Year and Recepient
1996 Kathy Altom
1997 Erin Gingrich
1998 Jeanie Bianchi
1998 Carrie Donovan
1999 Chris DiTomo
1999 Michael Powell
1999 Sarah Scheiderich
2001 Katheryn Barnes
2001 Claire Dappert
2001 Sarah Erekson
2001 Rachel Balabuscko
2001 Brian Starmach
2001 Sara Zamor
2001 Michael Litchford
2001 Mireya Loza
2002 Tamira Brennan
2002 Joseph Bruce
2002 Heather Foran
2002 Michael Litchford
2002 Meghan Moran
2002 Lauren Szczensky-Pumarada
This award is presented to the student who submits a superior undergraduate anthropology paper. Any undergraduate anthropology major or minor may enter. Undergrad students are notified to submit papers during the spring semester award season.
Papers will be judged based on excellence as demonstrated by problem focus, development of ideas, literature covered, writing style, originality, and contribution to the field. Papers are chosen by the Department Awards Committee consisting of faculty members from all field subdisciplines. At the committee's discretion, an outside reviewer may be asked to assist in the evaluation of a particular entry. Oral evaluation of the candidates to determine the winner is optional and at the discretion of the committee.
The papers must be cleanly typed, and the format should be as appropriate for professional journals such as American Anthropologist, American Antiquity, or American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The paper must be anthropological in subject matter and approach. Senior honor theses, course research papers, fieldwork analyses, and independent projects are all acceptable entries. The paper must have been written or substantially developed while the student has been at the University of Illinois, not to exceed 35 pages.
History: Patricia J. O'Brien. Written by Amy Wedel
Patricia J. O’Brien was born on April 1, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois to John P. O’Brien and Edna M. Massow. She attended Nicholas Senn High School, graduating in 1953, and then worked at the Illinois Bell Telephone Company as a plant engineering clerk from 1953 to 1960. Concurrently, Pat attended Wright Junior College and graduated in 1960 with an associate’s degree in art. She then attended the University of Illinois, graduating with a bachelor’s of art in anthropology in 1962 and a Ph.D. in the same subject in 1969. Her dissertation was, “A Formal Analysis of Cahokia Ceramics: Powell Tract”. O’Brien was an interim anthropology instructor at Florida Atlantic University in 1966-1967, and became an assistant professor of archeology and sociology at Kansas State University (KSU) in September 1967. O’Brien worked at KSU for 31 years, retiring as a professor emerita in 1998. She has published seven books and over forty articles, and has presented regularly while at KSU. She has been involved professionally, including in the American Anthropological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Sigma Xi. In 1989-1990, O’Brien was an Honor Lecturer at the Mid-American State Universities Association, and the following year she received the Conoco Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award and Sigma Xi deemed her a Distinguished Research Lecturer. She was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in 1994-1995 at Würzburg, Germany, and was a guest professor in 1996 at Munich, Germany. In 2009, the Plains Anthropological Society recognized her lifetime achievement of Plains-related research, teaching, scholarship, and service by awarding O'Brien with the Distinguished Service Award.
Year and Recepient
1985 Jolee West
1986 Becky Gordon
1989 Kathy To
1990 Laura M. Oaks
1991 Richard R. Lawler
1992 Paul Blomgren
1993 Leahanne Sarla
1994 Charles W. Golden/ Tally M. Moskovits (co-recipients)
1995 Oscar Newman / Elizabeth Garibay (co-recipients)
1996 Michael Cepek
1997 Kevin Karpiak and Megan Casey
1998 Kevin Karpiak
1999 Chris DiTomo
2000 Nicholas Watkins
2002 Tamira Brennan
2003 Nichole Ortegon
2004 Danielle Schumacher
2005 Susanne Garrett
2006 Toni Sadler
2008 Annelise Morris
2009 Robert Mackin
2010 Susan Wachowski
2011 Rachel Zibrat/ Audrey Gallien (co-recipients)
2012 Danielle Cunningham
2013 Anna Lowe
2014 Taylor Thorton
2015 Paige Jamieson
2016 Ciara Reilly/Amirah Nasir (co recipients)
2017 Alia Kirsch & America Guerra
2018 Julia Carter
2019 Caroline Caton
2020 Harold Adams and Priya Bhatt
2021 Celeste Courtney
This award is given for outstanding accomplishments and achievements in North American Archaeology. Priority is given to undergraduate students working on questions, materials, and sites that relate to the archaeology of Illinois to support undergraduate research and career development. Undergrad students are notified to submit papers during the spring semester award season.
Applications must include a CV for the nominee and a 1–2-page faculty letter of support describing the significance of the research for the student's intellectual development as well as for the understanding of North American archaeology in general, and Illinois archaeology in particular.
This award is chosen by the Anthropology Department Awards Committee.
Year and Recepient
2002 Michael Litchford
2003 Susan Alt
2005 Philip Millhouse
2006 Dan Marovitch
2007 Liz Watts
2011 Kelsey Anderson/ Melissa Baltus (co-recipients)
2012 Leslie Drane
2013 Jamie Cater
2014 Mechell Frazier
2016 Mikayla Eastman
2018 Brandon Nakashima
Graciously endowed by alumnus Paul Liebman, this fund supports undergraduate internships, research, and field school experience in anthropology.
Eligibility
- This award is open to all undergraduate anthropology majors, minors, and CS+ Anth. Preference will be given to first-time applicants in good academic standing.
Award Amount:
- Up to $2500
Priority Deadlines
January 19th, annually: Liebman Award for spring funding (For students based on senior capstone projects, and possibly juniors working on an applied anthropology project in conjunction with a faculty member.)
March 1st and April 1st , and on a rolling basis, up to May 15 based on fund availability: Liebman Award for summer funding
Application Forms
Recommended Field Schools
Resources
Sample Budgets
If you have any questions, please contact (Liebman email) or Dr. Petra Jelinek at jelinek@illinois.edu
Liebman Awardees Blog Posts
2022
2021
- Brooke Blaszynski
- Rachel Burdette
- Daniela Gradilla
- Christian Hasler
- Makayla Muzinic
- Sophia Sato
- Jenny Sun
- Miles Ury
This award is for an Anthropology graduate student from any subdiscipline conducting preliminary field research in the development of their dissertation project. This award is shared with the East Asian Languages & Cultures Department, and is therefore given every other year.
This award is chosen by the Department Head and Financial Aid Committee during the spring semester award season.
Year and Recepient
2018 Lila Dodge
2022 Bryana Rivera
This award is to support students enrolled in the Department of Anthropology who are pursuing research related to the presence, history, culture, and /or status of African or African American communities.
It is chosen by the Department Head and Financial Aid Committee during the spring semester award season.
Year and Recepient
2022 Lila Dodge
This award is for an archaeology graduate student with research projects in American Archaeology. This award is made possible by a generous bequest from the late Forest N. Baker of Genesco, IL, who held a long-term interest in Illinois Archaeology. Graduate students will be notified to submit paper/proposal during the spring semester award season.
Funding will be awarded based on competitive evaluation of the intellectual merit and broader impacts of proposals for research in American Archaeology.
Proposals should be in the form of concise papers of no more than 5 pages, single-spaced in length; references, tables and figures are not included in the page limit; and a budget listing is not required. This award is chosen by the Financial Aid Committee.
Year and Recepient
2014 Jamie Arjona
2016 Tatiana Niculescu
2017 Rebecca Schumann
2018 Jamie Arjona
2019 Aimee Carbaugh, Adam Sutherland
2020 Caitlyn Antoniuk
2021 Emma Verstraete
This award is in conjunction with the Summer Research Assistance Awards. It is given to the best paper/proposal for a graduate student conducting field work in Socio-cultural Anthropology. Graduate students are notified to submit summer funding proposals during the spring semester award season.
This award is chosen by the Financial Aid Committee.
Year and Recepient
1986 Elizabeth Hurley
1989 Deborah A. Bakken
1989 Richard S. Howard
1990 Keith Dipboye
1991 Rosa DeJorio
1993 Gina Hunter de Bessa
1994 Maria Tapias
1995 Soo Jung Lee
1996 Sarah Phillips
1996 James Gilmore
1998 Angelina Cotler
1999 Derek Pardue
2000 So Jin Park
2001 Bjorn Westgard
2002 Jennifer Shoaff (co-recipient)
2002 Junjie Chen (co-recipient)
2003 Brian Montes
2004 Daniel Gutierrez
2005 Allison Goebel
2006 Isabel Scarborough
2007 Katie O’Brien
2009 Jennifer Baldwin
2010 Wendy Finley
2011 Melinda Bernardo/ Kyou ho Lee (co-recipients)
2012 Alex Jong Seok Lee
2013 Emily Metzner
2014 Agnes Sohn / Ezgi Guner (co-recipients)
2015 Jonghyun Park
2016 Benjamin Krupp
2017 Dilara Caliskan
2018 Bea Maldonado & Ofira Fuchs
2019 Dilara Caliskan, Lila Dodge, Chibundo Egwuatu
2022 Michelle Patino and Grazzia Grimaldi
This is a faculty nominated award given to a graduate student for academic excellence and promise in Anthropology. This award was started by the Edward M. Bruner family upon the retirement of Ed. Graduate students will be notified to submit papers during the spring semester award season.
This award is chosen by the Anthropology Department Awards Committee.
Year and Recepient
1995 C. Richard King
1996 Mary Greenpool
1997 Walter Little
1998 Lamisa Bangali
1999 Moeslim Abdurrahman
2000 Angelina Cotler
2001 So Jin Park
2002 Robin Bernstein
2003 Noriko Muraki
2004 Martin Kowalewski
2005 Andrew Asher(co-recipient)
2006 Junjie Chen (co-recipient)
2007 Melissa Baltus
2008 Tomi Castle
2009 Jason Ritchie
2010 Scott Williams
2011 Michele Hanks
2012 Nicoletta Righini
2013 Sophia Balakian
2014 Dohye Kim
2015 Sophia Balakia
2016 Paul Michael Atienza
2017 Matthew Go
2018 Jamie Arjona
2019 Zev Cossin
2020 Jamie Arjona
2021 Nicole Cox
2022 Tatiana Niculescu
Established by Charles and Janet Keller. Preference shall be given to graduate students working on critical approaches to material culture within the unit. This fellowship may be used for ABD graduate students writing fellowships. Graduate students are notified to submit applications during the fall semester.
This award is chosen by the Department Head and Financial aid Committee.
Year and Recepient
2018 Rebecca Schumann
2021 Benjamin Krupp & Negin Valizadegan
This award is in conjunction with the Graduate Students 2nd year reports. The award is shared with the Sociology Department, therefore is given every other year. It provides a stipend for one semester free of TA/RA duties. Graduate students will be notified to submit 2nd year reports during the spring semester award season.
This award is chosen by the Financial Aid Committee.
Year and Recepient
1992-93 Robert Connolly
1994-95 Lauren Sieg
1996-97 Gina Hunter de Bessa
1997-98 Rachel Corr
1999-00 Jennifer Rehg
2002-03 Derek Pardue
2004-05 Bjorn Westgard
2006-07 Akiko Takeyama
2008-09 Melissa Raguet
2009-2010 Sociology
2010-2011 John Cho
2011-2012 Sociology
2012-2013 Anthropology Liz Mallott
2014-15 Paul Michael Atienza
2015-16 Sociology
2016-17 David Arstizabal
2017-18 Sociology
2018-19 Use it Fall 2019 give out in spring 2019
2019-20 Sociology
2020-21 Meredith Wilson
2021-22 Sociology
2022-23 Michelle Patino
2023-24 Sociology
Established by Patricia O’Brien in honor and memory of Demitri B. Shimkin. The award is for the most outstanding research paper written by an Anthropology graduate student. Grad students are notified to submit papers during the spring semester award season.
Papers will be evaluated in terms of their problem orientation, logical development, research breadth, originality, and contribution to the field and should follow American Anthropologist, American Antiquity, or American Journal of Physical Anthropology style guidelines. It must be anthropological in subject matter and approach.
Research papers, fieldwork analyses, independent projects, and Master papers are all acceptable entries. The paper's text must have been written or substantially developed while the student has been at the University of Illinois, and must not exceed 35 pages (12pt. double-spaced) in length, including texts, notes, and references (but excluding tables, graphs, and illustrations). Multi-authored papers must be accompanied by a statement of contributions made to the study by each author. In multi-authored papers, the student author must have written the paper. Published papers will not be accepted. However, papers currently under review for publication will be considered.
This award is chosen by the Anthropology Department Awards Committee.
Year and Recepient
1997 Paul Park
1998 ShanShan Du
1998 Lewis Thomas
1999 Marsha Brofka
2000 Maria Tapias
2001 Angela Shand
2002 Jesook Song
2003 Michelle Wibbelsman
2004 Robin Bernstein
2005 Andrew Asher
2006 William Hope
2007 Norika Muraki
2008 Alyssa Garcia
2009 Jason Ritchie
2010 John Cho
2010 Scott Williams
2012 Mark Grabowski
2013 Sophia Balakian
2014 Jonghyun Park
2015 Jamie Arjona
2016 Liz Mallott
2017 Jamie Arjona
2018 Mary Rogers and Mike Atienza
2019 Allie Zachwieja Emma Verstraete
2019 Honorable Mentions Yue Liao, Ezgi Guner, Amanda Lee
2020 Ben Krupp
2021 An-di-Yim and Jeongsu Shin (Co-Winners)
2021 Honorable Mentions Caitlyn Antoniuk and Dilara Caliskan
2022 Negin Valizadegan and Jeongsu Shin
Once per academic year, registered grad students are eligible for department conference funds, in the form of reimbursement. Students will receive up to $250 for those presenting papers or posters, while those not presenting are eligible for $75.
- All applicants must complete the Anthropology “Online Travel Authorization and Information Form” found at https://anthro.illinois.edu/resources/student-resources/forms. Please answer question #10 “N/A”
- Each student presenting a paper/poster must provide an abstract of the paper or poster, and a brief description (1 paragraph) of how it relates to the dissertation or other research.
- Students not presenting, must provide an outline of key symposia they plan to attend, and briefly mention how these symposia are expected to inform their graduate research.
- Students must be registered for current semester.
- These forms must be submitted to the Anthropology Graduate Program Coordinator, Joyce Dowell at joyce14@illinois.edu, prior to travel in order for students to qualify for funds. Reimbursement will be provided to qualified students for costs (up to the amounts specified) upon presentation of receipts to Joyce after the meetings.
This program provides modest grants to PhD grad students for summer research. Priority will be given to students in any sub-field in the early years of their doctoral training. Past recipients are eligible to apply again, however funding priority is given to students who have not previously received a summer research award.
Applications are submitted to the Anth grad contact, joyce14@illinois.edu by the department deadline, so materials can be compiled for the selection process. Applications consist of a proposal, budget and letter of support from an advisor. Be sure to refer to email during spring semester award season for complete details.
Proposal
Proposals should be written in a professional manner and submitted with a completed cover sheet. The proposed project must be directly related to your progress-toward-degree, cost-effective, and one that can be completed in the summer interval.
The proposal should be no more than 1500 words (for steps 1 through 4) and contain the following information:
- A brief abstract of 150 words or less
- Statement of the research problem
- Statement of the proposed research, including working hypotheses and research methodology constructed against a background of research in the discipline.
- Significance of the research:
- (a) theoretical,
- (b) potential applied relevance (if applicable)
- (c) personal import (i.e., dissertation, career)
- References cited
- Research schedule (overall dates) and plan of activities
- Budget
- Human subjects form, animal research approval form, or artifact disposition statement (or evidence of its submission for approval), if applicable.
Budget
In order to provide the maximum number of summer research opportunities from the department’s limited summer funds, in most instances only basic assistance can be provided. We urge applicants to seek supplementary sources of funding and indicate personal or other investment in the project. Budgets must be realistic, modest, and cost-effective and should include: a) the total project budget and b) the amount of the partial assistance that you are requesting from the department.
Year and Recepient
1986-87 David Grove (Dept. & Prokasy)
1986-87 Paul Garber
1987-88 Edward M. Bruner
1988-89 David Grove
1990 Linda Klepinger (Dept. & LAS)
1991 David Grove (Dept. & UIUC Campus/Luckman)
1992 Paul Garber
1993 David Grove
1994 David Grove
1995 David Grove / Enrique Mayer (co-recipients
LUCKMAN (Faculty)
1996 Helaine Silverman(nominee)
CAMPUS AWARD (Faculty) (previously luckman)
1997 Susan Gillespie and Steve Leigh
1998 Paul Garber and Linda Klepinger
1999 Steve Leigh and Helaine Silverman
2000 Linda Klepinger
2001 Dave Grove
2001 Steve Leigh
LUCKMAN (Student)
1996 Eric Hollinger(nominee)
CAMPUS AWARD (Student) (previously luckman)
1997 Lauren Sieg
1998 Lauren Sieg
1999 Stephanie House
2000 Angelina Cotler & Paul Park
2001 Missy Loyet
Year and Recepient
1997 Thomas Emerson
1997 Paul Kreisa and Kevin McGowan
1997 Eric Hollinger and Carol Yokell
1998 Karla Harmon and Ronda Rigdon
1999 Nancy Abelmann, Susan Gillespie and Barry Lewis
2000 Nora McKinley, Sec. III, Academic Human Resources
2001 Susan Gillespie, Bill Kelleher, and Tim Pauketat
2002 Bill Kelleher
2003 Steve Leigh
2004 Andrew Orta
2005 Alma Gottlieb
2008 Janet Keller
2009 Brenda Farnell
2010 Kate Clancy
2011 Karla Harmon
2012 Paul Garber
2013 Fennell/Gottlieb
2016 Farnell/Moodie
2017 Susan Frankenberg
2019 Jessica Greenberg
2020 Laura Shackelford
2022 Ripan Malhi
Year and Recepient
2000-01 Alma Gottlieb (fellowship for 2001-02 given to Junje Chen)