Graduate
Awards
The History Department is proud to sponsor and distribute awards to outstanding graduate students. Below is a description of these awards, their most recent recipients, and an archive of past winners.
Rosemary Moore O'hara award
Rosemary Moore O'Hara was a teacher and historian of American constitutional history. She started a PhD at the University of Minnesota and co-authored a monograph with Herbert McClosky and Paul Hoffman that examined the disparity between the attitudes of party leaders and followers. She taught social studies for two years at Lakeland High School and for twenty-one years at King High School in Tampa. She was responsible for initiating and teaching the Advanced Placement American History courses in Hillsborough County high schools and was most proud of the fact that several of her students later obtained advanced degrees in history.
The Rosemary Moore O'Hara Award is presented annually to honor an outstanding graduate student in history at the University of South Florida.
The 2022 recipient of the Rosemary Moore O'Hara Award is [TBD].
| Janet M. Hall | 1990 |
| Miles Q. Pennington | 1991 |
| Stacy L. Braukman | 1992 |
| Yatin Dave | 1993 |
| Heather McClenahan | 1994 |
| Stephen D. Andrews | 1995 |
|
Kathleen Howe Ana Varela-Lago |
1996 |
| Scott Richard Rohrer | 1997 |
| Sheila B. Cohen | 1998 |
| R. Lee Irby | 1999 |
| Caitlin Crowell | 2000 |
| Gordon K. Mantler | 2001 |
|
Michelle Alishahi John Watkins |
2002 |
|
Dennis Halpin |
2003 |
|
Kelley Cason |
2004 |
|
Troy Thompson Jared Toney |
2005 |
| Sean Parrish | 2006 |
|
Suet Yee Shery Chanis David M. Stupich |
2007
|
|
Kyle Burke Nicole Cox |
2008 |
| Benjamin Sperduto | 2009 |
| Norse Hutchens | 2010 |
|
Ashley Buchanan |
2011 |
| Andrea Pittard | 2012 |
| Danielle Lucas | 2013 |
| Keith Simmons | 2014 |
|
Stephen Naylor Bradley L'Herrou |
2015 |
Julian Newman Graduate Student Award
Dr. Julian Newman has been a longtime friend and supporter of the University of South Florida. He graduated from New York University in 1954 and in 1958 received a Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Tampa in 1959, and began his career as an Optometrist. Ever since he was a student, Dr. Newman has been committed to improving the life of unrepresented and disadvantaged groups. In 1953, while at Penn, he advocated for racial integration of fraternities; in 1959, he was the first optometrist to open an integrated waiting room in Tampa; and in 1972 he was one of ten members in the biracial committee approved by the Federal District Court, in charge to desegregate the Hillsborough County Schools.
In spite of a demanding medical career, in the 1960s, Dr. Newman began auditing courses in the English Department at USF, and discovered that he derived a great deal of his own intellectual energy from the classroom. In 2018 he began supporting the History Department with a generous gift. The Newman Endowment Growth Fund will support the research of PhD students studying American history and the history of social change and equality.
The Julian Newman Award is designed to support a full-time History department graduate student. The award was created for a student who plans to conduct research in the field of social change and/or equality, and who intends to use their education to effect social change. Beginning in 2017, this scholarship became the Harry Newman and Julian Newman Award (see below).
| Ashley Buchanan | 2013 |
| Brittany Vosler | 2014 |
Harry newman and julian newman award
Made possible be a generous gift from Dr. Julian Newman, this scholarship is designed to support the winner’s doctoral dissertation research. Eligibility is restricted to students in the History Ph.D. program who have completed their comprehensive exams and who are specializing in American history.
The 2022 recipients of the Harry Newman and Julian Newman Award are Paula Pack and Doug Ponticos.
| Lina Chaves and Josh Taylor | 2017 |
| Paul Dunder and Aaron Lewis | 2018 |
| Charles Harris and Hanna Lipsey | 2019 |
| Shannon Bruffett and Michael Losasso | 2020 |
| Doug Benner and Scott Miller | 2021 |
| Paula Pack and Doug Ponticos | 2022 |