Freeberg Named 2023 William and Vicki Brakebill College Marshal
Ernest Freeberg, professor of history, was named the 2023 William and Vicki Brakebill College Marshal during the UT College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Convocation. The William and Vicki Brakebill College Marshal Award is the college equivalent of the university macebearer and is, therefore, the highest college honor awarded to a member of the faculty.
Freeberg stepped onto the UT campus in 2003 and began his 20+ years as a Volunteer. His long standing service to our college and the university, as well as his record of outstanding scholarship is why we honor him with the William and Vicki Brakebill College Marshal Award award this evening. He served as department head for history from 2013 until 2022, and holds the titles of both Beaman Professor and Distinguished Professor of the Humanities.
His research has been supported by grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Huntington Library, Newberry Library, and others. His two most recent books, A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animal Rights Movement and The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America are notable not only for their scholarly excellence, but also accessibility to a general audience, who he knows well from his several years on the board of the Knoxville History Project.