2025 History Honors and Prizes

May 29, 2025

On May 27, 74 majors in History celebrated Commencement as part of Princeton University’s Class of 2025. 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 Acting Chair of the Department, Professor Laura Edwards.

A warm congratulations to all members of the History Undergraduate Class of 2025.

Departmental Honors

Highest Honors

Alexander MacArthur
Nolan Musslewhite
Alexandra Orbuch
Abigail Rabieh
Catherine Tsairis
Emily Tsairis

High Honors

Ignacio Arias Philippi
Orin Bolitho
Clay Glovier
Pia Sarah Haykel
Seiyoung Jang
Martin Mastnak
Ruby Platt
Anna Salvatore
Benjamin Woodard
Rebecca Wu

Honors

Fizza Arshad
Isis Arevalo
Nora Goodman
Greta Herrington
Julia Kingston
Josephine Klein
Jacob Miller
Kelly Park
Anne Rupertus
Jacob Unger
Matias Vincent

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:

Emily Tsairis

C. O. Joline Prize in American History

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

Certificates awarded to:

Nora Goodman (Professor Julian Zelizer)
Pacifists and Pacifiers: Maternal Identity and the Patriotic Dissent of Women Strike for Peace

Josephine Klein (Professor Keith Wailoo)
The Making of Modern Homelessness: Mental Illness, Public Health Failures, and the Prioritization of Optics in a City Overwhelmed (New York City, 1978–1989)

Anna Salvatore (Professor Sean Wilentz)
“To Name It Klansas”: William Allen White, the Ku Klux Klan, and the 1924 Gubernatorial Election in Kansas

Walter Phelps Hall Prize in European History

Awarded for the best thesis in European history.

Certificates awarded to:

Ignacio Arias Philippi (Professor Helmut Reimitz)
The Emperor’s New Roots: Maximilian I, Ladislaus Sunthaym, and the Invention of Ancestors

Martin Mastnak (Professor Molly Greene)
The Mosque in the Alps: A History of Bosniak Soldiers on the Soča/Isonzo Front of World War I and Knowledge Production in Slovenia’s Upper Soča Valley

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:

Ruby Platt (Professor Wendy Warren)
“The Spirit of the Law”: Formerly Enslaved Women in Jamaica’s Abolition-Era Courts, 1834–1838

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:

Susan Naquin Prize for the Best Senior Thesis in Asian History

Certificate awarded to:

Rebecca Feishi Wu (Professor He Bian)
Contested Voices: The Petitioning System in Late-Ming China

Barbara Hadley Stein Prize in Latin American History

Certificate awarded to:

Alexander MacArthur (Professor David Bell)
The Making of an Itinerant Abolitionist: Rethinking Emiliano Mundrucú

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:

Alexander MacArthur
Nolan Musslewhite
Alexandra Orbach

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:

Alexander MacArthur (Professor Michael Blaakman)
“This Wild and Hitherto Unknown Country”: Crèvecœur, Castorland, and l’Amérique in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions

Prizes Awarded Outside the Department

The following History graduates received prizes from other departments:

The Joseph R. Strayer Prize in Medieval Studies

Awarded by the Program in Medieval Studies to a senior who, in the judgement of the faculty, has done outstanding work in some area of medieval studies.

First Prize awarded to:

Matias Vincent (Professor Helmut Reimitz)
Administrating the Birth of a Nation: The Reconquista Process and Military Pressures in the Construction of a Portuguese Political Identity

The Stephen Whelan '68 Senior Thesis Prize for Excellence in Constitutional Law and Political Thought

Awarded by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions to a senior whose thesis in the area of constitutional law or political thought is judged to be of superlative quality.

First Prize awarded to:

Benjamin Woodard (Professor Peter Wirzbicki)
Nature National, Slavery Sectional: Southern Judges’ Choice for Freedom in Antebellum Legal and Political Culture

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:

Fizzah Arshad (Professor Divya Cherian)
Criminal Lunacy in British India

The Beth N. Rom-Rymer, Class of 1973, Senior Thesis Prize

Awarded by the Global Health and Health Policy Program (GHP), this prize is awarded in recognition of the three most outstanding thesis written by a student pursuing a minor in GHP.

Co-winner:

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:

Ruby Platt (Professor Wendy Warren)
“The Spirit of the Law”: Formerly Enslaved Women in Jamaica’s Abolition-Era Courts, 1834–1838

The Princeton Prize in Race Relations

Awarded by the Effron Center for the Study of America to a member of the senior class, whose senior thesis adds significantly to our understanding of issues of race and race relations in the United States.

First Prize awarded to:

Anna Salvatore (Professor Sean Wilentz)
“To Name It Klansas”: William Allen White, the Ku Klux Klan, and the 1924 Gubernatorial Election in Kansas

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:

Fizzah Arshad (Professor Divya Cherian)
Criminal Lunacy in British India

The Andrè Maman Senior Thesis Prize

Awarded by the Department of French & Italian to an outstanding thesis on the culture, economy, history, politics or society of France,

Certificate awarded to:

Abigail Rabieh (Professor Anthony Grafton)
The Beginning of History at the End of the Universal Church: Etienne Pasquier and the Politics of Gallicanism, 1561–1602

The Leigh Buchanan Bienen and Henry S. Bienen Senior Thesis Prize

Awarded by the East Asian Studies Program to a senior in any department who has written the most outstanding thesis on an East Asian Topic. The thesis must be based at least in part on source materials in an East Asian language.

Certificate awarded to:

Seiyoung Jang (Professor Sheldon Garon)
Traveling and Sightseeing Across the Empire: Japanese Colonial Tourism in Korea and Manchuria

The J. Welles Henderson '43 Senior Thesis Prize

Awarded by the School of Public and International Affairs to the senior who has written the most outstanding thesis on a law-related subject.

Certificate awarded to:

Ruby Platt (Professor Wendy Warren)
“The Spirit of the Law”: Formerly Enslaved Women in Jamaica’s Abolition-Era Courts, 1834–1838

Phi Beta Kappa

These History majors have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa:

Orin Bolitho
Clay Glovier
Seiyoung Jang
Alexander MacArthur
Nolan Musslewhite
Alexandra Orbuch
Ruby Platt
Abigail Rabieh
Anna Salvatore
Catherine Tsairis
Emily Tsairis
Jacob Unger
Benjamin Woodard