MAHG helps teacher in Michigan receive Excellence in Education Award

When it came time for Brian Milliron to select a graduate program as a James Madison Fellow, he discovered Ashland University the old-fashioned way: word of mouth.

“Even with all of the ways to communicate in 2025 word of mouth is still a very effective way of gaining information, that is how I learned about MAHG (Master of Arts in American History and Government at AU),” said Milliron, the James Madison Fellow for Michigan in 2018.

The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation awards one fellowship per year for each state and $24,000 to each Fellow toward graduate-level coursework that includes a concentration of courses on history and principles of the United States Constitution. They also attend the James Madison Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in the summer.

Not only has his MAHG experience at AU improved his teaching, it also helped him receive the Michigan Lottery’s Excellence in Education Award a few months ago.

Milliron is in his 20th year of teaching, his sixth in Whitehall, Michigan, a small town of about 3,000 people in the west-central part of the state. He teaches 12th grade government and economics, 11th/12th grade AP U.S. history and 10th grade honors U.S. history classes, as well as coaches Whitehall High School’s varsity girls basketball teams and JV and varsity Quiz Bowl squads.

“I love reading and with the MAHG program’s emphasis on primary source documents, it allowed me to do something I love, but more importantly gave me a frame of reference to use something directly in the classroom,” Milliron said about AU. “I can have a discussion on NSC-68 in my MAHG Cold War course and then directly use that document and the information gleaned from it the next day in my AP U.S. history class.

“That was something that I enjoyed most about the experience, the ability to expand my understanding of topics that courses in my undergrad or my first MA didn’t get into as much depth on or are just too far back in my memory to be useful,” Milliron added. “The MAHG courses gave me that added knowledge of understanding that I needed to be better at my job.”

Because Milliron said teachers need to talk with students about what is going on in our government and society today, he is grateful to MAHG for helping him be more knowledgeable and confident in having these hard discussions with them.

“We need to teach our students about recognizing bias, we need to teach our students about reliable sources, and we need to teach our students that we are all on the same team in this country and that we have to find common ground as our founders intended,” Milliron said. “It is hard to teach social studies right now and, while it may be easier and safer for teachers to shy away from controversy when it comes to our history and politics, it is needed now more than ever, but we have to have the courage to do it and do it right.”

That’s why Milliron is thankful for everything Ashland University, the Madison Foundation and the Michigan Lottery Excellence in Education Committee has done for him the past few years.

“I know I am a better teacher because of them,” he said.