Department of History

The Mary Beth McGee Fellowship Fund, an endowed fund, shall be used to support graduate study toward the Ph.D. degree in medieval and early modern European history, including European overseas empires (ca. 1000 – 1850 CE). 2022 Chloé Roberts 2021 Elizabeth Schmidt

This award was created in 2017 to honor the memory of History Associates Board members who made an exemplary contribution to our mission. The aim of the award is to support the travel expenses of distinguished graduate students nominated by Department of History Faculty. Recipients: 2022 Salma Shash, “Criminal Lives in Modern Egypt 1829-1914″ (given in memory of Jo Beth […]

The Award honors the memory of Professor Stephen Hay, who died in March 2001. The award supports graduate study of Islamic thought and culture. Recipients: 2022 Salma Shash 2021 Anthony Greco 2020 Gokh Alshaif 2019 Amy Fallas 2018 Ibrahim Mansour 2017 No award 2016 Munther Al-Sabbagh, “The social function of credit in 16th century Syria and Egypt.” 2013 – 2015 No award […]

This prize was created by the department in 2008 to honor the memory of Prof. Robert O. Collins, who taught African History at UCSB from 1964 until his retirement in 1994. In recognition of his own lifelong commitment to research and publication, and with the support of a generous gift from Prof. Collins’ three children, the Robert O. Collins Prize […]

The History Associates, with advice from the History department, make awards each year to graduate students of particular merit at any stage in their graduate careers. Awards vary in amount, depending on need and circumstances. Recipients: 2022 Gokh Alshaif, Sarah Dunne, Emma John, Bridge McWaid, Mika Thornburg 2021 Christabel Agyeiwaa, Harini Alladi, Tannishtha Bhattacharjee, Sarah Dunne, Janna Haider and Emma […]

The John Coleman Award goes to the graduate student who wrote the best paper in Cold War history, international history or military history, the three fields that defined John Coleman’s career interests. John served in the military in Vietnam. He was a former journalist who traveled widely and returned to school to pursue a degree in international relations. The Hawaiian […]

The ESMÉ FROST FELLOWSHIP was created by emeritus Professor Frank J. Frost in memory of his daughter Esmé, after her tragic death in an automobile accident. The fellowship supports graduate study toward the Ph.D. degree in the various fields of pre-modern European History, including Ancient Mediterranean work, Medieval Europe, and Early Modern Europe. Recipients: 2022 Justin Devris and Jenny Meissner […]

Thomas Sizgorich’s first seminar paper was published in Past & Present. His second was published in the American Historical Review. His doctoral dissertation was recognized by the Council of Graduate Schools as the best dissertation in the humanities for the biennium 2004-05. The published version,Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam (2009), catapulted him into […]

Dr. Monica Orozco, who earned her PhD in Latin American history from UCSB in 1999, is Director of the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library. She established this award in 2011 to recognize the best paper on a historical subject in Latin American history produced by a graduate student in History or Latin American and Iberian Studies with a strong preference for […]

The Philip W. and Maria Powell Prize is awarded to a History graduate student who has made a distinguished contribution to Latin American and Iberian studies at UCSB. It is given in memory of Philip W. Powell, a founding member and first chair of the department, who was Professor of History from 1948 to 1981. Present and previous recipients: 2022 […]

The Robert L. Kelley Fellowship recognizes the outstanding graduate student in the fields of Professor Kelley’s interest: U.S. intellectual history, public history, or the history of public policy. Robert Kelley was one of the founding members of the UCSB Department of History. Present and previous recipients: 2022 Neil Johnson & Moriah Ulinskas 2021 Addie Jensen and Anna Rudolph 2020 Nora Kassner 2019 Kashia […]

Emeritus History Prof. Frank Frost and his wife, Amanda, established this prize to encourage graduate student research in the history of political economy. Broadly conceived to cover any chronological period or geographical area, the prize goes to the best seminar paper, dissertation chapter, or dissertation that explores an episode in the history of political economy that had results that changed […]

The Darcy Ruth Ritzau Graduate Student Award was established by our former Graduate Program Assistant to help meet the needs of history graduate students who have unusual circumstances or financial needs that could not be met by existing resources. Preference will be given to first-year students. Present and previous recipients: 2022 Nora Kassner & Bridge McWaid 2021 Maria del Pilar […]

The Wilbur R. Jacobs Prize honors Wilbur R. Jacobs, Professor of History from 1949 to 1988 and a founding member of the History Department. It is awarded to an outstanding History graduate student in one of the three areas of Professor Jacobs’ research interest: colonial, Native American, or frontier studies. Present and previous recipients: 2022 Elizabeth Schmidt 2021 Laura Voisin George 2020 Rana […]

The Donald Van Gelderen Memorial Fellowship is an endowment that was created by one of the History Associates’ most stalwart supporters, Dr. Jo Beth Van Gelderen, to recognize non-traditional students who, like herself, returned to graduate study in history after taking time off to pursue career and family interests. Current and previous recipients: (prior to 2006, this award was known as The […]

The William H. Ellison Prize, awarded in memory of William H. Ellison, Professor of History from 1925 to 1948, recognizes the best History graduate seminar paper, as determined by the History Prizes committee. Present and previous recipients: (Prior to 1990, this prize was administered by the History department) 2022 Tannishtha Bhattacharjee, “Spatial Orders and the Affective Architecture of a New Nation: Making of […]

This fund was established in 2008 to aid graduate students in ancient Mediterranean and ancient Chinese history in a variety of ways, including the Drake Entrance Fellowship for recruiting outstanding graduate students, the Drake Research Assistantship for support of current students, and travel funds. It honors Roman historian Hal Drake, who taught at UCSB for 38 years, and his wife, […]

For more than 25 years, Dr. Jo Beth Van Gelderen has encouraged donations to the History Associates Fellowships by means of an annual challenge whereby she matches other contributions dollar-for-dollar. In 2006, she established the History Associates Graduate Endowment to provide a stable source of funding for graduate students in the UCSB History department. The earnings from this endowment fund […]

The History Associates Recruitment Fellowship was created in 2008 to help the History Department recruit outstanding new graduate students in all fields of history. Present and past recipients: 2011-2018 No award 2010-11 Eun Ah Kim 2009-10 No award 2008-09 Ryan Abrecht Tiffany Dimaggio Zamira Yusufjonova

Ingrid Dineen-Wimberly, who received her Ph.D. in History in 2008, created this award in 2011 in gratitude to the UCSB History Associates and as an incentive to other PhDs who, like herself, received crucial support when working on their degrees. It is intended to help support current or incoming History PhD students who are also raising children. Students may self-nominate […]

The Lawrence Badash Prize recognizes the outstanding graduate student essay in history of science, technology or medicine in any era or geographical arena, or on weapons control. It honors Lawrence Badash, Professor Emeritus of the History of Science. Present and Previous Recipients: 2022 Isidro González, “Dysgenic Data: Making Field Workers, Propositi, and Family Histories at the Sonoma State Home, 1910s-1920″ […]