Tulane University

On April 28, 2016, the Stone Center held the 2016 Awards Ceremony for excellence in Latin American studies. The award recipients are as follows:

LAGO Outstanding Faculty Member Service Award
Recipient: Megwen Loveless
Presented by: Latin Americanist Graduate Organization (LAGO)
For excellence in teaching and for promoting selflessly the interests and careers of Latin American Studies graduate students.

LAGO Outstanding Staff Member Service Award
Recipient: Jimmy Huck
Presented by: Latin Americanist Graduate Organization (LAGO)
For selflessly promoting the interests and careers of Latin American Studies graduate students.

LAGO Outstanding Graduate Student Service Award
Recipients: Sarah Bruni
Presented by: Latin Americanist Graduate Organization (LAGO)
For generously promoting the interests of Latin American Studies graduate students as a whole.

Stephen P. Jacobs Prize for Best Graduate Paper Presented at LAGO Conference
Recipient: Amy Medvick (Tulane University), “From Queens to Batuqueiras: Race, Gender, Maracatu, and the Persistence of the Myth of Racial Democracy”
Nominated by: Steve Butterman, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
For the best paper presented at the Latin Americanist Graduate Organization’s annual conference. Named for Stephen P. Jacobs, Professor Emeritus of the Tulane School of Architecture, who, after retiring from teaching, became a doctoral student in Latin American Studies and was respected by his peers on the faculty and by his fellow students in Latin American Studies.

Simón Rodríguez Award for Best Undergraduate Teacher
Recipient: Annie Gibson
Presented by: Tulane’s Undergraduate Latin America Studies Organization (TULASO)
For genuine interest in promoting undergraduate scholarship in Latin American Studies.

William J. Griffith Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant in Latin American Studies
Recipient: Jesús Ruíz
Presented by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
William Griffith was a noted historian of Central America and served as director of Tulane’s Center for Latin American Studies. Griffith was the first Center Director to secure federal funding for the program and his role as Center Director influenced the development of the core introductory course in Latin American Studies, which our Teaching Assistants have since assumed primary responsibility for delivering.

Senior Scholar Award Recognition
Recipients: Currin Wallis
Presented by: Edie Wolfe, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
For outstanding scholarship in Latin American Studies, achieving the standards of the Tulane Honors Program, and attaining the highest GPA as a Latin American Studies major.

Stone Center Award for Best Campus-Wide Undergraduate Paper on a Latin American Topic
Recipient: James Ferrare, “Innovative Energy Solutions in Paraguay”
Nominated by: Colin Crawford, Director, International Development Studies and Payson Graduate Program for Global Development.

Alberto Vázquez Award for Best Undergraduate Paper in the Humanities by a Latin American Studies Major/Minor
Recipient: Currin Wallis, “Re-Typing Tradition: New Black Press and the Afro-Argentine Struggle for Cultural Citizenship”
Nominated by: Edie Wolfe, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Alberto Vázquez was a member of the Spanish Department at Tulane who always demonstrated a firm commitment and dedication to undergraduate scholarship in the humanities. Professor Vázquez developed the primary humanities course in the Latin American Studies curriculum.

M. Karen Bracken Award for Best Undergraduate Paper in the Social Sociences by a Latin American Studies Major/Minor
Recipient: Lydia Norby-Adams, “Makelawen Medicine?: The Pharmaceutical Commercialization of the Traditional Mapuche Practice”
Nominated by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
M. Karen Bracken served as Assistant Director in the Center for Latin American Studies for 13 years advising undergraduate majors and helping to build the undergraduate program. Her training as a sociologist contributed to the development of the social science side of the inter-disciplinary undergraduate degree program.

Stone Center Award for Best Campus-Wide Graduate Paper on a Latin American Topic
Recipient: Bobbie Simova, “Integrating Maya Market Women in Archaeology”
Nominated by: Tatsuya Murakami, Department of Anthropology

Donald Robertson Award for Best Graduate Paper in the Humanities
Recipient: Patricia Alexander, “The Power of Restricted Access and Hidden Images: Shedding New Light on the Lanzón and the Spread of Chavín de Huántar’s Influence”
Nominated by: Elizabeth Boone, Department of Art History
Donald Robertson was a professor of Art History at Tulane for more than 25 years and authored the standard Mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Period: The Metropolitan Schools. Professor Robertson served on numerous graduate student committees and motivated a generation of budding Art Historians and Ethnohistorians.

Richard E. Greenleaf Award for Best Graduate Paper in the Social Sciences
Recipient: Jesús Ruíz, “Emancipatory Royalism, Rayanos, and Imagined Unknowns: African Descendants in the Borderlands of La Española”
Presented by: Kris Lane, Department of History
Richard E. Greenleaf served as the Director of the Center for Latin American Studies from the late 1960s until his retirement in 1997. Not only are his own scholarly accomplishments impressive and well-known, but he has directed more than 20 doctoral theses and has motivated the scholarly production and research of countless graduate students.