Fisher Thesis Competition Winners Announced

Date: 10/26/06
Contact: Kathy Beal

The 2006 winners of the James L. Fisher Outstanding Thesis Award Competition at Illinois State University will be honored at an awards ceremony at noon on Friday, Dec. 1, in the Bone Student Center Old Main Room.

The overall University winner, whose thesis will be submitted to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) regional competition, is Lisa Beers representing the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her thesis is titled "Thioredoxin-Dependent Redox Metabolism In Schistosoma Mansoni: Do Multiple Cytosolic Thioredoxins Exist?"

The two runners-up in the Fisher competition are Leah Barr representing the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, whose thesis is "Factors of Emotional Expression and the Relations Between Expression Style and Depression and Anxiety," and Jennifer Witt representing the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, whose thesis is "Feminism Across Generations: Lyrics, Academia, and Feminist Youth Culture."

College award recipients are Christopher Miller from the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences in the College of Applied Science and Technology for "The USA Patriot Act of 2001: An Historical Examination of U.S. National Security Legislation and Actions (1798-2005)," Susan Woollen from the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations in the College of Education for "Developing a Departmental Success Model for First-Year Criminal Justice Sciences Majors," and Steven Wirth from the School of Art in the College of Fine Arts for "Phantasmagorical Realms."

All college winners receive $200 awards. The university runner-up receives an additional $100 and the overall university winner receives an additional $200 plus $200 as Illinois State's submission to the MAGS regional competition.

The award is named in honor of alumnus and former Illinois State University administrator James Fisher, who is president emeritus of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He also is president emeritus of Towson State University in Maryland and currently is a consultant on higher education and a professor of Leadership and Philanthropic Studies at the Union Institute.