highest number of graduate students in university history. Under her leadership, FSU saw record retention and graduation rates and eliminated disparities among its diverse undergraduate population, nearly a third of whom were Pell Grant recipients and first-generation college students.
Born and raised in Newark, N.J., in a working-class family, Cvornyek was a first-generation college graduate. He credits his upbringing for forming his outlook: “The sacrifices parents make for their children, the value system of working hard and giving to others.”
“Public history always has an element of applied history, going out into the community. A lot of times there is a disconnect about what is written about someone and what the public understands about a person.”
– Robert Cvornyek, assistant teaching professor in social science at FSU PC
Cvornyek, who joined the FSU PC faculty in 2018, plans to retire in August 2024.
“All teachers put in tremendous emotional involvement in their classes and students, and it’s hard to see them go,” he said. “A lot of the students I teach are first-generation students like myself. It’s hard not to see myself in them.”
Cvornyek received his doctorate in history from Columbia University and is professor emeritus and former chairman of the history department at Rhode Island College. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and specializes in sports history. He edited the autobiography of baseball Hall-of-Famer Effa Manley, and his documentary film, “The Price of Admission,” was screened April 6 at the Rhode Island Black Film Festival at Brown University in Providence.
“Public history always has an element of applied history, going out into the community,” Cvornyek said. “A lot of times there is a disconnect about what is written about someone and what the public understands about a person.”
With that in mind, he recently co-edited two books examining how Black athletes in Boston contributed to social movements, including integration and cultural expression. “Race and Resistance in Boston: A Contested Sports History” (University of Nebraska Press, January 2025) and “Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance and Activism” (Lexington Books, July 2024) were both co-edited with Douglas Stark, a consultant and museum director at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.
Cvornyek and his students were integral in the restoration of Covington Cemetery in Panama City, a historically Black cemetery that was damaged by Hurricane Michael and had become overgrown. His efforts, bolstered by students and community members, resulted in the city taking over maintenance of the plot and the placement of a historical marker on the property.
“‘Love’ is not too strong a word here,” Cvornyek said. “It really was a labor of love. Restoring the dignity of a sacred place goes beyond politics. The students felt a sort of deeper connection to the people buried there and the community they represented.”
“Portraits of the Black Experience in Bay County,” spearheaded by Cvornyek’s research, became an ongoing, evolving initiative to document the history of individuals and their communities. The project’s mission is to preserve, reimagine and share stories that otherwise may be lost to history.
For more information, visit pc.fsu.edu.