Professor Sousanis Wins Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year

PENN STATE NEWS -- A comics artist, educator and assistant professor in the School of Humanities and Liberal Studies at San Francisco State University, Sousanis earned his doctorate in education, becoming the first person at Columbia University to produce his dissertation in comic book form. Sousanis will speak following the award ceremony and autograph copies of his winning graphic narrative, “Unflattening.” Established in 2011, the Lynd Ward Prize honors Ward’s formative influence in the development of the graphic novel and celebrates the gift of an extensive collection of Ward’s wood engravings, original book illustrations and other graphic art donated to the Penn State University Libraries by his daughters Robin Ward Savage and Nanda Weedon Ward. Sousanis’ dissertation, “Unflattening” (Harvard University Press), argues for the importance of visual thinking in teaching and learning. The book also won the 2016 American Publishers Award for Excellence in Humanities.