Humanities Student Spotlight:

Graduate Students Selected for Riley, Chu Scholarships

Through the generous support of G. Micheal Riley, and Gordon P. K. Chu and his family, five Humanities graduate students have received scholarships of $1000 each that will support their travel abroad this year. The recipients of the Riley scholarship are Yigit Akin (Ph.D. student, history), Alana Kumbier (Ph.D. student, comparative studies), and Kate Oestreich (Ph.D. student, English). The Chu scholarship was awarded to Annelieke Dirks (Ph.D. student, history) and Raili Roy (Ph.D. student, women's studies). All of these students will be conducting research and/or presenting conference papers at various international locations: the Netherlands, Turkey, Great Britain, India, and Sweden.

Yigit Akin is currently writing a dissertation about the Ottoman experience of World War I, especially the home-front experiences of the residents of the Ottoman capital, Istanbul. The Riley scholarship will enable him to travel to Istanbul to conduct archival research that is crucial for the completion of his study. With her Riley award, Alana Kumbier will travel to Sweden to present a portion of her dissertation on the "haunting" effects of archives -- for instance, the idea that the physical materials found in archives cannot fully convey the psychological consequences of a traumatic experience -- at an interdisciplinary conference that addresses the intersections of history and memory. The Riley scholarship awarded to Kate Oestreich will do double, even triple duty since it will support her travel to Great Britain to present papers at two conferences and also explore the archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) for material that will enable her to advance the argument of her dissertation, "Female Chastity: British Marriage Plots and the Tailoring of Desire, 1790-1930."

Both recipients of the Chu Memorial Scholarship will use their awards to gather information for their dissertations. Raili Roy is collecting data in Kolkata, India, for a dissertation on the effectiveness of non-governmental organizations that are helping survivors of sex and labor trafficking in India. For her dissertation, Annelieke Dirks is investigating Dutch ideas about colonial citizenship in Indonesia. She will be working this summer in the colonial archives in the Netherlands. "I always look forward," she says, "to working in the archives because it is so exciting to work with original sources and get as close to historical topics as I can."

The Riley International Academic Fund was established by Micheal Riley, Professor Emeritus of History and former Dean of the College (1983-93), to support graduate students who need to travel abroad for professional reasons. The Gordon P. K. Chu Memorial Scholarship supports graduate students, with preference given to international students, who are participating in a study abroad project. Dr. Chu, who came to the U.S. in 1947 as a graduate student, was a specialist in high temperature materials, ceramics, and metallurgy. As part of his work, he traveled and lectured widely around the world. For five decades, one of his cherished "hobbies" was advising, supporting, and helping international students succeed in the U.S. His scholarship fund continues this important "hobby."