The speaker for Le Moyne College’s 67th undergraduate commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 21 will be History Professor John Langdon, Ph.D., class of 1967. At the ceremony, Langdon will receive an honorary degree, as will two other individuals — educator and long-time Red Cross worker Elaine Clyburn ’56 and Joseph Parkes, S.J., who has been instrumental in the growth of the Cristo Rey Network of high schools.
Langdon has been in the history department at Le Moyne since 1971, teaching either Western Civilization or World Civilizations during each of his 46 years in teaching. He was named Teacher of the Year at Le Moyne in 1989 and was named the College’s first O’Connell Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities in 1996. In 2011 he received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Central New York Council for the Social Studies, and in 2012 was named Distinguished Social Studies Educator of the Year by the New York State Council for the Social Studies.
His publications include, as sole author, “July 1914: The Long Debate, 1918-1990” (1991); four books as co-author with Edward H. Judge as follows: “A Hard and Bitter Peace: A Global History of the Cold War” (third edition, forthcoming in 2017); “The Cold War: A History Through Documents” (third edition, forthcoming in 2017); “The Cold War: A Global History with Documents” (2010); and “Connections: A World History” (third edition, 2015); and one book as co-author with Barnett Singer, “Cultured Force: Builders and Defenders of France’s Colonial Empire” (2004).
He also wrote “Against the Sky,” the history of Le Moyne, which was published in 1996 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the College’s founding. He is currently working on a book — tentatively titled “A Beacon to Us All” — to mark the College’s 75th anniversary in 2021.
He received a B.A. with honors in history from Le Moyne and a Ph.D. in history from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Drafted into the army in 1968, he served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve before being honorably discharged as Sergeant First Class.
