Tulane University

On May 3, the Stone Center hosted its annual Awards Ceremony to honor students and faculty that have demonstrated excellence in Latin American Studies during this academic year. The ceremony lasted about an hour and was followed by a reception to celebrate.

To see photos from the ceremony, visit the Stone Center’s album on Flickr here.

Presentation of Awards

LAGO Outstanding Faculty Member Service Award
Recipient: James D. Huck, Jr., Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Presented by: Latin Americanist Graduate Organization (LAGO)
For excellence in teaching and for promoting selflessly the interests and careers of Latin American Studies graduate students.

Simón Rodríguez Award for Best Undergraduate Teacher
Recipient: Casey Kane Love, Department of Political Science
Presented by: Tulane‘€™s Undergraduate Latin America Studies Organization (TULASO)
For genuine interest in promoting undergraduate scholarship in Latin American Studies.

William J. Griffith Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant in Latin American Studies
Recipient: Samantha Greenspun
Presented by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
William Griffith was a noted historian of Central America and served as director of Tulane‘€™s Center for Latin American Studies. Griffith was the first Center Director to secure federal funding for the program and his role as Center Director influenced the development of the core introductory course in Latin American Studies, which our Teaching Assistants have since assumed primary responsibility for delivering.

LAGO Outstanding Graduate Student Service Award
Recipient: Ngaire Honey
Presented by: LAGO
For generously promoting the interests of Latin American Studies graduate students as a whole.

Senior Scholar Award Recognition
Recipients: Robert Dean
Presented by: Edie Wolfe, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
For outstanding scholarship in Latin American Studies, achieving the standards of the Tulane Honors Program, and attaining the highest GPA as a Latin American Studies major.

The Stone Center Award for Best Campus-Wide Undergraduate Paper on a Latin American Topic
Recipient: Lacey Gutierrez, ‘€œ‘€˜The Pictures in Our Heads‘€™: Portrayal of Paco in the Argentine Media and Poltical Narrative‘€
Presented by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies

The Stone Center Award for Best Campus-Wide Graduate Paper on a Latin American Topic
Recipient: Andrew Whitaker, ‘€œThe Landscape Imagination: Incorporating Amerindian Pers-pectivism into an Historical Ecology of Knowledge‘€
Presented by: William Balée, Department of Anthropology

Alberto Vázquez Award for Best Undergraduate Paper in the Humanities by a Latin American Studies Major/Minor
Recipient: Kiley Laemmli, ‘€œCulture as Commondity: Dancehall Queens and the Sale of Fe-male Empowerment‘€
Presented by: Edie Wolfe, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Alberto Vázquez was a member of the Spanish Department at Tulane who always demonstrated a firm commitment and dedication to undergraduate scholarship in the humanities. Professor Vázquez developed the primary humanities course in the Latin American Studies curriculum, currently named ‘€œCultural Heritage of Latin America.‘€

M. Karen Bracken Award for Best Undergraduate Paper in the Social Sociences by a Latin American Studies Major/Minor
Recipient: Jeffrey Ellis, ‘€œEquity in Health Care and Public Health Policy: the Search for So-cial Justice in Chile‘€™s Plan AUGE‘€
Presented by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
M. Karen Bracken served as Assistant Director in the Center for Latin American Studies for 13 years advising undergraduate majors and helping to build the undergraduate program. Her training as a sociologist contributed to the development of the social science side of the inter-disciplinary undergraduate degree program.

Donald Robertson Award for Best Graduate Paper in the Humanities
Recipient: Lucia Abramovich, ‘€œA Currency of Culture: Considering the Value of Silver in Co-lonial Potosí‘€
Presented by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Donald Robertson was a professor of Art History at Tulane for more than 25 years and au-thored the standard Mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Period: The Metro-politan Schools. Professor Robertson served on numerous graduate student committees and motivated a generation of budding Art Historians and Ethnohistorians.

Richard E. Greenleaf Award for Best Graduate Paper in the Social Sciences
Recipient: Farren Yero, ‘€œEthnogenesis, Pueblo Status, and Corporate Identity: Nahua & Afro-Mexican Relations in Central New Spain‘€™s Indigenous Communities‘€
Presented by: Jimmy Huck, Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Richard E. Greenleaf served as the Director of the Center for Latin American Studies from the late 1960s until his retirement in 1997. Not only are his own scholarly accomplishments impressive and well-known, but he has directed more than 20 doctoral theses and has motivated the scholarly production and research of countless graduate students.