Student Awards

Elizabeth Mudd Senior Prize
Thea S. Chroman
This monetary award was established in 1927 for excellence in scholarship.

Phi Beta Kappa Society
Amelia Chandler-Lewy, Greer Morgan Gainer, Erica O'Brien Murray, Tashi Parsons-Moss, Summer Rae Shannon, Kathryn Napier Stull, Theresa Louise Vevea, Chelsea Ross Wesnousky
Members are elected each year in acknowledgement of their high scholarly achievements, their pursuit of liberal learning, and their intellectual integrity and curiosity. Mills College was granted a charter by the national honor society of Phi Beta Kappa on September 12, 1928. Zeta Chapter in the State of California was installed March 16, 1929.

Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Faculty Purse for Graduate Study
Tashi Parsons-Moss

Fulbright Award
Phoebe Day Connell, Elizabeth Ann Setzer, Charis Boke
Fullbright grants are prestigious international awards in support of a research or study project in a foreign country.

Staff Scholarship Prize First Year Achievement
Myla Baker
The is award is made possible through the generous donations of Mills College staff.

Mary Wetmore Prize for Sophomore Achievement
Jacqueline Tay
This award was established in 1926 for "excellence in scholarship."

Mary Atkins Merit Scholarship
Deidra Anderson
This award is based on outstanding scholarship as a continuing resuming student.

Departmental Awards

Art
Grace Ty Searing Dhaemers Art History Award
Alicia Marie Gallo, Josephine Claire Keane
This honor is given to a member of the junior class who is majoring in art history and is returning for her senior year.

Ralph DuCasse Scholarship
Melanie Brooke Lombard
This scholarship is awarded to a student majoring in studio art. It is given in recognition of outstanding achievement.

Mary Laughlin Beardmore Award
Gema Patricia Ornelas, Thom Thi Hai Tran
This award goes to students for excellence in the field of art history, in memory of Mary Laughlin Beardmore who served as secretary to the Honolulu Mills College Club for 25 years.

Eleanor Crum Prize in Ceramics
Melissa Ghorbani
This prize was established in 1968, from the estate of William L. Crum in honor of his wife. This award is given to students for excellence in ceramics.

Photography Prize for Creative Excellence
Erin Dolores Gorton, Shannon Marie Van Meir
This prize is awarded to outstanding seniors in the area of photography. It was established by the Office of Institutional Advancement in 1990-1991.

Herringer Prize for Excellence - Art History
Gema Patricia Ornelas
This prize is awarded for excellence in scholarship in art history.

Herringer Prize for Excellence - Art Studio
Jacqueline Famor Antig, Freya K. Channing, Shannon Marie Van Meir
This prize is awarded for excellence in artistic practice.

Judy Hiltner Prize
Melissa Ghorbani
This award is given to a studio art major committed to making art.

Wellhausen Family Award
Freya K. Channing
This award is given to a top undergraduate studio art student.

Athletics, Physical Education & Recreation
Eugene Trefethen Award
Emily Eliza Warde
This award recognizes the senior with the highest GPA who has participated on a varsity intercollegiate sport team.

Biology
Bruce McCollum Prize
Tomoko Katayama (Mathematics and Computer Science)
Tashi Parsons-Moss (Chemistry)
Established in 1960 by Mrs. Bruce McCollum in memory of her husband, this award is given to a senior majoring in science or mathematics with the highest attainment in scholarship.

Vera Long Prize
Caitlin McKenzie Thompson
This prize was established in 1987 and given in honor of an outstanding paper written on environmental biology.

Book Arts
Rosalind Keep Book Arts Award
Cristina Marie Sogliuzzo
This award recognizes general excellence in the area of book arts as well as a substantial contribution to the program.

Chemistry
Alie Ogborn Jackson Barry Prize
Tashi Parsons-Moss
This award is presented to a student for excellence in chemistry.

Computer Science
Helen Pillans Award
Katrina Ivanetich
This award is given in honor of Helen Pillans, who taught at Mills for many years and was responsible for the establishment of the computer science program in the 1960's.

Diane McEntyre Award
Cory Burke
This award is given for excellence in computer science and contributions to the computer science community

Dramatic Arts and Film Studies
Marion Long Stebbins Prize
Amanda Parker
This is awarded to the most promising student in dramatic arts.

Economics
Marion Ross Merit Scholarship
Flor de Maria Melara
This award is given to students excelling in economics in honor of Dr. Marion Ross, respected alumna and former Mills economics professor.

Omicron Delta Epsilon
Jacqueline Famor Antig, Alessandra Manilla Jacques, Anna Christine Macken, Suzanne Dewi Permanna, Theresa Louise Vevea, WenJie Zhang
Omicron Delta Epsilon is the International Honorary Society in Economics. Students are selected based on their performance in economics courses and are selected from economics, business economics and PLEA-econ majors.

English
Mary Merritt Henry Prize
Graduate - Dallas Fletcher, Benjamin Louis Perez
Graduate (Honorable Mention) - M. Mara-Ann, Felicia Martinez
Undergraduate - Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention) - Martha Dayley, Noël Fagerhaugh, Julia Jackson, Lacy Paap, Elyse Bret Harte Lyon, Jamilah Bradshaw
Established in 1921, these prizes are awarded for a group of poems by students.

Ardella Mills Prize for Literary Composition
Fiction:
Graduate - Dallas Fletcher
Graduate (Honorable Mention) - Whitney Phaneuf, Carolina De Robertis
Undergraduate - Yalitza Ferreras

Creative Non-Fiction:
Graduate - Whitney Sara Phaneuf, Sarah Ostendorf Busselle
Undergraduate - Sandra Anna Bury
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention) - Michelle Ma

Graduate Essay: Sara Ostendorf Busselle
Undergraduate Essay: Kimberly Ann Swanberg
Prizes given for excellence in literary composition was established in 1931, by a bequest of Maria Elizabeth Mills, in memory of her daughter.

Marion Hood Boess Haworth Prize (Young Adult Fiction)
Graduate - Emily Ann Johnson
Undergraduate - Brandy Simone Martin
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention) - Meighan Moore, Robin Herrera
The award is given for excellence in children's and young adult literature.

English I Essay Prize First Place:
Adrienne Mills
This award is for an essay written in an English 001 section for both fall and spring semesters.

Journalism Prize
Michelle C. Ma
Honorable Mention: Dominique Simpson, Lisa Kelly
This prize is given for excellence in reporting and writing.

Amanda Davis Thesis Prize Fiction
Christine Asano Liwai Hong, William Michael Lynch, Julia Nemeth
This award is in memory of Mills English professor Amanda Davis who died in a plane crash while promoting her first novel in March 2003.

Ethnic Studies
Reaching Beyond Award
Tee A. Sullivan
This award is for excellence in building coalitions between communities of color on campus or through service to the community. Rewarding efforts to teach beyond one's own identity, this award highlights the importance of building unity in diversity in order to achieve social change.

The Spirit of Dolores Huerta Award
Catalina Vazquez
This award recognizes students who have demonstrated the kind of courageous, conscientious and intellectual pursuit of justice as evidenced in the person of Dolores Huerta.

Ethnic Studies Outstanding Scholarship Award
Esther Lucero
An award initiated in 2000 recognizing an outstanding senior thesis in ethnic studies.

French and Francophone Studies
Germaine Thompson Prize
Trinity Marie Hamrick
Germaine K. Thompson established this award in 1985 as an expression of admiration for the excellent teaching of Martha Cottam. It is awarded to students for excellence in French.

Government
Pi Sigma Alpha
Diana Valerie Galbraith, Rishna Becerra Gracie, Catherine Anne Guzzi, Johanna Helene Paillet, Jennifer Lee Anne Rootes, Mary Elizabeth Taloff, Alexandra Catherine Widmann
Phi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society was founded in 1920 at the University of Texas for the purpose of bringing together students and faculty interested in the study of government and politics. Today there are over 600 chapters throughout the country. Mills College is home to the Phi Eta chapter.

Lawrence Shrader Prize
Hallee Nicole Berg
This award was established in 2007 for the outstanding senior thesis in government or international relations.

History
Anne Hummel Sherrill Scholarship
Anastasia Rose Ellis
This scholarship is awarded to the top student in history. The award is determined in the spring and applied toward senior year tuition.

Reynold M. Wik Prize
Stacey Ann Wickware
Established in 1998, this prize is awarded to the outstanding senior in history.

Phi Alpha Theta
Leah Rose Albin, Nichole Marie DaSilva, Katharine Rebecca Mack, Belinda Cherie Perez, Stacy Lee Roach, Raeanne Hazel Kho Young
Phi Alpha Theta is the national honor society for history. It is a professional society whose mission is to promote the study of history through the encouragements of research, good teaching, publication and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians. It seeks to bring students, teachers, and writers of history together for intellectual and social exchanges, which promote and assist historical research and publication by its members in a variety of ways.

Letters
Marie Naumann-Etienne Prize
Sarah Lynn Tannehill
This award recognizes the best senior in a letters class.

Mathematics
George Backus Brown Award
Tomoko Katayama
This award is given for outstanding scholastic achievement in mathematics.

Music
Elizabeth Mills Crothers Award (Composition)
Gudmundur Steinn Gunnarsson, Travis Christopher Johns, Aram Paul Shelton
Endowed in 1931 by Maria Elizabeth Mills in memory of her daughter, this is awarded for outstanding musical composition.

Maurthea Friedberger Cup
Shayna Esther Dunkelman
This award is given to the most outstanding senior music major.

Paul Merritt Henry Prize (Composition)
Jacob Klein Danziger, Alee Omar Karim, Elizabeth Hayden Meredith
This prize was established in 1928 by Aurelia Henry Reinhardt during her presidency at Mills as a memorial to her brother. It is awarded for excellence in the musical composition of stringed instruments.

Myrta Bennett Wieland Excellence in Voice Prize
Vanessa Rae Beggs, Akosua Asiedua Mireku
This prize is awarded to a student for excellence in vocal performance.

Frog Peak Collective Experimental Music Award
Ayako Katyaoka, Tana Lee Sprague
This award is given to graduate students who had completed an outstanding thesis on experimental music or who has contributed to the community of experimental music.

Margaret Lyon Music Student Prize
Shayna Esther Dunkelman, Pamela Lu-Anne Grove, Jennifer Harper, Ivor John Holloway, Erica Michelle Montoya, Saed Sabri Muhssin, Hillary Overberg, Emily A. Packard, Ellery Ofa Mitsu Royston
Established in 2004 in memory of Dr. Margaret Lyon, head of the music department for twenty-five years, by her family, friends and students. This award is given to outstanding music students.

Flora Boyd Piano Performance Prize
Samidheni Ravindra
This award is given for outstanding piano performance.

Donna Petersen Vocal Prize
Kathryn Analise Peck
This award is for excellence in vocal performance.

Sociology and Anthropology

Johanna Helene Paillet
This award is given to outstanding anthropology student of the year

Ruth Gillard Prize in Sociology
Katherine Thompson Bayle, Thea S. Chroman
Established in 1998, this prize is awarded to the outstanding students in sociology.

Spanish and Spanish American Studies
Certificado De Honor Prizes
Catherine Anne Guzzi, Wendy Velasquez, Chelsea Ross Wesnousky
This award is given to outstanding Spanish and Spanish American studies students.

Gabriela Mistral Prize
Emily Margo Ackerman, Carmen Lisol Velazquez
This award is for excellence in Hispanic letters.

Women's Studies
Essay Prize
Daisy Angelica Gonzales
This award is given to an undergraduate student with an outstanding non-fiction paper on issues of women and gender.

Zimmer Prize
Marian Marx
This is awarded annually to a senior women's studies major for outstanding scholarship and community service in women's studies.

Leadership and Service Awards

Outstanding Senior Award
Lauren Ranae Brown
This award was established to honor a graduating senior for her involvement in and contribution to the Mills and local community. Criteria are divided into four areas: scholarship, on-campus activities, off-campus activities, and special initiative.

Christine LaFia Award
Daisy Angelica Gonzales, Gema Patricia Ornelas
This award is given to a student for outstanding service to Mills College.

Palladium
Hiwot M. Berhe, Jamilah Khalihad Bradshaw, Lauren Ranae Brown, Natalie Kah-Yin Chu, Christine Elizabeth Fisher, Daisy Angelica Gonzales, Merri Elizabeth Gordon, Leah Marisa Herrera, Joyce Lee, Erin R. Lucas, Lijia Therese Michelle Lumsden, Jessica Mosqueda, Gema Patricia Ornelas, Cristina Marie Sogliuzzo, Alexi Oberth Ueltzen, Catalina Vazquez, Sarah Wong
Founded in 1930, this distinctive honor society recognizes juniors and seniors who combine academic excellence with service to Mills.

Peg Dean Award
Sarah Wong
Established by Alumna Edyth Chang to recognize an Asian American student for leadership on campus.

Helen Carroll Award
Cody Manning
Awarded to a faculty, staff or student for dedication to securing equal rights and combating discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Coleen Gragen Award
Daisy Angelica Gonzales
Created in honor of a Mills College Personal Defense Instructor, this award recognizes a Mills faculty, staff, or student who exemplifies Gragen's lifelong dedication to the advocacy of women.

Patrice Griffin Aquatics Award
Alexi Ueltzen and Jessica Embree
This prize was established in 1989 by Chris and Edy Hum for outstanding enthusiasm and support for aquatic programs in the department of athletics, physical education and recreation.

Ruth Masayko Award
Gina Rosabal
Created by the Mills Disability Alliance, this award recognizes a staff or faculty member who has shown a unique willingness to accommodate students with disability needs.

Shirley Weishaar Award
Lilian Gonzalez
Created in honor of a former Dean of Students, this award recognizes outstanding service to the Division of Student Life.

Mills of Color Awards
Mills of Color Awards recognize students, faculty or staff who are members of under-represented racial or ethnic groups. Each award reflects outstanding achievement or service in the category.

MOCA Freshwoman Leader of the Year: Kelsi Ju

MOCA Sophmore Leaders of the Year: Ixquel Sarin and Paige Gardener

MOCA Junior Leader of the Year: Daphina Marshall

MOCA Senior Leader of the Year: Leah Herrera

MOCA Graduate Leader of the Year: Charlene Harrison

MOCA Student Organization of the Year: Black Women's Collective

MOCA Outstanding Athlete: Blanche "Loke" Davis

MOCA Artist of the Year: Jamilah Bradshaw

MOCA for Community Service: Morning Star Gali

MOCA for Community Activism: Lauren Brown

MOCA Staff Member of the Year: Jean Wong

MOCA Faculty Member of the Year: Melinda Micco