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Security Studies Prof Wins Multiple Research Grants

November 30, 2017

Dr. William A. Taylor, an associate professor of security studies at Angelo State University, has been awarded three 2018 national research grants, including a Theodore C. Sorensen Research Fellowship from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Research Grant and a Harry S. Truman Library Institute Research Grant.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Logo The grants will fund Taylor’s research project, “Citizens, Soldiers and Society: American Civil-Military Relations since World War II,” which will eventually become his third book. The Theodore C. Sorensen Research Fellowship is awarded to only one researcher from a national pool of applicants each year to make use of the archival holdings at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Mass. 

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Logo The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation awards grants twice a year to select researchers from a national pool of applicants in support of research in the holdings of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Truman Library Institute awards research grants to emerging and established scholars whose contributions illuminate the critical issues of Truman’s presidency and legacy. The grants allow scholars to utilize the holdings at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Mo. 

Harry S. Truman Library Institute Logo Taylor has now won a total of 14 national grants and fellowships to fund research for his books, including awards from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation (2018), the Harry S. Truman Library Institute (2013, 2015, 2018), the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation (2014, 2018), the U.S. Army Military History Institute (2015), the University of North Texas (2015), the Dwight D. Eisenhower Foundation (2014, 2016), the George C. Marshall Foundation (2012) and the Society for Military History (2010). 

Every Citizen a Soldier Book Cover Graphic Taylor’s first book, “Every Citizen a Soldier: The Campaign for Universal Military Training After World War II,” was published in 2014 and was awarded a 2015 Crader Family Book Prize Honorable Mention by the Crader Family Endowment for American Values. His second book, “Military Service and American Democracy: From World War II to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars,” was published in 2016. 

Also in 2016, Taylor won the ASU President’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor and the Texas Tech University System Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Award. 

A former U.S. Marine, Taylor joined the ASU security studies faculty in 2011. He has also contributed to 16 other books and published over 65 reference articles and book reviews. His books are housed in more than 900 libraries throughout the U.S. and in 35 other countries. 

In addition to his academic credentials, Taylor served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for more than six years, holding posts in III Marine Expeditionary Force, Expeditionary Force Development Center and Marine Corps Combat Development Command. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a doctorate in history from George Washington University.