Thomas Jefferson Hall building

News Release

LCSC honors Branting as “Lewis-Clark State College Institutional Historian”

LEWISTON, Idaho – As one of his final acts before retiring as president of Lewis-Clark State College, J. Anthony (Tony) Fernandez designated local historian and retired educator Steve Branting with the honorary title of “Lewis-Clark State College Institutional Historian.”

"Steve Branting has given the lion's share of his time, talent, and effort to chronicling Lewis-Clark State College's history,” Fernandez said. “This honorary title added to his LCSC Presidential Medallion is well-deserved and justified.”

Branting is a 1970 graduate of Lewis-Clark Normal and served as a teacher for four decades in the Lewiston area, including at Jenifer Junior High. He received the Marion Shinn Lifetime Achievement award from the LCSC Alumni Association in 2015.

LCSC is currently celebrating its 125th anniversary and Branting has been heavily involved writing stories on the history of the college for the Lewiston Tribune, in giving various talks on campus, and he also contributed to the college’s commemorative anniversary video: "Defined by Perseverance."

"Serving a role to preserve LCSC's heritage is worth whatever contribution I might make,” Branting said when asked about receiving the honorary title. “The 125th anniversary has allowed the college community to focus on those whose efforts are the soil in which we now plant. I am especially indebted to the efforts of LCSC Director of Library Services Johanna Bjork and Director of Communications & Marketing Logan Fowler for their unwavering support and invaluable talents."

Since 2000, many of the nation’s leading history, geography and preservation organizations – including the American Association for State and Local History, The History Channel and the Society for American Archaeology – have honored Branting for the depth, scope and variety of his research and field work.

In 2009, he was nominated for the American Historical Association’s William & Edwyna Gilbert Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of journal articles.

The Idaho State Historical Society conferred upon him the 2011 Esto Perpetua Award, its highest honor, citing his leadership in “some of the most significant preservation and interpretation projects undertaken in Idaho.”

In 2013, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution selected Branting to receive the coveted Historic Preservation Medal, the first to an Idahoan.