Congratulations to our 2021 scholarship and prize recipients!
Please join us in celebrating our outstanding undergraduate and graduate students by watching the video below.
This year, over $200,000 was awarded in the form of departmental scholarships and prizes to undergraduate and graduate students in recognition of their excellent work and service. These awards represent the breadth and depth of activity in the Department of History community - from recognizing outstanding and thought-provoking research papers, to excellence in student leadership and teaching. The following students truly are our community's current and future leaders.
In total, 35 undergraduate, 4 graduate students, 1 collaborative group, and 1 high school teacher are recognized this year for 16 different awards. These awards are made possible by contributions from our generous donors, and we are deeply grateful for their continued support!
2021 Undergraduate Winners:
Burke-Erickson Endowed Fund for Foreign Language Study
This award supports undergraduate students who are studying less commonly taught languages, such as the languages of the Near East, Scandinavia, Asia, Russia, or Eastern Europe. This fund was created in honor of Henry and Delma Burke, Ed and Ayleen Erickson, and Wayne and Patricia (Burke) Erickson, in recognition of their lifelong passions for education and beliefs that expanding knowledge of foreign languages is key to better understanding and appreciating the world’s diversity.
- Fatima Al-Rikabi, majoring in History
C.R. Des Hart Memorial Prize
This Fund was set up in memory of C. R. Des Hart and supports History majors intending to pursue a career in History or History related field.
- Quinn Wyatt, Junior majoring in History with a minor in Arctic Studies
Otis Pease Scholarship
The Otis Pease Scholarship is named after UW History professor and former Department Chair Otis Pease (1925-2010). Pease made his mark as a specialist in 20th-century American history, but he was also active in political causes for social justice – most notably as a volunteer teacher in Mississippi's 1964 "Freedom Summer" for civil rights. This fund supports undergraduate history majors with an interest in US history.
- Julia Schoemig, Junior double majoring in History and Germanics
Virginia Brandeberry Denison and Mark Kernaghan Endowed Scholarship
This award celebrates a friendship of more than 20 years between Mark Kernaghan and Virginia Brandeberry Denison. This endowment is an enduring legacy to help students gain rich experiences through their education.
- Ryan Mealiffe, Senior double majoring in History and Anthropology and with minors in Philosophy and Latin
Meder-Montgomery Family Endowed Student Support Fund in History
This award was established by Marilyn Montgomery, an alumnus of the UW Department of History, to be used to support undergraduate history majors and their studies.
- Audun Holland-Goon, Senior double majoring in History and Political Science with minors in Labor Studies and American Indian Studies
Faye A Wilson Endowed Scholarship Fund
The Faye Wilson scholarship is made possible through the generosity of Faye Wilson, who directed that a portion of her estate be used by the University of Washington Department of History to assist outstanding undergraduates with tuition costs.
- Marshall Bender, Junior double majoring in History and Germanics
- Ethan Benson, Junior majoring in History with minors in English and Classical Studies
- Andrew Carr, Senior majoring in History
- Devin Deatrich, Senior majoring in History
- Claudia Modarelli, Senior double majoring in History and Spanish
- Kristina Nguyen, Senior majoring in History with a Diversity minor
- Itai Segre, Junior majoring in History
- Jazzlyn Woods, Senior majoring with History and minoring in Law, Societies and Justice as well as Comparative History of Ideas
- Quinn Wyatt, Junior majoring in History with a minor in Arctic Studies
- Samantha Zink, Junior double majoring in History and Environmental Studies
Maurice D. and Lois M. Schwartz Scholarship Fund
The Schwartz scholarship is made possible through the generosity of Maurice and Lois Schwartz, who endowed a scholarship fund in 1977 to support the study of non-western history at the University of Washington. It is awarded on the basis of academic excellence and commitment to the study of non-western history.
- Sariah Burdett, Senior majoring in History, Asian Languages & Cultures, and Korean along with a minor in Diversity
- Eilis Bury, Junior double majoring in History and Near Eastern Studies: Comparative Civilizations along with a minor in Near Eastern Languages & Civilization
- Estey Chen, Senior double majoring in History: Empire & Colonialism as well as Political Science
- Anna Minamoto, Senior majoring in History: War & Society along with a minor in Japan Studies
- Melinda Whalen, Junior double majoring in History: War & Society and Russian Language, Literature, and Culture
Dale Roger Corkery Endowed Scholarship in History
The Corkery Scholarship is made possible through the generosity of donors who wish to support undergraduate history majors with an interest in ancient history.
- Madison Frederick, Junior majoring in History and minoring in Classical Studies
Larry Lee Sleizer Endowed Scholarship Fund
The Sleizer scholarship was made possible by the generosity of Herman and Rose Sleizer, who endowed a fund in 1989 in honor of their late son, Larry Lee Sleizer. It is awarded on the basis of academic excellence and commitment to the study of history. This year we had 18 recipients of the Sleizer scholarship!
- Brittany Bertolin, Junior double majoring in History and Biochemistry
- Liam Blakey, Sophomore intending to major in History
- Estey Chen, Senior double majoring in History: Empire & Colonialism and Political Science
- Samantha Cutts, Junior double majoring in History and International Studies
- Zacharie Dupertuis, Junior majoring in History and minoring in Political Science
- Emma Goolsby, Senior double majoring in History and Political Science with a minor in International Studies
- Audun Holland-Goon, Senior double majoring in History and Political Science with two minors in Labor Studies and American Indian Studies
- Skylar Hunley, Senior double majoring in History and Political Science
- Frances Johnson, Senior double majoring in Jewish Studies and History with two minors in Diversity and International Studies.
- Nicole Johnson, Junior double majoring in History and Sociology
- Hallie Jones, Junior majoring in History
- Marissa Levine, Senior majoring in History
- Davis Massey, Junior majoring in History: Empire & Colonialism
- Ryan Mealiffe, Senior double majoring in History and Anthropology with minors in Philosophy and Latin
- Hope Morris, Senior majoring in History
- Julia Schoemig, Junior double majoring in History and Germanics
- Hailey Warhol, Junior majoring in History
- Kaityn Zagelow, Sophomore majoring in History with a minor in Education, Learning and Society
- Wendi Zhou, Junior double majoring in History and Philosophy with a minor in the Comparative History of Ideas
Freedman Remak Scholarship in History
This scholarship is named for Nancy Freedman and Ben Remak. Nancy Freedman Remak is a proud alumna of the Department of History and a longtime member of the History Advisory Board. This scholarship was created to support history majors who face the high costs of non-resident tuition. Nancy Freedman herself had been an out-of-state student at the University and knows first-hand the financial burden such students face.
- Amy Sommercamp, Senior majoring in History with a Diversity minor
Ravage Endowment Paper Prize (Undergraduate)
The Ravage Endowment Prize is for an outstanding paper or project written on the history of African Americans, with a preference for African Americans in the American West. This award is made possible by Jack and Linda Ravage and the Ravage family.
- Wendi Zhou, Junior double majoring in History and Philosophy with a minor in the Comparative History of Ideas
Wendi Zhou received this award for their paper, "Multiculturalism and Racial Conflict in LA’s ‘Little Bronze Tokyo’”.
- Ryan Mealiffe, Senior double majoring in History and Anthropology with minors in Philosophy and Latin
Ryan received honorable mention for their paper, “The (Or)charred City”.
Thomas M. Power Endowed Prize Fund for Excellence in History for Undergraduate Research Papers
This award, named in memory of a former history major at the University of Washington, is given to undergraduates who have produced truly outstanding research papers in a University of Washington History course.
- Aidan Gertz, Senior majoring in History and minoring in Linguistics
Aidan received this award for their paper “Crime, Violence, Chaos, and Order in the Anglo-Scottish Border Marches: 1580-1603”.
- Jesse Du, Senior majoring in History and Human Centered Design and Engineering
Jesse received honorable mention for this award for their paper “Bad Neighbours: The 1967 Zenrin Student Hall Incident and Transnational Student Radicalism in China and Japan”.
Power Prize for Outstanding Graduating Senior
- Cameron Molyneux, Senior majoring in History with two minors in Diversity and Labor Studies
2021 Graduate Student Winners:
Power Prize for Outstanding Student Leader
- Collaborative Group, “A Peoples’ Landscape: Racism and Resistance at UW”. We are recognizing Oya Aktas and Madison Heslop’s work as current history students.
Here is the full list of contributors to the map and their departments:
- Oya Aktas, History
- Julian Barr, Geography
- Elena Becerril Salas, Environmental and Forest Sciences
- Hannah Curtis, Sociology
- Sam Foote, Social Work
- Kia Gianni Thigpen, School of Medicine
- Selen Güler, Sociology
- Madison Heslop, History
- Megumi Matsushita, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
- Tyler McCrea, Geography
- Paige Sechrest, Political Science
- Racquel West, History and Geography
Ravage Endowment Paper Prize (Graduate)
- Frances O'Shaughnessy, PhD Student
Frances received this award for their paper, “Black Revolution in the Sea Islands Empire, Property, and the Emancipation of Land and Labour, 1861-1863”.
Thomas M. Power Endowed Prize Fund for Excellence in History for Graduate Research Papers
- Oya Aktas, MA Student
Oya received this award for their paper, “Implicated Subjects of Liberal Ottoman Citizenship Brotherhood, Suffering, and the 1915 Genocide”.
- Devin Short, PhD Candidate
Devin received this award for their paper, “Showing our work the role of history in the philosophy of climate modeling”.
Pressly Prize for Excellence in Secondary Education
This annual student-nominated award is given each year to an outstanding high school teacher in the state of Washington. This award recognizes all the great work teachers at this level put in to inspire the next generation of UW history majors. Undergraduate and graduate students at the UW are invited to nominate their favorite high school history teachers and write essays in support of their nomination. The winner is then chosen by the Undergraduate Studies Committee. This prize is named after University of Washington emeritus professor of History Thomas Pressly and his wife, Cameron.
- Paul Fischburg, Chief Sealth High School
Special Thanks!
Thank you to our staff – a huge thanks in particular to Shannon Vacek and Kristin Roberts for doing an amazing amount of work on putting all of the student applications together behind the scenes; this event would not take place without their huge efforts, and also to Alexandra DuSablon, Josh Apfel, Lori Anthony, and Tracy Maschman Morrissey. We also wish to extend a big thank you to Ileana Rodriguez-Silva, our Director of Undergraduate Studies, for chairing the reading of these student applications. Finally, we would not be able to support these students without the tremendous generosity of our donors!