Undergraduate Award Winners

The Robinson Prize 

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. Professor Raymond Robinson served as Chair of the History Department from 1961 to 1993. He retired after teaching American history at Northeastern for fifty-seven years.  

2025:
Winner: Artem Sereda for the essay “Red Baikal: Ideology Behind the Baikal Controversy”

Honorable Mention: Lillian Schar for the essay “A ‘Crime against Nature’: Judicial Activism in Nineteenth-Century Abortion Jurisprudence”

2024:
Winner: Alex Roth, “’No Yardstick Better’: Missionary Perspectives and Western Influence on Late Ottoman Feminism”

Runner-up: Robin Huang for “SILENCE=DEATH: The Political and Social Implications of the AIDS-genocide Frame”

2023:
Ellie Witham, “’We will do everything, even break the law if necessary’: Environmental action and the challenges of radiation waste disposal in New Jersey”

The Cutts Award 

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

2025: Joseph Solis, Ryan Hinshaw, Kaedyn Murphy, Courtney Casaletto

2024: Alex Roth

2023: Nikki Louis, Robert Nate Gillin