Undergraduate Student Awards

Cutts Award – Professor Elmer Cutts was the first Chair of the History Department at Northeastern University and was an expert in South Asian history and Sanskrit. The Department’s undergraduate award, given annually to the graduating History major with the highest overall grade point average, is named in his memory.

• Robert “Nate” Gillin, Class of 2023
• Nikki Louis, Class of 2023

Robinson Prize – Professor Raymond Robinson served as Chair of the History Department from 1961 to 1993, after teaching American history at Northeastern for fifty-seven years. The Robinson Prize is awarded annually to the student who has written the best undergraduate paper in a history class during the academic year. The papers are nominated by the faculty, and the winner is selected by the Department’s Undergraduate Studies Committee.

• Ellie Witham, Class of 2023: “’We will do everything, even break the law if necessary’: Environmental action and the challenges of radiation waste disposal in New Jersey”
• Joseph Cataliotta, Class of 2021: “American Fascisms” 
• Daniel A. Castro-Fernandez, Class of 2021: “A Deafening Silence: The Life, Death and Lasting Influence of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán” 
• Ayeon Lee, Class of 2020: “Frontier Trails and Tribulations: Pioneer Physicians in Westward Expansion, 1803-1860,”  
• Michael Bronson, Class of 2018: “Double Flash in the Pan: The Rotos of Conspiracism in the US government inquires into the Vela incident”  
• Nathan Guerin, Class of 2017: “The Hajj in Colonial French West Africa, 1918-1960” 
• Nora Duffy, Class of 2016: “Jim Crow Behind Bars: a history of prison desegregation efforts”