Distinction in Research and Creative Works

To be considered for Distinction, the student must submit the one-page application along with their project by Friday of the second week of April to the Department Office (225 HUM). Eligibility requires a minimum 3.3 GPA and senior status.

The student must also request the mentoring faculty member to turn in a confidential letter of support for the project by Friday of the second week of April. The student's application will not be complete without this letter, so the student should verify with the Department Office that the letter has been received.

The Religion Awards Committee judges the projects and determines whether or not the project will be awarded Distinction. Criteria for the award are the following:
1) creative conception of project beyond normal expectations
2) exceptional original research and use of source materials
3) exceptional writing or presentation
4) original contribution to the field

Download Application >

Distinction in Research and Creative Works Recipients

2022
Vibha Sastri
"Foucault & the Critical Promise of Parrhesia"

 

2021
Romi Lee
"The Woke Generation and Religious Equity: Exploring Conceptions of Social Justice in Gen Z"

 

Mariana Najera
"Rethinking and Relating in Otherness: Holism, Difference, and Counternomative Spiritualities in the Lives of Latinx Women."

 

Logan Rance
"Narrative of a Plague: The AIDS Epidemic and the Christian Right"

 

2020
Akhil Jonnalagadda
"Finding Freedom: In Conversation with Nagarjuna & Deleuze"

 

Michael McDowell
"Part of the Story: St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Hermeneutic of the Second Crusade"

 

 

2019
Isaac Carroo
"The Role of Religious Experience in Prosocial and Pro-Environmental Behavior"

 

Sharon Cho
"Comparative Reading of Nineteenth-Century French Catholic and American Protestant Pilgrimage Narratives: Religious Experiences, Imperialism, and Orientalism"

 

Abigail Shulman
"Conflicting Truths in Jewish Thought: A Comparison of Subjectivity in Jewish Exegesis and Modern Literary Theory"

 

Chloe Wilson
"innovating Within the Tradition: Feminist Reconstructions of Agency in the Jewish Mikveh"

 

2018
Jacob Blumencranz
"Gentrification in Ethnically Asian communities: The Role of Religion and Super Diversity on Real Estate Markets"

 

2017
Sparrow Gates
“Glorious Heaven: The Ascension of Isaiah Vision and its Ontological Perspectives”

 

Adam Jordahl
“Meme Wars: Pepe, the Alt-Right, and Metapolitics”

 

Zoe Tao
“Shame: a Public Feelings Project”

2016
Daniel McNamara
"Apocalypse or Caliphate: What ISIS Really Wants"

 

Rio O'Mary
"Revolution and Relocation: An Analysis of the  Disillusionment of Tunisian Youths with the Tunisian Revolution and their Desire to Relocate to the Islamic State"

 

Brandon Zheng
"Posthumanism and Potential: Philosophy and Spirituality beyond the Boundaries of the Human"

 

2015
Sarah Long
"Twining the Maiden's Wreath: Origins of the Good Death in Charlotte Salomon's Life? or Theater?

 

2014
Parker Eudy
"'The Mind's a Knot': Exploring Kabir's Inner World"

 

Courtney Applewhite
"'Spiritual, But Not Religious': Defining the Movement"

 

Nina Elizondo Garza
"Narcissistic Nationalism: Political Religions as Propagated by Political Charismatic Leaders"