Brianna Trafton won this year’s Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs’ (PPPA) annual award for the best Capstone paper, a paper written for Prof. Charles Williams’ Capstone on The Great Depression. The paper (“The New Deal Watershed—for Watersheds:
Franklin D. Roosevelt, New Conservation, and the Legacy of an Environmental President”) argues that FDR’s growing awareness of environmental challenges shaped both his New Deal policies and our nation’s subsequent environmental policies. “Brianna did a great job connecting the personal and ideational roots of FDR’s New Deal policies, and uncovering his lesser-known legacy on environmental issues,” said Prof. Etga Ugur, one of three PPPA faculty members who judged papers nominated for this award. In total, faculty nominated six students for PPPA’s annual award.
All three faculty judges remarked on the outstanding quality of the students’ work. “These were among the best student papers I’ve seen in my 16 years at UWT,” commented Prof Katie Baird. “We thought a number of them should be published almost as is.”
The other five nominated papers included three from Prof. Ugur’s Capstone class on Democratization and Political Development in the Middle East: Brian Juneman wrote “Iran’s Green Thumb: Why the Growing Reform Movement is
Slow to Bear Fruit”; Brittany Hale (the winner of the PPPA paper prize two years ago) wrote “International Creations: The Case of Iraq, Syria, and Jordan”; and Joshua Va
zquez was the author of “The Syrian Identity Crisis: Explaining the Resilience of Assad’s Ruling Bargain”. Prof. Eric Bugyis nominated two papers from his Capstone on Christianity and Radical Politics. Ian Clogston wrote a paper entitled “Virtue, Terror, and Republicanism during the French Revolution,” and Austin Reddy wrote “Sacramental Theology as Immanent Science: The Subversive Heart of Catholicism.” “All of these papers were excellent,” remarked Prof. Ben Meiches, “Picking a top paper was particularly difficult because a strong case could be made for each of them.”
A brief award ceremony, followed by Brianna’s presentation of her paper, will take place Monday May 23rd from 12:30 to 1:30 in the Dawn Lucien Boardroom (GWP 320). All are welcome, and pizza will be served. All past PPPA paper prize-winning papers can be found in UWT’s Digital Commons.