LAS VEGAS--November 14, 2008--For his work in documenting the roots and development of the West, Nevada, and Las Vegas, history Professor Eugene Moehring has been selected as this year's recipient of the Harry Reid Silver State Research Award. Created in 2001, the award is bestowed upon full-time UNLV faculty members who have conducted research that is responsive to the needs of the community and state.

Moehring, an urban historian who began his academic career in New York, started teaching at UNLV in 1976, a time when Las Vegas had minimal documentation of its history and was on the verge of becoming a boom town. Moehring needed a comprehensive analysis on Nevada's past in order to teach a class on western urban history, so he expanded his research from eastern cities to the Southwest.

"Eugene has dedicated much of his professional career to the benefit of Nevada, writing the histories that have enabled residents and non-residents alike to understand the political, economic and cultural history of the state," said David Wrobel, professor and chair of the UNLV Department of History.

Having twice served as the history department chair, Moehring was instrumental in creating an emphasis in public history and world history including African, Middle Eastern and Pacific Rim cultures. An active member in professional and community organizations, Moehring has served as a consulting historian to Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson. He developed courses in Nevada history at the survey level, helped lead the way to the creation of the Ph.D. history program and has implemented Las Vegas research in his upper-division courses in urban and business history.

Moehring has published 30 articles in numerous academic journals about Las Vegas and other cities of the west. He is the author of five books: "Public Works and the Patterns of Urban Real Estate Growth in Manhattan, 1835-1894" (New York: Arno Press, 1981), "Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, 1930-1970" (University Press, 1989, updated in 1995 and 2000), "Urbanism and Empire in the Far West, 1840-1890," (University of Nevada Press, 2004), "Las Vegas: A Centennial History," co-authored with Michael S. Green (University of Nevada Press 2005), and "UNLV: The University of Nevada, Las Vegas: A History" (University of Nevada Press 2007).

Moehring receives a $10,000 stipend which is funded through the UNLV Foundation.