The images shown here are from the awards ceremony that took place during the Humanities Institute's 2024-2025 Spring Reception and Awards Ceremony.

• 2024-2025 Department Awards
• 2023-2024 Department Awards
• 2022-2023 Department Awards
• 2021-2022 Department Awards
• 2020-2021 Department Awards
• Department Awards by Type

2024-2025 Department Awards

• Marilyn Waldman Award best paper by an undergraduate in a Comparative Studies class
  •  June Powell, "Playing Druid: What does it mean to braid silliness and seriousness in a religious context?"
    • Honorable Mention: Summer Shigley, "The Hearth & Page: A Synthesized View of Banned Books"
• Richard Bjornson Award best essay by a graduate student in our department.
  • Koray Saçkan, "'History is a Form of Fiction': Representations of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange in Turkish and Greek History and Literature"
• Marge Lynd Award for best teaching 
  • by an associate faculty member Sue Oakes
    • Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Marsch
  • by a graduate student member Patrick Dunn
  • by a faculty member Liliana Gil
    • Honorable Mention: Melissa Curley
• Graduate Student Service Award 
  • Ilayda Üstel
• Undergraduate Community Engagement Award

  • Mikayla Perry

     

2023-2024 Department Awards 

• Marilyn Waldman Award best paper by an undergraduate in a Comparative Studies class
  • Lee-Lee Knupp, "Publicly Private: Legitimacy and Power in the Laboratory"
• Richard Bjornson Award best essay by a graduate student in our department.
  • Adam Banks and Ahwar Sultan, "Fugitive Revolution, Performative Eschatology"
  • Honorable Mention: Patrick Dunn
• Marge Lynd Award for best teaching 
  • by an associate faculty member Mark Anthony Arceño 
  • by a graduate student member Deanna Holroyd
  • by a faculty member Sam Aranke
• Graduate Student Service Award 
  • Nicole Stevens
• Undergraduate Community Engagement Award
  • Emily Cecil

Click here to read more of the 2023-2024 awards ceremony and reception.

2022-2023 Department Awards 

• Marilyn Waldman Award best paper by an undergraduate in a Comparative Studies class
  • Emoni Harmon
• Richard Bjornson Award best essay by a graduate student in our department.
  • Shurouq Ibrahim
• Marge Lynd Award for best teaching 
  • by an associate faculty member Seth Josephson 
  • by a graduate student member Rhiar Kanouse
  • by a faculty member Hugh Urban
• Graduate Student Service Award 
  • Deanna Holroyd
• Undergraduate Community Engagement Award
  • Elisabeth Burns

2021-2022 Department Awards 

• Marilyn Waldman Award best paper by an undergraduate in a Comparative Studies class
  • Jordan Vann
• Richard Bjornson Award best essay by a graduate student in our department.
  • Shurouq Ibrahim
• Marge Lynd Award for best teaching 
  • by an associate faculty member Dan DiPiero
  • by a graduate student member Parisa Ahmadi
  • by a faculty member Maurice Stevens
• Graduate Student Service Award 
  • Umut Gurses
• Undergraduate Community Engagement Award
  • Elisabeth Burns, Gino Moretta, and Alanna Strickland

Click here to read more of the 2021-2022 awards ceremony and reception.

2020-2021 Department Awards

• Marilyn Waldman Award best paper by an undergraduate in a Comparative Studies class
  • Iman Quadri, "Neocolonial Relations of Biopiracy in Vaccine Production and Distribution"
  • Honorable mention: River Carpenter, "The Belmont County BOOM!"
• Richard Bjornson Award best essay by a graduate student in our department.
  • Ilayda Üstel, "The Challenge Accepted Movement on Instagram: An Embodied Virtual Protest" 
  • Honorable Mention: Erin Barrentine, "Towards a Phenomenology and Materiality of Mourning in the Safaitic Epigraphy of Pre-Islamic Arabia"
• Marge Lynd Award for best teaching 
  • by an associate faculty member Spencer Dew
  • by a faculty member Isaac Weiner
• Graduate Student Service Award 
  • Rhiar Kanouse
• Inaugural Undergraduate Community Engagement Award
  • Jessica Vallejo

Click here to read more of the 2020-2021 (virtual) awards ceremony.

Department Awards by Type

Marilyn Waldman Award best paper by an undergraduate in a Comparative Studies class

• 2015     Ryan Johnson (honorable mention: Will Myers)
• 2016     Taryn Ely (honorable mention: Jacob Kroth and Marisa Wieneke) 
• 2017     Anna Lieswyn
• 2018     Nick Sunderland (honorable mention: Amy Gutmann Fuentes)
• 2019     Andrea Gutmann Fuentes (honorable mention: Emily Engel)
• 2020     Kaleab Mammo-Jegol 
• 2021     Iman Quadri (honorable mention: River Carpenter)
• 2022     Jordan Vann
• 2023     Emoni Harmon
• 2024     Lee-Lee Knupp
• 2025    June Powell (honorable mention: Summer Shigley)

Richard Bjornson Award best essay by a graduate student in our department

• 2015     Caroline Toy (honorable mention: Bennett Whitaker)
• 2016     Leighla Khansari (honorable mention: Zachery Paganini)
• 2017     Caroline Toy
• 2018     Zeynep Aydogdu
• 2019     Sarah Craycraft (honorable mention: Dan DiPiero)
• 2020     Keren Tanguay
• 2021     Ilayda Ustel (honorable mention: Erin Barrentine)
• 2022     Shurouq Ibrahim
• 2023     Shurouq Ibrahim
• 2024     Adam Banks & Ahwar Sultan (honorable mention: Patrick Dunn)
• 2025     Koray Saçkan

Marge Lynd Award for best teaching 

by an associate faculty member 

• 2014     Nancy Jesser
• 2015     Rita Trimble
• 2016     Susan Hanson
• 2017     Puja Batra-Wells
• 2018     Jason Payne
• 2019     Rick Livingston
• 2020     Elizabeth Vu
• 2021     Spencer Dew
• 2022     Dan DiPiero
• 2023     Seth Josephson             
• 2024     Mark Anthony Arceño 
• 2025     Sue Oakes (honorable mention: Elizabeth Marsch

by a graduate student member 

• 2014     Brian Murphy  
• 2015     Nic Flores
• 2016     Amanda Randhawa
• 2017     Dan DiPiero
• 2018     Eleanor Paynter
• 2019     Caroline Toy
• 2020     Ryann Patrus
• 2022     Parisa Ahmadi
• 2023     Rhiar Kanouse
• 2024     Deanna Holroyd
• 2025     Patrick Dunn

by a faculty member 

• 2014     Katey Borland
• 2015     David Horn
• 2016     Nina Berman
• 2017     Ashley Perez
• 2018     Melissa Curley
• 2019     Philip Armstrong
• 2020     Katey Borland
• 2021     Isaac Weiner
• 2022     Maurice Stevens
• 2023     Hugh Urban
• 2024     Sam Aranke
• 2025     Liliana Gil (honorable mention: Melissa Curley)

Graduate Student Service Award 

• 2015     Jasmine Stork
• 2016     Eleanor Paynter
• 2017     Eleanor Paynter
• 2018     Leighla Khansari
• 2019     Emma Cobb
• 2020     Caroline Toy
• 2021     Rhiar Kanouse
• 2022     Umut Gurses
• 2023     Deanna Holroyd
• 2024     Nicole Stevens
• 2025     Ilayda Üstel

Undergraduate Community Engagement Award

• 2021     Jessica Vallejo
• 2022     Elisabeth Burns, Gino Moretta, and Alanna Strickland
• 2023     Elisabeth Burns
• 2024     Emily Cecil
• 2025     Mikayla Perry