The Department of History and its Undergraduate Teaching Committee (UTC) announce the following annual achievement prizes for work completed by undergraduates in the previous calendar year (Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters).
Instructors should send a nominating letter and an e-copy of each outstanding essay to Ray Irwin. Nominations are due for each calendar year no later than January 31 of the following year.
With the exception of the Outstanding Senior Thesis Award (OSTA), awardees will be announced annually at the Spring Undergraduate Awards Ceremony. To allow graduate school applicants to include the OSTA on their applications, OSTA winners’ names will be announced by October 1 each year but the actual awards will be made at the Spring Awards Ceremony.
History 2800 Outstanding Final Essay Awards:
Up to three awards of $100 each will be made to students whose final essays from the relevant semesters have been nominated by their instructors. Winning essays will not be ranked.
History 4000-level Outstanding Final Essay Awards:
Up to six awards of $100 each will be made to students whose final essays from the relevant semesters have been nominated by their instructors. Winning essays will not be ranked.
Outstanding Senior Thesis Award:
One award of $250 will be made to a student whose final essay has been selected from those submitted during the relevant period and nominated by their thesis adviser.
Please address any questions to Ray Irwin at irwin.8@osu.edu.
Past Award Winners:
History 2800 Outstanding Final Essay Awards
Meredith Clay (Prof. Birgitte Søland) - inaugural, 2023, “Making a Critical Difference? Analysis of Additional Resources for Women at The Ohio State University Following Title IX”
Michelle Wang, (Prof. Alice Conklin) – inaugural, 2023, “Beyond the Headlines: Unraveling the Victoria Woodhull Narrative in Print Media”
History 4000-level Outstanding Final Essay Awards are listed here:
2025 Awards
Aria Crawford (Prof. Erin Moore), “Cure Cast in Shadow: An Evolution of Tuberculosis Care in the United States from the 19th Century to Present Day”
Benjamin Kerger (Prof. Birgitte Søland), “Barbed Wire and Song: Music and its Applications in Nazi Camps”
Robert Kabelitz (Prof. Yiğit Akın), “The Removal of Ottoman Autonomy: American Perceptions of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War”
Jaideep Seth (Prof. Yiğit Akın), “International Collaboration and Competition: The Experience of Medical Missions to the Ottoman Empire During the Balkan Wars, 1912-13”
2024 Awards
Adam Blair (Prof. Bert Harrill), “Flawed Judicial Administration in the Roman Provinces”
Jack Burkhart (Prof. Bert Harrill), “The Rich and Poor in Artemidorus”
Seth Conklin (Prof. Bert Harrill), “Asklepios: Artemidorus’ Rival”
Juliana Hilton (Prof. Theodora Dragostinova), “Afro-Germans in Germany in the 1980’s to 2000’s: How They Used Activism in the Form of Artistic Expression”
Cayden Pomeroy (Prof. Bert Harrill), “How Historians Study “Rank,” “Status,” and “Class”: A Critical Assessment Based on Ancient Sources”
Lauren Sullivan (Prof. Alice Conklin), “Treaties, Tomahawks, and Apple Trees: The Folklore and Reality of Settler Colonialism on the Ohio Frontier from 1770-1820”
2023 Awards
Daniel Adamson (Prof. David Hoffmann), “Disillusionment with the Revolution: Criticism of the Soviet Union and the American Left, 1917-1928”
Dante Head (Prof. Birgitte Søland), “The Goddess and the Whore: The Dual Roles of Women in Aleister Crowley’s Thelema”
Aaron Sharp (Prof. Randolph Roth), “The British Empire and the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: How did the People React and the Nation go to War?”
Elizabeth Snyder (Prof. Birgitte Søland), “Discovering the Divine Feminine: Women’s Mediumship and Identity Formation in Late Victorian Spiritualism”
Ellouise Surles (Prof. Birgitte Søland), “Legislation About Abortion and Birth Control in France During The ‘Belle Epoque’”
Katie Vela (Prof. Birgitte Søland), “The Return of the Klan: Mothers, Young Women, and Girls in the Ku Klux Klan (1920s)”
2022 Awards
Andrew Briss (Prof. Bert Harrill), “Solution of the Problem of the ‘We’ Passages in Acts”
Robby Creed (Prof. Mytheli Sreenivas), “The Degeneration Problem: The Impact of Falling Fertility Rates on British Politics”
Sydney Hayes (Prof. Mytheli Sreenivas), “‘The Stakes are Life and Death’: An Examination of Crisis Pregnancy Centers and Their Intentions”
Alyssa Menzo (Prof. Mytheli Sreenivas), “Indigenous Resistance to Coerced Sterilization: The Case of Norma Jean Serena”
Gregory Nitz (Prof. Bert Harrill), “Augustine’s Theory of Authorship”
Natalie Potts (Prof. Randolph Roth), “The Colonization of Leopold II’s Congo: A Deliberate State Cover-Up or Selective Memory? How the Belgians Approach Colonial Memorialization Today”
2021 Awards
Jeff Barckert (Prof. David Hoffmann), “In the Muscovite Laboratory: The Popular Front and the Comintern in Transnational View”
Chelsea Hile (Prof. Christopher Reed), “Treasure Hunt in China: Plunder by the Japanese Military from 1937 to 1942”
Juliette Kokernot (Prof. David Hoffmann), “Development of Russian Marxism from Hegel to Lenin”
Zijin Liu (Prof. Christopher Reed), “Saving the Citizens and Saving the Country: The Role of the Chinese Elite in Wartime Migration, 1937-1945”
Maggie Seikel (Prof. Randolph Roth), “The Great Depression in More Ways than One: Why Do Americans Commit Suicide During Economic Crises?”
Grant Terrell (Prof. Randolph Roth) , “Blood, Bread, and Postponing The Terror: Revolutionary France and the Terror of 1789”
2020 Awards
Rachel Hutchison (Prof. David Hoffmann), “Clash of Cultures: Collectivization as the Climax of Peasantry-Party Tensions”
Deborah Makari (Prof. Elizabeth Bond), “British Imperialism in Africa 1881-1914: The Nuance of British Perspectives on Empire in Africa and the Role of The Aborigines’ Protection Society”
Bailey Markowski (Prof. Greg Anderson), “Athenian Demokratia vs. American Democracy”
Gabriella Mickel (Prof. David Hoffmann), “The Juxtaposed Success and Failure of Stalin Plan Propaganda”
Ean Teague (Prof. Joe Parrott), “Broken Rings: Effects of the 1980 Olympic Boycott on the Olympic Movement”
Jason Vazquez (Prof. Elizabeth Bond), “The British, Slavery, and the American Civil War”
2019 Awards
Nathan Byrne (Prof. Geoffrey Parker), “Misunderstandings and Mistaken Claims: Land Transfer and Ownership among the Lenape and the Swedes in New Sweden”
Bailey Cole (Prof. Randolph Roth), “Gun Advertisements in America: How Gender Plays a Role in Gun Culture”
Nathan Hensley (Prof. Bert Harrill), “Miracles, Magic, and Apocalyptic Eschatology: An Analysis of Exorcisms in Synoptic Gospels”
Outstanding Senior Thesis Award:
Elizabeth Snyder, 2024 (Prof. Sara Butler), “Divine Dialectics: Queer Temporality and the Body Politics of the Christian Right”
(Updated 6/18/2025)