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
| 2019 | Isaac Carroo | "The Role of Religious Experience in Proscoial and Pro-Environmental Behavior" |
| Sharon Cho | "Comparative Reading of Nineteenth-Centruy Frech Catholic and American Protestant Pilgrimage Narratives: Religious Experiences, Imperialism, and Orientalism" | |
| Abigail Shulman | "Conflicting Truths in Jeewish 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” |
| 2017 | Adam Jordahl | “Meme Wars: Pepe, the Alt-Right, and Metapolitics” |
| 2017 | Zoe Tao | “Shame: a Public Feelings Project” |
| 2016 | Daniel McNamara | "Apocalypse or Caliphate: What ISIS really wants" |
| 2016 | 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" |
| 2016 | 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" |
| 2014 | Courtney Applewhite | "'Spiritual, But Not Religious': Defining the Movement" |
| 2014 | Nina Elizondo Garza | "Narcissistic Nationalism: Political Religions as Propagated by Political Charismatic Leaders" |
