Travel awards and grants of up to $500 are available to students who can demonstrate that their original research would be significantly enhanced or facilitated by travel to an archive, museum, library, or conference; and/or whose projects require specialized equipment or access to online databases, printed materials, or other sources not available on campus or through our own library.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes seniors who have gone above and beyond in their service to the Department by assisting with new student recruitment, becoming on-campus leaders within the Department and the History Honors Society Phi Alpha Theta, and helping create a stronger, more cohesive sense of community within the Department.   Recipients 2024: Devin Manley, Julie Matuszewski 2023: Connor Barnes, Rachel Burdette, Tara Leininger, Muskaan Siddique 2022: Riley Mueller, Alyssa Saulsberry, Merrick Robinson, Sara Tolva 2021: Tess O'Connell, Ryan Yoakum, Taylor Ann...

This award is no longer offered. 

This award is no longer offered. 

Jayne and Richard Burkhardt Scholarship originates from a gift to the Department by the Burkhardt family whose intention was to “provide funds the History Department could use to encourage undergraduate students to pursue history majors.”

Named in honor of consummate teacher and mentor Professor Mark H. Leff, this scholarship is awarded each year to a senior student in the Honors Program. Thesis writers who wish to be considered for this scholarship must submit drafts of their projects by the deadline, which will be announced spring semester.

Named in memory of Professor Michael Scher, who taught in the department between 1971 and 1975, the Scher Award was created in 1977 to recognize the outstanding undergraduate paper or project submitted in a regular History course during the preceding calendar year.  

This scholarship was established in 1985 to recognize superior academic merit in history and to contribute to the tuition of students entering their senior year at the University.  Selection of the Bierma Award winners is made by the Dean of Honors Programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, on the basis of outstanding GPA and superior commitment to the study of history as evidenced by the students’ records in upper-division courses. 

This scholarship is awarded annually to an Honors student with junior standing, for the support of work on a senior thesis, especially in the field of United States history. Scholarship money will be paid in the summer before the student’s senior year, to help support research on the thesis.