2015 HuskyWOW Learning Community Kickoff, History LC. L-R: Matthew Talley ’19, Heather Parker, Christina Deoss ’19, Ted Piekarz ’18, Sarah Velcofsky ’18.
In November 2018, a fund was established by Heather A. Parker, the first staff academic advisor for the History Department, in order to create the Excellence in Historical Writing Award. The award will be presented to an undergraduate History major, from any campus, who has produced an exemplary specimen of historical writing. The recipient will be recognized for a paper that presents a well-researched historical argument with clarity, coherence, and style, and the award will be given at the History Department’s Prize Day celebration at the end of the semester. Inspired by Parker’s donation, the History Department faculty are making a joint contribution.
Alumni and friends will be able to contribute to the Parker Award in Historical Writing fund during UConn Gives, the University’s 36-hour giving initiative, on March 27-28, 2019. Mark your calendars and find out more at: https://givingday.uconn.edu.
Professor Fakhreddin Azimi was recently awarded the Mahteb Mirzaei Memorial Prize for his article, “An exploration and historical contextualization of the declassified CIA/US Government documents on Iran, 1952-54”, published in the summer 2017 issue of Negah-e Nou, the premier Tehran-based Persian language quarterly. This marks the third time his Persian language scholarship has won this award. Professor Azimi’s brother was on hand in Tehran to accept the award on his behalf on November 29, 2018. In addition to multiple monographs, articles, and chapters on the politics, society, and culture of modern Iran, Professor Azimi teaches courses in medieval and modern Middle Eastern history, and graduate seminars on history and theory in the UConn History Department. Congratulations, Professor Azimi!
A picture of the prize.Professor Azimi’s brother accepting the award of his behalf.
Doctoral student Erik Freeman has won the Communal Studies Association’s 2018 publications award for “Best Article.” His article, “‘True Christianity’: The Flowering and Fading of Mormonism and Romantic Socialism in Nineteenth-Century France” appeared in the April 2018 issue of The Journal of Mormon History. Erik’s work was praised for demonstrating “the groundbreaking connections between socialism and the LDS movement.” He will receive the award at the Association’s annual meeting in October. Congratulations, Erik!
We are delighted to report that the UConn Humanities Institute awarded three dissertation fellowships for 2018-19, two of which will go to graduate students in History: Aimee Loiselle and Amy Sopcack-Joseph.
Aimee Loiselle has been awarded a UCHI Fellowship for her project “Creating Norma Rae: The Erasure of Puerto Rican Needleworkers and Southern Labor Activists in the Making of a Neoliberal Icon.”
Amy Sopcak-Joseph, who will receive a UCHI-Draper Fellowship to work on “Fashioning American Women: Godey’s Lady’s Book, Female Consumers, and Periodical Publishing in the Nineteenth Century.”
Manisha Sinha, the Draper Chair in American History, has been selected as the winner of the 2017 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for her book “The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition” (Yale University Press). Established in 1999, the Douglass Prize is awarded annually by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the best book written in English on slavery or abolition. Sinha will receive the prize at a reception sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in New York City on February 22, 2018. The latest of several awards, Dr. Sinha’s achievement is a source of great pride to all of her colleagues in the History Department and to the University of Connecticut at large.
The History Department again celebrated outstanding student achievement on Friday, April 29th in the annual History Prize Day Ceremony and Phi Alpha Theta Initiation with students, faculty, staff, donors, family and friends. With the generous support of the UConn Foundation and our donors, eighteen scholarships, prizes, and fellowships were awarded to sixteen deserving undergraduate and graduate students with remarks from faculty nominators and presenters. Eight new students were also inducted into the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society for 2016, followed by keynote address “Facts n’ Stuff: Why History Helps” given by Prof. Alexis Dudden.
Department Head Christopher Clark makes opening remarks
Prof. Christopher Clark presents the Harry J. Marks Fellowship to Erik Freeman
Prof. John Davis presents the Harry J. Marks Fellowship to Jessica Strom
Prof. Sherri Olson presents the Undergraduate History Excellence Award to Harrison Fregeau
Prof. Alexis Dudden presents the Roger N. Buckley Award to Harrison Fregeau
Prof. Cornelia Dayton presents the Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award to Kevin Finefrock
Prof. Nancy Shoemaker presents the Connecticut Celebration 350th Scholarship to Nathan Braccio
Prof. Mark Healey presents the Hugh M. Hamill Graduate Fellowship in Latin American History to Orlando Deavila
Prof. Mark Healey presents the Albert E. & Wilda E. Van Dusen Scholarship to Joreel Melendez-Badillo
Prof. Frank Costigliola presents the Andrew W. Pyper Scholarship to Gabrielle Westcott
Prof. Joel Blatt presents the Andrew W. Pyper Scholarship to Katherine Hoskin
Katherine Hoskin accepts the Andrwe W. Pyper Scholarship
Prof. Ricardo Salazar-Rey presents the Andrew W. Pyper Scholarship to Jeremy Timperanza
Prof. Joel Blatt presents the Karl Z. Trybys Undergraduate Award for Exceptional Work in Modern European History to Zachary Stack
Prof. Micki McElya presents the Bruce M. & Sondra Astor Stave Prize in Recent American History to Matthew Guariglia
Matthew Guariglia accepting the Bruce M. & Sondra Astor Stave Prize in Recent American History
Prof. Peter Zarrow presents the Abraham and Faye Astor Scholarship to Yang Zheng
Director of Graduate Studies Prof. Janet Watson begins the 2016 Phi Alpha Theta induction ceremony
The 2016 Phi Alpha Theta Inductees
The 2016 Phi Alpha Theta Inductees
Speaker Prof. Alexis Dudden giving the keynote address
Prof. Nancy Shoemaker and Nathan Braccio
Prof. Cornelia Dayton and Kevin Finefrock
Prof. Christopher Clark and Erik Freeman
Prof. John Davis and Jessica Strom
Prof. Frank Costigliola and Gabrielle Westcott
Left to right: Prof. Joel Blatt, Jeremy Timperanza, Katherine Hoskin, Prof. Sylvia Schafer, Prof. Ricardo Salazar-Rey, Zachary Stack
Prof. Joel Blatt and Zachary Stack
Prof. Joel Blatt and Katherine Hoskin
Prof. Ricardo Salazar-Rey and Jeremy Timperanza
Prof. Emeritus Bruce Stave, Sondra Astor Stave, Yang Zheng, Prof. Peter Zarrow
Prof. Micki McElya, Sondra Astor Stave, Prof. Emeritus Bruce Stave, Matthew Guariglia
Prof. Sherri Olson and Harrison Fregeau
Award winners Matthew Guariglia, Harrison Fregeau, and families
Matthew Guariglia and family
Prof. Mark Healey and Orlando Deavila
Prof. Mark Healey, Jorell Melendez-Badillo, Prof. Blanca Silvestrini
The 2016 History Prize Day Award Winners
Thomas G. Paterson Graduate Fellowship in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations: Frances Martin
Harry J. Marks Fellowship: Erik Freeman and Jessica Strom
Undergraduate History Excellence Award: Harrison Fregeau and Christopher Sacco
Roger N. Buckley Award: Harrison Fregeau
Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award: Kevin Finefrock
Hugh M. Hamill Graduate Fellowship in Latin American History: Orlando Deavila
Albert E. & Wilda E. Van Dusen Scholarship: Jorell Melendez-Badillo
Andrew W. Pyper Scholarship: Gabrielle Westcott, Katherine Hoskin, and Jeremy Timperanza
Karl Z. Trybus Undergraduate Award for Exceptional Work in Modern European History: Zachary Stack
Bruce M. & Sondra Astor Stave Prize in Recent American History: Matthew Guariglia
Abraham and Faye Astor Scholarship: Yang Zheng
Allen M. Ward Prize in Ancient History: Eric Medawar
Albert E. and Wilda E. Van Dusen Award for Undergraduate Study and Travel in the Fields of Ancient Greco-Roman History and Classical Languages: Eric Medawar
The 2016 Phi Alpha Theta Initiates
Eric J. Mooney
Donovan P. Fifield
Gregory P. DiVito, Jr.
Collin C. Anderson
Kayla W. Gervino
Lynsey Grzejszczak
Joseph A. Hutton, Jr.
Zoe R. Kaufman
Julia Garavel
Ryan E. Kogstad
Duane Yuhas
Simon T. Walker
Samuel D. Surowitz
Robert A. Stickel
John H. Kelly
