This past year was a truly exceptional year for the Department, and there have been many successes and accomplishments.   

First, as many of you know, Eleanor Kaufman was awarded the prestigious
Mellon New Directions Fellowship. Please join me in congratulating her
on this most impressive achievement. 

I am also delighted to report that, in spite of the dearth of academic
positions this past year, our students did extremely well on the job
market.  Several received tenure-track and adjunct positions as well as
postdoctoral positions.  These include: 

Tenure-track Positions

Ryan Kernan (Rutgers)

David Gabriel (Yale)

Julie Townsend (Univ of Redlands)

Brian Martin (Williams)

 

Postdocs

David Fieni (Cornell)

Jeannine Murray-Roman (Mellon)

 

Adjunct Positions

Carole Viers (Tulane)

Joe Jenkins (UCI)

Jennifer Gully (Claremont)

Indra Mukhopadhyay (USC)
 

I congratulate all of them in their successes and again express my
gratitude to Efrain Kristal, Nouri Gana, and Kirsite McClure for their
consummate mentorship as members of the Placement Committee.  

Finally, I should note that many other students received prestigious
grants and fellowships this year. Please join me in congratulating them
all on these wonderful awards: 

Mangasar M. Mangasarian Fellowship
Tamar Boyadjian
 
Will Rogers Memorial Fellowship
Theri Pickens

Dissertation Year Fellowship
Guilan Siassi
Rachelle Okawa

Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Grant
Theri Pickens

Graduate Research Mentorship
Hoda El Shakry
Duncan Yoon

Graduate Summer Research Mentorship
Nasia Anam
Zen Dochterman
Leah Feldman
Inkoo Kang
Michelle Lee

Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) Award
Tamar Boyadjian

FLAS - Portuguese
Inkoo Kang

Lenart Travel Award
Shad Naved

International Institute Fellowship
Nahrain Al-Mousawi

Middle East FLAS - Summer
Michelle Lee

UCLA/Mellon Program in Holocaust in American and World Culture Research Fellowships

 Simchi Cohen

Noa Bar

Kirk Sides

Philip and Aida Siff Education Foundation Scholarship

 Simchi Cohen

UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Interdisciplinary Grant

Katherine McLoone

Best,

Ali Behdad, Department Chair