Southern Miss Historian Andrew Wiest Receives Prestigious Morison Prize for Lifetime Contributions

Wed, 03/11/2026 - 01:12pm | By: David Tisdale

Dr. Andrew Wiest has little left to prove in a nearly four-decade career as a professional military historian.

Wiest, a distinguished professor of history at The University of Southern Mississippi, is the 2026 recipient of the Society for Military History’s prestigious Samuel Eliot Morison Prize, which recognizes a scholar’s “body of contributions in the field of military history, extending over time and reflecting a spectrum of scholarly activity contributing significantly to the field.”

An extensively published author and respected researcher, Wiest is a longtime faculty favorite at Southern Miss, beloved by students and colleagues for his professionalism and humor.

“Receiving the Morison Prize is both surreal and humbling,” Wiest said. “The folks who have won this in the past, from Sir Michael Howard to Stephen Ambrose, are scholars I’ve looked up to all my life with awe. That I have been judged to be worthy of being in their number by my peers is frankly unbelievable.”

Wiest expressed gratitude to mentor professors, high school teachers, colleagues, students, family and friends for their support along the way.

“A kid from Hattiesburg who only went to college because of a Pell Grant somehow ends up being recognized like this — it just seems like a real long shot,” he continued. “It’s a testament to all the people I’ve been connected to on this wonderful journey doing what I love.”  

The prize’s namesake, Samuel Eliot Morison, was a graduate of Harvard University and served as a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He is widely noted for his important writings on American and maritime history.

Wiest earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Southern Miss and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He began teaching at his alma mater in 1987 while completing his dissertation. He is the founding director of Southern Miss’ Dale Center for the Study of War & Society and co-founder of the university’s new Center for the Study of the National Guard.

For many years, Wiest has served as a faculty member in the Southern Miss British Studies Program and has also led the university’s study abroad program in Vietnam. He is an inductee of both the Southern Miss Alumni Hall of Fame and the Hattiesburg Public Schools Hall of Fame.

Wiest’s areas of expertise include British military history, World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the latter of which is the focus of his book, The Boys of ’67. That work inspired the National Geographic documentary Brothers in War, for which Wiest served as lead historian and which earned an Emmy nomination. Another of his books, Vietnam’s Forgotten Army, won the Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award. Wiest was also chief historical consultant for the documentary Vietnam in HD, which won the New York Film Festival’s Gold World Medal.

Society for Military History President Dr. Wayne Lee lauded Wiest for having “a profound effect on the field of military history,” including what he described as “groundbreaking works” on the history of the American and Republic of Vietnam’s wars, as well as for his mentorship of students.

“Dr. Wiest is a prolific and greatly respected scholar of war in American history, and well deserving of the 2026 Morison Award,” Lee said.

Wiest initially considered a career as a different kind of doctor — the kind typically wearing a stethoscope around their neck. He enrolled as a freshman at Southern Miss having declared biology as his major.

But after taking classes from professors Cicarelli, Gonzales, Guice, Harper, McCarty, McMillen and Scarborough — a veritable roll call of the university’s legendary history faculty from a previous era — Wiest had a change of heart.

“I figured being a medical doctor might make for a stable career,” Wiest recounted. “But it was in my first few history classes at USM when I really started thinking I wanted to do that — that I wanted to be like those great history teachers I had.”

His colleague Dr. Heather Stur, a senior fellow in the Dale Center, spearheaded Wiest’s nomination for the Morison Award with support from other military historians.

Stur said she is grateful Wiest changed those early career plans for one in their shared passion for history, particularly the Vietnam War.

“Andy has advanced the field of military history in numerous ways, from redefining the historiography of the Vietnam War to mentoring graduate students who have gone on to have successful careers in academia, professional military education and public history,” Stur said.

“But nominating Andy was also personal for me, because he has been a trusted mentor and friend since I arrived at Southern Miss over 17 years ago. I was a newly minted Ph.D. then, and Andy could have been territorial about the Vietnam War as an established scholar. Instead, he welcomed me with open arms and advocated for and elevated me both here at the university and in the profession.

“He is an unselfish colleague who values the work of those around him, and that made all the difference to me when I was just starting in the field,” Stur continued. “For Andy, there's always room at the table, and he's the first one to pull up a chair for a newcomer and invite them to sit down and join the conversation. It's what makes Andy so special beyond his research and teaching excellence.”

Southern Miss Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Lance Nail said Wiest is “the epitome of the teacher-scholar.”

“He has a mission to serve as the historian who archives discoveries and then shares them with his students and society,” Nail said. “This award is well-earned — there is no more deserving historian or faculty member of such recognition than Andy Wiest.”

Jill Childress, a former graduate teaching assistant under Wiest’s supervision, said her mentor’s impact “exists in every classroom in which a student has gone forth to teach.”

“His instruction methods, his humor and grace, his authentic concern for his students — we took these with us as we joined faculty across the U.S.,” said Childress, now an instructor of history at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. “He just cannot begin to imagine the effect he has had.”

“The stone falls into the pond, and the ripples touch shores never imagined,” Childress continued. “He prepared us well for success. We owe him more than we can ever repay.”

With such lofty recognition as the Morison Award, one couldn’t blame Wiest for shifting gears into neutral. But that, he says, is not in the offing.

“It’s a wonderful way to crown a career, but I ain’t done yet,” Wiest said of the accolade. “There’s a lot more left to do.”

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The College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Southern Mississippi is home to 13 schools, two ROTC units, and more than 100 academic programs. Guided by the University’s mission, we educate students, lead the state and nation in research and the creative arts, and advance knowledge across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM. Through innovative research and nationally recognized student success, we provide pathways to understanding the past, solving today's challenges, and imagining the possibilities of tomorrow.