April 13, 2017
Education students receive outstanding student research awards
Joyner Library Director Jan Lewis, Zachary Dale, Jeanann Woolard, and Arthur Carlson
College of Education students Jeanann Woodard and Zachary Dale have been awarded prizes by Joyner Library for outstanding student research.
The eighth annual Rhem/Schwarzmann Prize for student research winners were announced at an April 5 ceremony in Joyner’s Special Collections Reading Room.
Established by the late Ann Schwarzmann to honor William and Emily Rhem and Theodore and Ann Schwarzmann, the Rhem/Schwarzmann Prize recognizes outstanding research papers written by sophomores, juniors and seniors at East Carolina University.
Eligibility criteria required students to use the library’s special collections, which houses manuscripts, rare books, university archives and the North Carolina collection, as a primary source for their research.
Woodard, a senior in the history education program in the Department of Literacy Studies, English Education and History Education, won first place and $750 for “Planning and Patronizing: Urban Renewal and Race Relations in Greenville, N.C. in the 1960s.”
“I particularly enjoyed using the special collections because it allowed me to travel back in time and connect with people I may never have a chance to meet,” said Woodard, a history education major. “While reviewing documents and images, I got the closest thing to a firsthand look at Greenville in the 1960s. The primary sources in the special collection allowed me to better connect to the residents who lost their homes for urban renewal and Sycamore Hill Missionary Baptist Church members, while also exploring the perspective of the city council and the redevelopment commission.
“Ultimately, the special collections provided me with the evidence needed to construct an argument for the thesis of my research paper,” Woodard continued.
Dale, also a senior and history education major, won second place and $500 for “Queer History: LGBT Activism at East Carolina University.”
“The papers written by this year’s Rhem/Schwarzmann Prize winners enrich our knowledge of university, community and regional history,” said Joyner Library director Jan Lewis. “Their papers illustrate how primary sources in Joyner Library’s Special Collections can be used to research recent events as well as those occurring more than 150 years ago.”
Papers could be in any field of study but had to be at least 10 pages or 2,500 words in length, and submitted by Feb. 17. Entries were judged on originality, quality of research, style, documentation and overall excellence by a panel comprised of faculty members from the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and Joyner Library.
Andrew Turner, a junior in the Department of History in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, placed third and received a $250 prize for “The Battle of New Bern: Trial by Fire.”
Arthur Carlson, Joyner’s university archivist, said this year’s contest featured a record number of qualified entries.
The awards are made possible by the Friends of Joyner Library and the generosity of Ann Schwarzmann.