2024 History Honors and Prizes

July 10, 2024

On May 28, 55 concentrators in History celebrated Commencement as part of Princeton University’s Class of 2024. The previous day at Class Day, they gathered with faculty, friends, and family to celebrate their many achievements.

The following seniors received distinguished awards and prizes during Class Day, which were presented by Chair of the Department, Professor Angela Creager.

A warm congratulations to all members of the History Undergraduate Class of 2024.

Departmental Honors

Highest Honors

Samuel Bisno
William Goldberg
Samuel Harshbarger
Madeleine LeBeau
Alice McGuinness
Max Widmann

High Honors

Christopher Costantini
Oliver Crane
Abigail Goldberg-Zelizer
Darius Gross
Lena Hoplamazian
Katie Rohrbaugh
Leo Rupp-Coppi

Honors

Katherine Glaser
Drew Hopkins
Mohamed Jishi
Christopher Kane
Margaret Liebich
Noah Maxwell
George Pavlakis 
Michael Salama


Department of History Prizes

Laurence Hutton Prize in History

Awarded to the history major who has compiled the strongest record in department work.

Certificates awarded to:

Samuel Julius Bisno
Samuel James Harshbarger
Alice McGuinness


C. O. Joline Prize in American History

Awarded for the best essay by a senior on any phase of American history.

Certificates awarded to:

Samuel Julius Bisno (Professor Matthew Karp)
The Gin Complex: Slavery, Plantations, and the Cotton Gin in the Short-Staple U.S. South, 1793–1860

Lena Kohler Hoplamazian (Professor Alison E. Isenberg)
He Who Toils Here Hath Set His Mark: Labor Unrest and Changes in the Built Environment in Kohler, Wisconsin, 1912–1983

Madeleine Rose Aiello LeBeau (Professor Yaacob Dweck)
Hymns and Hers: How Women Contributed to the Music of the Early Jewish Reform Movement in the United States


Walter Phelps Hall Prize in European History

Awarded for the best thesis in European history.

Certificates awarded to:

Christopher Francis Costantini (Professor David Bell)
Toward Universal Taxation: The Austrian Census of Milan (1718–1760)

William Ze’Ev Goldberg (Professor Michael Laffan)
‘To Share the Empire of the Seas’: Indo-Pacific Exploration Through Revolution and War, 1768–1803


Prize in American History

Established by the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey for the best essay by an undergraduate upon a theme of United States Colonial History.

Certificate awarded to:

Christopher Brendan Kane (Professor Linda Colley)
Revolutionary Runaways: Desertion and the Shaping of American and British Identities


Horace H. Wilson '25 Senior Thesis Prize in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology

Awarded for the best thesis in the field of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology.

Certificate awarded to:

Chloe Justine Kim (Professor Keith Wailoo)
Snake Roots, Luck Charms, and Old Twisted Muscadines: Understanding African American Herbal Healing from Enslavement to the 1930s


Robert L. Tignor Prize for the Best Senior Thesis in African History

Certificate awarded to:

Mohamed Jishi (Professor Max Weiss)
An Intellectual History of Colonial Identity: Mouloud Feraoun and Albert Camus in the Twilight of French Algeria


Susan Naquin Prize for the Best Senior Thesis in Asian History

Certificate awarded to:

Katie Grace Rohrbaugh (Professor Michael Laffan)
The Garden of Southeast Asia: Nature Curation in Colonial Singapore


Barbara Hadley Stein Prize in Latin American History

Certificate awarded to:

Michael Jacob Salama (Professor Isadora Mota)
Fluid Identities: The Subaltern Political Hydrology of the Urus of Lake Poopó


William Koren, Jr., Memorial Prize in History

This prize is given annually by Henry Lloyd Thornell Koren, Class of 1933, in memory of William Koren Jr., Class of 1930. The prize is awarded to the student(s) in the department who attain the best record in the departmental work of the junior year.

Certificates awarded to:

Samuel Julius Bisno
Samuel James Harshbarger
Alice McGuinness
Noah Michael Maxwell


Carter Kim Combe '74 History Prize

A prize established in memory of Carter Kim Combe, Class of 1974, awarded annually to the student who writes the best second-term junior independent work paper in history.

Certificate awarded to:

Samuel Julius Bisno (Professor Alison Isenberg)
“Herself and Mr. Reed”: Frustration and Freedom at the Beaufort Freedman’s Bank, 1864–1873


Prizes Awarded Outside the Department

The following History graduates received prizes from other departments:

The Isabelle Clark-Decès Prize

Awarded by the Program in South Asian Studies for the best senior thesis related to South Asia.

First Prize awarded to:

Alice McGuinness (Professor Divya Cherian)
Carceral Kin: Motherhood, Personhood, and Colonial Law in Bengal c. 1860–1900


The Global India Senior Thesis Award for Humanities & Social Sciences

Awarded by the M.S. Chadha Center for Global India for the best undergraduate senior thesis related to Global India themes, with focus on Humanities and Social Sciences fields.

First Prize awarded to:

Alice McGuinness (Professor Divya Cherian)
Carceral Kin: Motherhood, Personhood, and Colonial Law in Bengal c. 1860–1900


The Stanley J. Stein Senior Thesis Prize

Awarded by the Program in Latin American Studies to the student who writes the best senior thesis on a Latin American related topic.

First Prize awarded to:

Michael Jacob Salama (Professor Isadora Mota)
Fluid Identities: The Subaltern Political Hydrology of the Urus of Lake Poopó


The Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies

This prize, established in memory of Suzanne M. Huffman, Class of 1990, is awarded annually to a certificate student in our program whose senior thesis shows a deep commitment to the dilemmas raised by feminism and an extraordinary empathy for the problems and struggles of women.

First Prize awarded to:

Alice McGuinness (Professor Divya Cherian)
Carceral Kin: Motherhood, Personhood, and Colonial Law in Bengal c. 1860–1900


The Program in Urban Studies

Awarded for the senior theses that makes an outstanding contribution to this interdisciplinary area of study and is based on each student's creative ability, persuasiveness and systematic way of doing research.

First Prize awarded to:

Lena Hoplamazian (Professor Alison Isenberg)
He Who Toils Here Hath Set His Mark: Labor Unrest and Changes in the Built Environment in Kohler, Wisconsin, 1912–1983


Liechtenstein Institute Best Senior Thesis Award

Recognizes the best senior thesis that focuses on self-determination of nations, groups and individuals in international politics.

First Prize awarded to:

Samuel James Harshbarger (Professor Michael Laffan)
Between Decolonization and the Cold War: Turkey and Afro-Asia, 1955–1960


Phi Beta Kappa

These History concentrators have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa:

Samuel Bisno
Abigail Goldberg-Zelizer
Darius Gross
Samuel Harshbarger
Madeleine LeBeau
Alice McGuinness
Leo Rupp-Coppi
Max Widdmann