W. Dean Eastman

Under the guidance of thesis advisor, Stephan Thernstrom, a recipient of the Bancroft Prize in American History, Dean's topic was "The Influence of Immigration on the Development of Civic Education in the United States from 1880-1925".

Weston Dean Eastman (born 1948) is a nationally known educator and writer who has instituted numerous innovative "hands-on" classroom teaching approaches and helped initiate a number of collaborations between numerous historical archives and public schools.

Eastman has received many awards and honors during his long career.

He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on February 22, 1948, the son of Weston D. and Harriet Eastman.

Eastman attended the Andover, Massachusetts Public Schools and, while a student at Andover High School, was a member of the Latin Club, a library assistant, won third place in the science fair, and won 8 athletic letters in football, indoor track, and outdoor track.

In his senior year, Andover High won the Massachusetts All-Class Track and Field Championship.

Eastman placed in the 200-meter dash and was a member of the 800-meter relay team that placed second.

His classmates at Andover High included Tonight Show host Jay Leno and Emmy Award-winning soap opera writer Lorraine Broderick.

Eastman attended Drake University from 1966–1970.

He was a member of the Bulldog Track team as a freshman.

Eastman graduated from Drake in 1970 with a BSE in Social Science.

Eastman received an MSE and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study at Springfield College (1976, 1977).

The National Junior Chamber of Commerce selected Eastman as one of the Outstanding Young Men of America in 1982.

From 1987-1991 Eastman served as grant reader/evaluator for the Commission of the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, chaired by former Chief Justice Warren Burger.

In 1989 he was selected as the John F. Kennedy Presidential Award Winner, "Outstanding Teacher on the Theme of the American Presidency" and as the Massachusetts Christa McAuliffe Fellow in 1990.

Eastman was featured in the book I Am a Teacher by David Marquis (Simon & Schuster).

In 1991, he was selected by the Disney Channel as one of 36 teachers in the nation to receive the American Teacher Award.

He was featured on the Disney Channel on November 24, 1991.

In 1991 Eastman was featured on NBC's Today Show for his work with homeless students, and was introduced on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

He also appeared twice as a guest on Tom Bergeron's WBZ TV Show "People Are Talking".

Eastman was the recipient of the Drake University Alumni Achievement Award in 1991, and Drake's School of Education's Outstanding Alumni Award in 1994.

He served as a grant reader/evaluator for the United States Department of Education from 1992–1994.

In 1992 he helped develop, research, and host a ten-part series on immigration for Massachusetts Educational Television (MCET).

He was a visiting professor of education at Drake from 1994–1995, and was a guest lecturer in 2005 and 2010.

In 1996, Eastman's local history class was featured in an article "History Close to Home" in the fall 1996 issue of Teaching Tolerance, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Eastman is the co-creator of primaryresearch.org, which was founded in 1999 to highlight and benefit the endeavor of local history study among public school students.

In 2000 he received an ALM degree with a concentration in Government from Harvard University.

Eastman has been selected for Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America in every year from 2000–2015.

In 2001 Eastman was featured in the PBS series "Only A Teacher: The History of Teaching in the United States".

In 2004 he was selected as the first annual Preserve America Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year.

He also served on the boards of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), the National Teacher Source Advisory Group from 2004–2005, and the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union Education Steering Committee from 1990–2010.

In 2005 the National Park Service awarded him the Prince Saunders Education Award for Exemplary Contribution in the Field of African-American Historical Research.

In 2005 Eastman appeared as a contestant on ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as part of a special tribute to America's teachers.

Eastman is a recipient of Harvard University's Derek Bok Prize for Public Service.

He was profiled in Drake Blue (Winter 2005).

Of Eastman, Pulitzer Award winner in American History Bernard Bailyn stated "I have never seen creative imagination so wonderfully at work in high school teaching"

Eastman was selected for both Marquis Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World for almost 20 years.

He is an elected fellow at both the Massachusetts Historical Society and Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and served an eight-year term as one of eight members of Adams Family Papers Administration Committee from 2005–2013.

In 2018 Eastman received the Nelson Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2019 Eastman received the James E. Stewart Torch Bearer Award, presented by the Montford Point Marines of America Association, for humanitarian service and historical research and writing in the field of African-American history.