Education & Society MA Thesis Prize

2025 Education & Society MA Thesis Prize

The University of Chicago Committee on Education (COE) is pleased to announce the 2025 Education & Society MA Thesis Prize for the best MA thesis that investigates education-related issues using the tools of the social sciences. The prize is awarded to an MA thesis that exemplifies the highest qualities of originality, disciplinary rigor, and which contributes most significantly to advancing knowledge relevant to education. 

Any student writing an MA thesis related to education is eligible for nomination. There are two rounds of competition for this year’s prize — one for June graduates and one for August graduates.

 

How to Apply

To be considered for the prize, student papers must be nominated by their advisor. To nominate a student’s paper, advisors should fill out this nomination form and attach a letter of support. Instructors may only nominate one student paper per prize cycle (i.e. one June grad and one August grad).

 

Dates and Deadlines 

Friday, May 9, 5:00 PM CDT: Deadline for advisors to submit a nomination for June graduates 
Friday, August 15, 5:00 PM CDT: Deadline for advisors to submit a nomination for August graduates 

    The winners will receive a prize and the June winner will be recognized at the Committee on Education End of Year Celebration. For more information on this opportunity, please contact: Lisa Rosen, Associate Senior Instructional Professor, Director of Instructional Programs, Committee on Education, at rosen@uchicago.edu.

     

     2025 Winners 

    Ruilin (Alice) Huang
    (Winner)


    “Privileged, Disadvantaged, or Both? Comparing the Experiences of First-Generation and Continuing-Generation Chinese International Students at Elite US Colleges”

    Watson Lubin
    (Honorable Mention)


    “Teaching Beyond the Screen: How Do Teachers Combat Online Misogyny”

     Kit Antonelli
    (Honorable Mention)
    “Fractious Children”: The Incarceration and Assimilation of Native, Black, and White Ethnic Youth at the Carlisle
    Indian Industrial School and the Pennsylvania Reform School (Morganza),1872-1918