Winners of Fisher Thesis Award Announced

Rodney Custer, associate vice president for Graduate Studies, Research, and International Education at Illinois State University, has announced the winners of the 2009-10 James L. Fisher Outstanding Thesis Award Competition. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Monday, Nov. 30, at noon in the Bone Student Center Old Main Room.

Neal Ryan Shaw of Rantoul, representing the College of Fine Arts and Theatre, was the overall university winner with the thesis, "The Boy Who Watched TV: Multimedia and the Media in the Solo Performance of Dan Kwong." Shaw's thesis will be submitted to the regional Distinguished Masters' Thesis Award Competition sponsored by the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools.

The runner-up is Alicia Mullarkey of Bennington, Neb., representing the College of Arts and Sciences, Biological Sciences.  Her thesis is titled "Inbreeding Depression and Partitioning of Genetic Load in the Invasive Biennial, Alliaria Petiolata (Garlic Mustard)." 

Winners from each college were Stephanie Moore of Liberty, Mo., College of Applied Science and Technology, Kinesiology and Recreation, for "A Randomized, Controlled Study of the Acute Effects of Muscle Energy Techniques on Posterior Shoulder Tightness;" Andrea Silva of Torrence, Calif., College of Arts and Sciences, Politics and Government, for "The Rise of a Neoliberal Immigration Paradigm;" and Kari Husby of Seattle, Wash., College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English, for "Peritextual Power in Adolescent Literature."     

All college winners will be presented with $200 awards.  The university runner-up receives an additional $100 award, while the overall university winner receives an additional $200 award plus $200 as the Illinois State University submission to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) regional competition.