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Prizes and Scholarships

THE WILLARD THORP THESIS PRIZE
A prize is awarded to the senior in the American Studies Program who prepares the most outstanding thesis of a clearly interdisciplinary nature. The prize honors Professor Willard Thorp, a founder of the Program and for many years its chairman.
2009 Winner:
Angela Cai, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Commercial Surrogate Motherhood in America
    

THE ASHER HINDS PRIZE
 
A small fund was created in 1989 in honor of Asher Hinds, one of the leaders of Princeton’s Special Program in the Humanities—the predecessor of American Studies and European Cultural Studies. It is awarded for a significant contribution to the field of American Studies
2009 Winner:
Julia Ann Osellame, Department of English
 
THE GRACE MAY TILTON PRIZE IN FINE ARTS
This prize is awarded for an outstanding thesis by a senior in any of the departments collaborating in the American Studies Program. The thesis must deal wholly or principally with some aspect of the fine arts or crafts, past or present, within the United States or elsewhere in the Americas. The prize is a gift of Robert Schirmer ’21 in memory of his mother.
2009 Winners:
First Place:  Jacqueline H. Thomas, Department of Art and Archaeology
Landscape as Spiritual Practice: Georgia O'Keefe and Lake George

Honorable Mention:  Eric Jordan, School of Architecture
Apocalypse Now (and Then):  Architecture, Film, and Temporality

DAVID F. BOWERS PRIZE
A prize awarded to the student in the American Studies Program who does the best work in the conferences, or seminars, of the Program.  Established in 1951 in memory of Professor David F. Bowers of the Department of Philosophy, one of the faculty group which drew up the plan for the American Studies Program, the prize was endowed in 1955 by Professor and Mrs. Willard Thorp.
2009 Co-Winners:
Angela Cai, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Michael Joseph Ryan, Department of Politics
Kathryn Elizabeth Cox, Department of Politics

 
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FUND
The Program has funds available to provide modest scholarships for undergraduate thesis research.   Applications are taken late in the spring term and early in the fall.

George Washington at the Battle of Princeton
Charles Willson Peale, American, 1741-1827
Person depicted: George Washington, 1732-1799
American, 1784
Oil on canvas
Princeton University.  Commissioned by the Trustees.
(Photo: Bruce White)