Best Undergraduate Senior Capstone Project or Research Paper
The Humanities Prize recognizes graduating humanities majors for the writing of an exceptional capstone project or senior research paper.
The annual prize is awarded each Spring semester. Recipient(s) receive a $500 cash stipend and participate in recognition ceremonies at both the Baker-Nord Center graduation celebration and the commencement awards assembly.
Recent Humanities Prize Winners
Sidney Negron (History, ’24), “Cops and Queers: Cleveland’s Struggle Over the Criminalization of Queer People”
Lisa O’Brien (Theatre and International Studies, ’24) & Jasmyn Zeigerson (Theatre and Music, ’24), Mars the Musical
Caroline Kuntzman (History and Political Science ’23), “Advocacy or Accomplice?: Examing the Efficacy of Fire Prevention in Cleveland, 1850 – 1890”
Emily Belina (Art History ’22), “White Men, White Women, and a White Cockatoo: Eighteenth Century Gender and Race in “An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump”
Jillian White (Classics ’21), “Filial Anxiety in the Poems of Sulpicia”
Morgan McCommon (Art History ’21), “An Attack on Constantine: Vandalism in the 4th-century Frieze of the Arch of Constantine”
Brian Eckert (English ’20), “Dashiell Hammett’s Detectives as Plato’s Ideal Proletariat in Corrupt Capitalist America”
Elizabeth Hanna (International Studies and Religious Studies ’20), “The Religious Rhetoric of Othering: Julia Boutros and Lebanese Christian Support for Hezbollah”
Sierra Lipscomb (History ’19), “The Price of Black Power: Winston E. Willis and the Fight for Economic Self-Determination in Cleveland, 1960s – 1980s”
Ann Wang (English and Music ’18), “Transfering Performativity: Song and Class Mobility in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night“
Cullin Brown (Philosophy ’17), “Thinking Like a Farm: Thoughts Towards an Ethos of Careful Construction”
Chloe Gellert (History ’16), “World War II and Today’s Refugee Crisis in Germany”
Francesca Langer (History ’16), “Republican Pastoral and Federalist Epic: A Mythology of the First Party System”
Jason Walsh (Philosophy ’15), “New Readings of Louis Althusser”
Derek Reinhold (Art History ’14), “Gods of Fire on the Parthenon: Helios and Hephaistos in the East Metopes”
This year’s deadline was April 21, 2024. The 2024 Humanities Prize has been awarded. Check back for information about applying for the 2025 Humanities Prize.
Eligibility
Only seniors graduating with a major in one of CWRU’s humanities departments or interdisciplinary humanities programs may apply. Click here for a list of CWRU humanities majors.
Application Details
To begin your application, follow the instructions on the 2024 Undergraduate Humanities Prize Application.
a copy of your best senior research paper, typically a capstone or senior thesis;
paper written in a foreign language are eligible but must include a two-page summary of the project written in English.
a letter of support from a faculty member, describing the quality and significance of your research paper.
For full consideration, all application materials, including faculty letters of support, should be sent directly to bakernord@case.edu by Sunday, April 21, 2024.
