KU News Release

KU art history department announces annual awards

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LAWRENCE — The Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas announced its awards for excellence for the 2007-08 academic year during the 33rd annual Amsden Awards Ceremony on May 2.

Terry L. Oldham, director of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Mo., was the guest speaker at the ceremony in the Spencer Museum of Art. KU Endowment administers funds for the awards, which were presented by art history faculty members to outstanding students.

Brittany Lockard, Lawrence doctoral student; Jolee Stephens, Overland Park doctoral student; and Alison Miller, Lawrence master’s degree student, each received a Marilyn Stokstad Award. The award recognizes graduate students in art history who have made major contributions to the education mission of the department. The awards, which provide cash, are made possible by Marilyn Stokstad, distinguished professor emerita of art history, who established an endowed fund.

Margaret Hester, a fall 2007 bachelor’s degree graduate from Springfield, Mo., received the Marilyn J. Stokstad Spencer Museum of Art Student Award. Also created by Stokstad, this cash award honors undergraduate or graduate students who have made major contributions to the mission of the Spencer Museum of Art. Museum staff select the the recipient of this annual award.

Sangnam Lee, doctoral student from Chunan City, South Korea, received this year’s Art History Associates Award, a cash award given to recognize graduate students in art history who have made major contributions to the educational mission of the department.

Shuli Han, doctoral student from Xi’an Shaanxi, China, received the Laurence Sickman Scholarship. The scholarship was established in honor of Laurence Sickman, past curator of Chinese art and director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, to recognize an outstanding student specializing in Chinese art. The scholarship goes toward tuition.

Shu-yun Ho, doctoral student from Keelung, Taiwan, received the Scholarship for Academic Excellence in Asian Art History, a cash award given annually by an anonymous donor.

Ellen O’Neil Rife, Lawrence doctoral student, won the 2008 Timothy Mitchell Memorial Art History Award for Academic Excellence. This annual cash award was established in honor of Tim Mitchell, who taught art history at KU from 1979 until his death in 1993. The award recognizes outstanding academic excellence in the graduate program.

Cara Jaffee, Chesterfield, Mo., senior, received the spring 2008 Eglinski Scholarship for Study Abroad, named for Edmund Eglinski, professor emeritus of art history. This award goes to tuition for undergraduates studying art history in Europe.

Valerie Smith, Lenexa senior, received the Jeanne Stump Senior Award, which provides cash and two books for the outstanding graduating senior in art history in honor of Jeanne Stump, professor emerita of art history.

The Amsden Book Awards were established in 1976 by the late Floyd and Barbara Amsden of Wichita. Faculty members and graduate teaching assistants selected winners based on classroom excellence regardless of class level or major. More than 45 students received books on subjects in which they excelled. Art history faculty members presented the awards.

KU Endowment is the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

Award recipients are listed below by hometown, major, level in school or degree received and, when available, parents’ names and previous schools attended.

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