History Graduate Student Wins Major Fellowship, Department Creates New Opportunities for Undergraduates

In recent months, the Department of History has garnered major awards resulting in substantial support for graduate and undergraduate students alike.

Alexander Poster, a Ph.D. Candidate in History, is the recent recipient of the International Security Studies Predoctoral Fellowship at Yale, where he is currently in residence for the duration of the 2009-2010 academic year. This fellowship is open only to non-Yale PhD students working to complete the dissertation and seeking to benefit from involvement with the International Security Studies community at the university. Alexander's dissertation, entitled "A Hierarchy of Survival: The United States and the Negotiation of International Disaster Relief," examines the political and economic motives behind Washington's international disaster relief policy during the Reagan years. Alexander is not the first graduate student from History to receive this fellowship. During the 2008-2009 academic year, Paul Chamberlin, Katherine Epstein, and Ryan Irwin were also ISS fellows at Yale.

While History students have been extremely successful in procuring support for academic research from outside funding sources, the Department of History is also creating more opportunities for internal funding for undergraduate students. It recently announced the 2010 Middle East & Islamic World Study Abroad Fellowship, a new program to award a $5,200 scholarship to an Ohio State University undergraduate student committed to pursuing language training in the Middle East/Islamic world in Summer 2010. Funded by the Women & Philanthropy program at OSU, students can use the fellowship to offset the cost of study abroad. For more information about the 2010 Middle East & Islamic World Study Abroad Fellowship and how to apply, please see their Web site.