July
Elizabeth Smith, a psychology graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded a Summer Student Fellowship from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (PDF) to study medical interventions for Parkinson’s disease.
Her project, titled “Methylene Blue as a Treatment for Motor & Cognitive Deficits in a Rodent Model of Parkinson’s,” was selected from a highly competitive group of student research proposals. Her project is mentored by Hongjoo Lee, assistant professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. For more information, click here.
March
Twelve graduating seniors have been named Dean’s Distinguished Graduates. Each year, the College of Liberal Arts honors 12 seniors with the Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Award for their leadership, scholarly achievements and service to the community.
The honorees are:
- Cintia Hinojosa, Psychology (Special Honors)
- Samuel Kieke, International Relations and Global Studies (Special Honors)/Middles Eastern Studies/Arabic Language and Literature
- Sarah Lusher, English (Special Honors; College Honors)/History
- Daniel Munoz, Philosophy (Special Honors)/Linguistics
- Patrick Naeve, English (Special Honors; College Honors)/Plan II Honors Program (Special Honors)/History
- David Oh, Economics (Special Honors; College Honors)/Sociology/International Relations and Global Studies/Mathematics (BS)
- Ana Laura Rivera, Humanities (Special Honors)/Government
- Rebekah Rodriguez, History (College Honors)/Sociology
- Aurora Mayte Salazar-Ordonez, Latin American Studies/History/Anthropology
- Philip Tryon, International Relations and Global Studies (Special Honors; College Honors)/Philosophy
- Andrew Wilson, Plan II Honors Program/History
- Laura Wright, Plan II Honors Program
Honorable Mention recipients:
- Aidan Aannestad, Linguistics (Special Honors)
- James Beveridge, Anthropology (Special Honors)/Latin American Studies
- Taj Bruno, American Studies (Special Honors)/Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies/Jewish Studies
- Alyse Camus, American Studies (Special Honors)/Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
- Andrew Clark, International Relations and Global Studies/History
- Erica Dietzel, Religious Studies (Special Honors)
- Adam Frye, Middle Eastern Studies
- Jamie Hill, Psychology (College Honors)
- Lucy Kerr, Philosophy (Special Honors)/Theatre and Dance (BA)
- Madison Klim, Anthropology
- Thaddeus Kull, Classics (College Honors)
- Yoon Lee, Plan II Honors Program/Latin
- Robert McDowall, Economics (Special Honors)/Mathematics (BA)
- Tu-Uyen Nguyen, Classics (Special Honors)/Latin/Ethnic Studies (Asian American Studies)
- Stephanie Onyekwere, Sociology (Special Honors)
- Madeline Rodriguez, Spanish
- Katherine Sanchez, Relgious Studies (Special Honors)/Middle Eastern Studies
- Cortney Sanders, Government
- Philip Wiseman, Government (Special Honors; College Honors)/History
- Sarah Witkowski, Psychology BS (Special Honors)/Plan II Honors Program
- Benjamin Wollam, International Relations and Global Studies/Asian Cultures and Languages (Chinese)
Chelsea Smith, a doctoral student in sociology, was selected to receive a Doris Duke Fellowship for the Promotion of Child Well-Being—seeking innovations to prevent child abuse and neglect. Fifteen fellows were selected nationally to receive an annual stipend of $25,000 for up to two years to support the completion of their dissertation and related research. They were selected by a panel of experts convened by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. For more information, click here.
Jonathan Cortez, a sociology senior, has been selected to participate in the American Sociological Association Honors Program. The Honors Program provides undergraduate sociology students a rich introduction to the professional life of the discipline. Exceptional sociology students from throughout the country and the world come together for four days and experience all facets of the ASA Annual Meetings.
Ben Adams, an economics junior, is one of 40 undergraduate students in the nation selected to receive a 2014 Humanity in Action Fellowship. The fellowship will allow him to study abroad in Paris, along with visits Washington, DC and other parts of Europe. To read more about Ben and his award, click here.
Catherine Cleary, a rhetoric and writing senior, is the recipient the 2014 UT System Regents’ Outstanding Student Award in the Arts & Humanities for UT Austin. Cleary received the award for poety writing. In addition to a monetary award of $1,500 given to the rhetoric and writing department in her name, Cleary will be recognized at the UT System Board of Regents meeting in Austin. To read more about Cleary’s award, click here.
April
Three doctoral students in the Department of History were awarded the prestigious Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Dissertation Completion Fellowship for the upcoming 2014-15 academic year. The award encourages timely completion of doctoral degrees in the humanities and related social sciences by supporting students during their final year of dissertation writing with a stipend of $25,000, plus funds for research costs of up to $3,000 and for university fees of up to $5,000. Only 65 fellowships are awarded annually.
Ben Breen received the award for his dissertation on “Tropical Transplantations: Drugs, Nature, and Globalization in the Portuguese and British Empires, 1640.” His project explores how the circulation of tropical drugs and pharmaceutical knowledge in Amazonia and Portuguese Africa between 1640 and 1755 contributed to Western science and global trade—a relationship that has been overlooked in previous scholarship (more information can be found on Breen’s website).
Isabel Huacuja Alonso’s dissertation, “Radio for the Millions: Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting at the Crossroads of Empire,” looks at how Hindu and Urdu radio in the late colonial period encouraged transnational identities built around language and listeners’ musical preferences, defying politicians’ goal to use radio as a nation-building tool.
Brian Stauffer is completing a doctoral dissertation entitled “Victory on Earth or in Heaven: Religion, Reform, and Rebellion in Michoacán, Mexico, 1869-1877.” Stauffer’s project explores the “Religionero” Catholic rebellion that challenged the Mexican federal government’s secularization project between 1873 and 1877.
For more information about their research, click here.
The following graduate students affiliated with the Urban Ethnography Lab have been awarded highly competitive external funding:
Jorge Derpic, graduate student in Sociology and Population Research Center Graduate Student Trainee, was awarded fellowships from the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) and the Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies (FURS) at Oxford University for his work on crime and insecurity, social movements, and internal migration in the city of El Alto, Bolivia.
Jessica Dunning-Lozano, graduate student in Sociology with a portfolio in the Center for Mexican American Studies, was awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for her project entitled “Removal, Isolation, and Discipline in Texas Schools: An Ethnographic Study of a 6th – 12th Grade Disciplinary Alternative Education Program.”
Marcos Pérez, a graduate student in Sociology and a Population Research Center Graduate Student Trainee, was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support his work on the relationship between pro-market economic policies, income equality and collective action following the 2001-2002 economic crisis in Argentina.
Esther Sullivan, a Powers and Hogg Foundation Moore Fellow, was awarded a dissertation fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) for her work on “Manufactured Insecurity: Eviction and Forced Relocation in Manufactured Home Parks.” Esther is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology.
These students all workshopped their projects in the Ethnography Lab, under the supervision of Lab director Prof. Javier Auyero. The Ethnography Lab, launched in 2012, is a joint venture of the Population Research Center and the Department of Sociology. The Lab hosts a variety of events, including professional development sessions which supported these students in their search for external funding.
Mark Hitz, a graduate student in the James A. Michener Center for Writers, has won the $50,000 Keene Prize for Literature for his two stories: “Shadehill” and “The Laws of Motion.”
The Keene Prize is one of the world’s largest student literary prizes. An additional $50,000 will be divided among three finalists. The recipients are all graduate students in the James A. Michener Center for Writers.
- Alen Hamza (poetry, “Twice there Was a Country”)
- Rachel Kondo (fiction, “Beverly”)
- Corey Miller (poetry, “Onyxed Eden”)
For more information, click here.
May
Christina Nania (Plan II/Psychology) has been selected by the Fulbright Summer Institute to participate in a five-week cultural and academic program at the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde in Scotland this summer. The Summer Institutes cover the majority of participant costs, including round-trip airfare from the US to the UK, tuition and fees at the host university/institution, accommodation and meals. More information about the program can be found here.
The fifteenth annual University Co-op George H. Mitchell Student Awards for Academic Excellence have been swept by College of Liberal Arts students. The awards celebrate and reward undergraduate students who have demonstrated unparalleled dedication and achievement in their fields of study. Lucy Kerr (Philosophy/Theatre and Dance) won the $10,000 grand prize and was recognized for her senior thesis, “Recognizing Possibility: Intersections of Disability, Contemporary Dance, and Social Philosophy.” Second prize and $3,000 each was awarded to Lindsay Mulford (Asian Cultures and Languages, Finance) and Patrick Naeve (Plan II Honors). Lucy Junker (Plan II Honors) and Casey Nice (Plan II Honors) each received $2,000 awards.
Two UT Austin doctoral candidates—Benjamin Breen (History) and Jessica Plummer (Germanic Studies)—were awarded highly competitive Mellon Fellowships in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School. The program awards 20 fellowships annually and fellows participate in a three-year program, which aims to reinvigorate bibliographical studies within the humanities.
Doctoral candidates Amy Hyne (Asian Cultures and Languages) and Susan Zakaib (History) have been selected as Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows for 2014. The Newcombe Fellowship is the nation’s largest and most prestigious award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences who are addressing questions of ethical and religious values. Each 2014 Newcombe Fellow will receive a 12-month award of $25,000.
Rose Legrone (Government and Asian Studies) was awarded a Fulbright research grant to study in Seoul, South Korea for the 2014–15 academic year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake advanced research worldwide. During her time in Seoul, Legrone plans to research social policies regarding women in the workforce, focusing on how these policies influence women’s decision to have children.
Steven Burt (Korean), Alexandra Estrella (Japanese) and Benjamin Wollam (Chinese) were awarded U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships to study abroad this summer. They are among 575 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to receive a scholarship from the CLS program. Recipients will spend seven to 10 weeks in intensive language institutes this summer in countries where their languages of study are spoken.