College of Arts and Letters

May 11, 2006

HARRISONBURG — Four James Madison University undergraduate students earned awards for their scholarly papers at the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society Regional Conference.

Jeff Brundage and Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom, both of Fairfax, Kimberly L. McCray of Staunton and Julia Pfaffenberger of Charlottesville were among 51 top undergraduate and graduate history students from throughout Virginia who presented papers at the March 25 conference held at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

Brundage won first place in the Undergraduate U.S. History category for "Franklin Roosevelt and the Decision to Aid Great Britain Before Pearl Harbor."

Tewksbury-Bloom won first place in the Undergraduate World History category for "Social Construction of Race in 17th Century England."

McCray and Pfaffenberger won honorable mention in the Undergraduate U.S. History category for "Pullman Porters: The Best Job in the Community, the Worst Job on the Train" and "Medical Explanation and Racial Crisis: Opium in a Changing American Society, 1880-1920," respectively.

May 1, 2006

Abbott

HARRISONBURG — Allison Jane Abbott of Keezletown, a May 2005 honors graduate of James Madison University, has received an award of excellence from the honor society Phi Kappa Phi for the 2006-07 academic year. Abbott graduated from JMU with honors, summa cum laude, and with distinction, as an honors scholar studying under Dr. Jennifer Coffman, in earning a bachelor of science degree in anthropology last spring. With the Phi Kappa Phi award, Abbott will be able to pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Florida. Abbott is among 100 students nationwide to receive a Phi Kappa Phi fellowship or award of excellence. Currently, 60 fellowships of $5,000 and 40 awards of excellence of $2,000 are awarded each year. The selection is based on applicants' undergraduate academic performance; campus and community leadership and service; evidence of graduate potential; personal statement of educational perspective, purpose and objectives; and the evaluation reports from three individuals who are in a position to attest to the student's performance, citizenship and character. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The honor society has awarded about $12 million since the inception of its awards program in 1932.

April 3, 2006

Three faculty from the College of Arts and Letters were recognized as the recipients of the Edna T. Shaeffer Humanist Award for 2006 during a symposium held March 28.

Drs. Liam Buckley, Maged Mikhail and Debali Mookerjea-Leonard will each receive an award of $4,000 for scholarly research projects on topics in the humanities. They will conduct their research during the summer.

Buckley, an assistant professor of anthropology, will study "Is There a Home Away from Home? West African Portraiture and Transnational Aesthetics."

Mikhail, an assistant professor of history, will research "Egypt from Late Antiquity to Early Islam."

Mookerjea-Leonard, an assistant professor of English, will focus on "The Paradox of Independence: Literature and the Trauma of Partition" referring to the division of British India into India and Pakistan that accompanied decolonization in 1947.

The award is funded through an endowment established in 1991 by a bequest from the estate of the late Evelyn Pugh, a 1936 graduate of JMU and a career English teacher. The award is named in honor of Shaeffer, who was a member of the university's music faculty from 1915 to 1956.

Drs. Andrew Connell of music, Fletcher Linder of anthropology and Kristen McCleary of history, the 2005 award winners, presented brief reports on their research at the symposium.