Athens Resident Named UT Tyler 2025 History Scholar

June 9, 2025

Nixon Gorka of Athens, an incoming senior at The University of Texas at Tyler, is a 2025 history scholar. A history major, Gorka received the UT Tyler Edwin and Frank Smyrl Academic Achievement Award in the amount of $1,500.

The UT Tyler Department of History presents scholarships to declared history majors in recognition of excellent academic performance, and to encourage the study of history at the university.

“We congratulate Nixon, who is a prime example of the exceptional students we have in the history department,” said Dr. Neil Gray, UT Tyler College of Arts and Sciences dean. “I also want to thank our history faculty for their unwavering support of our students. Their dedication to student success is truly inspiring.”

This scholarship honors the memory of historian Edwin Smyrl, and his brother Dr. Frank H. Smyrl, founding department chair and first dean of the UT Tyler College of Liberal Arts, now known as the College of Arts and Sciences. Frank is survived by his wife Carolyn Smyrl, who is the chief benefactor of the award.

Gorka will graduate in May 2026 with a UT Tyler Bachelor of Arts in history. After graduation, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in history and hopes to share her love of the subject with others. 

UT Tyler undergraduate and graduate programs in history provide excellent preparation for careers in various fields, including elementary, secondary and higher education, library and archival work, as well as law and government. The department offers a broad-based liberal arts education to suit each student’s individual interests and career goals. To learn more, visit uttyler.edu.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 10,000 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.