The Department honors its outstanding students

Monday, Apr 09, 2018

The following students were recognized for their outstanding achievements at the annual Webb Lectures Series banquet on Thursday, April 5th 2018.

Virginia Morris | Joseph and Barbara Penshorn Award ($1,000)

This award honors exceptional students majoring in history. Virginia received multiple nominations, both of which attested to her exceptional achievements, including her 4.0 GPA, dual majors in history and modern languages, and excellent honors thesis.  As one recommender, Dr. Joyce Goldberg, noted, “everything about her from her work ethic to her cognitive skills, from her personal integrity to her professional goals, makes her deserving of this recognition.”

 

Kaleia Barrett | Barksdale/Lackner Essay Award ($1,000)

This award is designated for an outstanding essay written in a history course. The committee, as well as her nominator Dr. Stephanie Cole, noted that her essay, “The Struggles of Domestic Workers in the Jim Crow South,” was based on careful analysis of primary sources, developed a clear and persuasive argument, and was beautifully written.

 

Lisa Gabbert | McQueen Graduate Teaching Award ($1,000).

Dr. Gerald Saxon commended her role in making his Texas History 3364 online course a success during the Fall 2017 semester. He noted that Lisa “had the authority to communicate directly with all of the students (which she did frequently and enthusiastically!), make suggestions and changes in the course, and offer her professional opinion on changes that were needed.”

 

Benjamin Schmitt | Wolfskill M.A. Award ($500). Benjamin’s excellence in his graduate work was noted by his nominator, Dr. David Narrett, who praised “his classroom participation, superior oral presentation, and the revision of writing for clarity and precision.” Particularly noteworthy was his analysis of a pivotal episode of the Seven Years’ War in North America based on thorough research in primary sources.

 

Dr. Nicole Leopoldie | Wolfskill Award ($750) 

The Wolfskill Award is granted to the best Ph.D. dissertation completed during the course of the previous year.  Dr. Nicole Leopoldie was awarded the honor for her dissertation, “The Franco-American Love Affair: Transnational Courtship and Marriage Patterns during the 19^thand 20^thCenturies,” completed under the direction of Dr. Thomas Adam. As Dr. Adam noted in his nomination, Nicole’s dissertation represents “a long overdue study of the phenomenon of transatlantic marriages,” particularly between partners of French and American origins.  The committee was impressed by the depth of her research, her clear analysis and argument, and the range of source material from both sides of the Atlantic on which she relied.

 

Bianca Zuniga | Jenkins Garrett Award ($500)

This award is given by the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies to the best work completed by an undergraduate or graduate student in the UTA Library’s Special Collections. Bianca Zuniga received it for her essay “ILGWU in Dallas and San Antonio.” The depth of Bianca’s research—she spent countless hours in Special Collections according to her nominator Dr. Cole—was evident in her excellent essay which placed the history of the International Ladies’ Garments Workers’ Union in the broader context of women’s labor history.

 

Stephanie Zwinggi |  Ida v. Hall and George Kohfeldt Scholarship ($500)

This scholarship recognizes excellence in undergraduate student scholarship relating to the native American heritage of this region. Funded by Ms. Ida Hall of Dallas, the award is presented through UTA’s Center for Greater Southwestern Studies and the History of Cartography. This year’s scholarship was granted to Stephanie in recognition of her ongoing work in Native American women’s history. She has completed studies of Lakota women’s participation in the Ghost Dance Movement (for Dr. Cole) and of Alongquian women’s experiences during Pontiac’s Rebellion (for Dr. Narrett) and is currently at work on a master’s thesis under the direction of Dr. Paul Conrad.

Congratulations to each of these students for their excellent work and accomplishments!