Posted on May 31, 2002 at 10:36 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Hoover resident Margaret E. Armbrester, M.A., an assistant professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has received the 2002 Samuel Ullman Award from the Japan-American Society of Alabama (JASA). Armbrester was presented with the award during a ceremony held at the Embassy Suites in Montgomery on May 30.

JASA established the Samuel Ullman Award in 1992 to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions toward advancing the relationship between Japan and America. The award was named in honor of Samuel Ullman, the early 20th century Birmingham civic leader and poet. His poem “Youth,” which encourages youthful optimism, was credited by the Japanese with helping inspire Japan’s post-World War II recovery effort and has since come to symbolize the business, cultural and educational ties between Japan and Alabama.

Past Samuel Ullman Award winners include Elmer Harris, former president and CEO of Alabama Power Co. and Akio Morita, co-founder of the Sony Corp.

Armbrester has been curator of the Samuel Ullman Museum in Birmingham since 1993. The museum is maintained by UAB. She also is author of the biography Samuel Ullman and ‘Youth’: The Life, The Legacy (1993, University of Alabama Press).

Armbrester’s other works include Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State (2001, University of Alabama Press), for which she was co-editor.