Thesis Prizes
The following prizes are awarded annually at the Department's graduation celebration held the Wednesday before Commencement. The deadline for prize applications is Tuesday, April 23, 2013. For more information on these awards please contact: Kathleen Cloutier Graduate and Undergraduate Program Officer
| Office: Email: |
Barker Center cloutier@fas.harvard.edu |
Phone: Fax: |
(617) 384-7767 (617) 496-2871 |
Kwame Anthony Appiah PrizeMost outstanding thesis relating to the African diaspora Eligibility: All Thesis Writers in Harvard College This prize was established in 2005 by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Henry Finder. The Kwame Anthony Appiah Prize is named for our distinguished colleague who served the Department from 1991-2002. Anthony Appiah is currently the Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. The premier philosopher in African and African American Studies, Professor Appiah also provided kind guidance to our students in his roles as Head Tutor and Director of Graduate Studies. This prize honors the graduating senior who has written the most outstanding thesis relating to the African diaspora. Application |
Kathryn Ann Huggins PrizeMost outstanding thesis relating to African American life, history, or culture Eligibility: All Thesis Writers in Harvard College This prize was established in 1987 by Kathryn Huggins’s brother, the late Professor Nathan I. Huggins, W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of History and of Afro-American Studies, to remember Kathryn by bringing attention to the values she held most dear: personal commitment and dedication to study, humanism through the study of other peoples and cultures, and respect for the marginalized and dispossessed. A monetary prize is awarded to the senior who has written the most outstanding thesis on a topic relating to African American life, history, or culture. All applicants must submit the application form, a copy of the thesis, a letter of recommendation from their thesis advisor, thesis reader comments, a one-page abstract of the thesis, and a C.V. to Kathleen Cloutier, Graduate and Undergraduate Program Officer, Room 232 in the Barker Center. Application |
Dorothy Hicks Lee PrizeMost outstanding thesis concerning African or African American literature Eligibility: All Thesis Writers in Harvard College Established in 1995 by her daughter and son, this prize honors Dorothy Hicks Lee by bringing attention to her commitment to cross-cultural studies and to her gift for making students understand the ways in which literature is relevant to their lives. She was the first African American and the first woman to earn a Doctorate from the Comparative Literature Department of Harvard University. A monetary prize will be awarded for the outstanding senior thesis submitted on the topic of African American literature. All applicants must submit the application form, a copy of the thesis, a letter of recommendation from their thesis advisor, thesis reader comments, a one-page abstract of the thesis, and a C.V. to Kathleen Cloutier, Graduate and Undergraduate Program Officer, Room 232 in the Barker Center. Application |
Philippe Wamba PrizeBest senior thesis in African Studies Eligibility: All Thesis Writers in Harvard College A 1993 graduate of Harvard College, Philippe Wamba, in his short life, had a profound impact on his fellow students and the faculty of the African and African American Studies Department. Following his graduation, he soon returned to Harvard University where he became the Editor-in-Chief of Africana.com. Known for his remarkable personality as well as his outstanding intellectual capability, Philippe Wamba’s life is celebrated through this prize honoring the best senior thesis in African Studies. A monetary prize will be awarded. All applicants must submit the application form, a copy of the thesis, a letter of recommendation from their thesis advisor, thesis reader comments, a one-page abstract of the thesis, and a C.V. to Kathleen Cloutier, Graduate and Undergraduate Program Officer, Room 232 in the Barker Center. Application |