Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize
The Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize, sponsored by the JKW Foundation, is awarded annually (if there is a distinguished submission) for an outstanding English-language doctoral dissertation in Soviet or Post-Soviet politics and history in the tradition of historical political science and political history of Russia or the Soviet Union as practiced by Robert C. Tucker and Stephen F. Cohen, defended at an American or Canadian university.
The prize carries a $5,000 award intended to help the author turn the dissertation into a publishable manuscript.
The dissertation must be completed and defended during the calendar year prior to the award. The prize is awarded at the ASEEES Annual Convention in November.
2012 Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize Committee
The winner of the Tucker/Cohen Dissertation Prize will be chosen by the following scholars:
- Daniel Orlovsky, Southern Methodist University; Committee Chair, 2011-2013
(mailing address):
Daniel Orlovsky
Clements Department of History
PO Box 750176
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275 - Ziva Galili Rutgers University; 2012-2013
(e-mail address):
galili@rci.rutgers.edu
- Tom Remington, Emory University, 2012-2014
(mailing address):
Thomas F. Remington
Department of Political Science
327 Tarbutton Hall
1555 Dickey Drive
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
Rules of eligibility
Rules of eligibility for the ASEEES Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize are as follows:
The dissertation must be defended at a university in the United States or Canada by a US citizen, Canadian citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
The dissertation must be completed and defended during the calendar year prior to the award (for example, the dissertation must have been defended in 2011 to be eligible for the 2012 competition).
The dissertation's primary subject and analytical purpose must be in the realm of the history of domestic politics, as broadly understood in academic or public life, though it may also include social, cultural, economic, international or other dimensions. The dissertation must focus primarily on Russia (though the topic may also involve other former Soviet republics) during one or more periods between January 1918 and the present.
A nomination will consist of a detailed letter from the dissertation's main faculty supervisor explaining the ways in which the work is outstanding in both its empirical and interpretive contributions, along with an abstract of 700-1000 words, written by the candidate, specifying the sources and general findings of the research. A faculty supervisor may nominate no more than one dissertation a year. By April 15 faculty supervisors should send each committee member listed above their letter and the 700-1000-word abstract. (Candidates may also initiate the nomination, but it must come from their advisers.) The committee will read this material and then request copies of the dissertations that best meet the criteria, as defined in the statement above.
Tucker/Cohen Dissertation Prize winners
The 2011 Tucker/Cohen Prize was awarded to:Eleanory Gilburd, Assistant Professor of History at NYU for "To See Paris and Die: Western Culture in the Soviet Union, 1950's and 1960's" (UC, Berkeley); Ora John Reuter, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Miami University of Ohio for "The Origin of Dominant Parties" (Emory U).
The 2010 Tucker/Cohen Prize was awarded to Oscar Sánchez-Sibony, Assistant Professor of History in the Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Macau, for "Red Globalization: The Political Economy of Soviet Foreign Relations in the 1950s and 60s" (U of Chicago).
The 2009 Tucker/Cohen Prize was awarded to Mie Nakachi, who received her PhD in History of Modern Russia from the University of Chicago in 2008. Her dissertation was titled "Replacing the Dead: The Politics of Reproduction in the Postwar Soviet Union, 1944--1955".
The 2008 Tucker/Cohen Prize was awarded to Benjamin Tromly, who received his PhD in History from the Harvard University in June 2007. His dissertation was titled "Re-Imagining the Soviet Intelligentsia: Student Politics and University Life, 1948-1964."
The prize committee also decided to present an Honorable Mention award to Edward Cohn, who received his PhD in History from the University of Chicago in August 2007. His dissertation was titled "Disciplining the Party: The Expulsion and Censure of Communists in the Post-War Soviet Union, 1945-1961."
No prize was awarded in 2007.
The 2006 Tucker/Cohen Dissertation Prize was awarded to Heather Diane DeHaan, who received her PhD in History from the University of Toronto in June 2005.