A West Virginia University history professor has been named the 2005 recipient of the James and Arthur Gabriel/Gabriel Brothers Inc. Faculty Award.

Mary Lou Lustig will accept the award at the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences’Weekend of Honors ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 16, in the Mountainlair Ballrooms.

The award was established by James and Arthur Gabriel, founding partners of Gabriel Brothers Inc., the Morgantown-based discount clothing business. The Gabriels, both of whom have WVU degrees, created the prize to encourage, support and reward faculty endeavors, especially teaching that focuses on America and its society and culture.

Lustig joined the WVU faculty in 1988. She teaches courses on Anglo-American politics and culture during the colonial and revolutionary period.

She has written three books on early American history and numerous essays and articles for a variety of scholarly publications. She was also co-editor of”The Papers of William Livingston.”Livingston was a member of the First Constitutional Congress who served with distinction in the American Revolution.

Lustig, who earned her doctorate from Syracuse University , is only the second woman to reach the rank of professor of history at WVU . She received an Eberly College Outstanding Teacher Award in 1994.

Robert Blobaum, chairman of the Department of History, said Lustig is most deserving of the award.

“Dr. Lustig’s name has been synonymous with the development of the History Department’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum in early American history over the last seventeen years,”Blobaum said.”Ever since her arrival at WVU , evaluations of her instruction at all levels have been unanimous in their high regard for her teaching.”