FSU Panama City faculty honor social science professor whose community work inspires students

Robert Cvornyek, assistant professor of social sciences at Florida State University’s Panama City Campus (FSU PC), has received the inaugural Dean Sally McRorie Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service.

Dean Randy Hanna announced this year’s award on May 2, saying FSU Panama City faculty established it in 2022 to recognize exceptional work in the classroom and in the community.

“The McRorie Award is most meaningful because it recognizes the intimate connection between teaching and the upliftment of society,” Cvornyek said. “Courageous teachers never stop thinking about how they can share course content in ways that address collective issues of equity and justice, regardless of discipline.”

The award will be presented annually as part of the events leading up to graduation and was created in honor of former FSU provost Sally McRorie.

During McRorie’s tenure, the university brought in its most talented and diverse classes, set records for the number of applications for first-year admission, and enrolled the largest number of graduate students in the university’s history. Under his leadership, FSU recorded record retention and graduation rates and eliminated disparities among its diverse college population, nearly one-third of which were Pell Grant recipients and first-generation college students.

Born and raised in Newark, NJ, to a working-class family, Cvornyek was a first-generation graduate. He credits his upbringing with shaping his perspective: “The sacrifices parents make for their children, the value system of working hard and giving to others.”

“Public history always has an element of applied history, going out into the community. There is often a disconnect between what is written about someone and what the public understands about a person.”

– Robert Cvornyek, assistant professor of social sciences at FSU PC

Cvornyek, who joined the FSU PC faculty in 2018, plans to retire in August 2024.

“All the teachers have a huge emotional involvement in their classes and students, and it’s hard to see them go,” he said. “Many of the students I teach are first-generation students like me. It’s hard not to see myself in them.”

Cvornyek received his doctorate in history from Columbia University and is professor emeritus and former chair of the history department at Rhode Island College. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and specializes in sports history. He edited the autobiography of baseball Hall of Famer Effa Manley, and her documentary, “The Price of Admission,” was shown April 6 at the Rhode Island Black Film Festival at Brown University in Providence.

“Public history always has an element of applied history, which goes out into the community,” Cvornyek said. “There is often a disconnect between what is written about someone and what the public understands about a person.”

With this in mind, he recently co-edited two books that examine how black athletes in Boston contributed to social movements, including integration and cultural expression. “Race and Resistance in Boston: A Contested Sports History” (University of Nebraska Press, January 2025) and “Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance and Activism” (Lexington Books, July 2024) were both co-edited with Douglas Stark, a consultant and museum director for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Cvornyek and his students were instrumental in the restoration of Covington Cemetery in Panama City, a historically black cemetery that was damaged by Hurricane Michael and became overgrown. Their efforts, supported by students and community members, led to the city taking over maintenance of the land and placing a historic marker on the property.

“’Love’ isn’t too strong a word here,” Cvornyek said. “It really was a labor of love. Restoring the dignity of a sacred place goes beyond politics. The students felt a kind of deeper connection with the people buried there and the community they represented.”

“Portraits of the Black Experience in Bay County,” led by Cvornyek’s research, has become an ongoing and evolving initiative to document the history of individuals and their communities. The project’s mission is to preserve, reimagine and share stories that might otherwise be lost to history.

For more information, visit pc.fsu.edu.