The Alan Dawley Center for the Study of Social Justice will award an annual prize for the best essay, film, work of art, or other creative project that addresses a social justice issue, from any disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective, produced by a TCNJ undergraduate in the current academic year. The prize honors the life and work of TCNJ Professor of History Alan Dawley whose scholarship addressed historical and contemporary issues of social justice as a complex dialogue of many voices both in the American context and globally.
Social justice encompasses a wide range of topics and issues that address the notions of social equality, the fair distribution of social and economic benefits and burdens, the exercise of personal liberties and the protection of human rights. There are different philosophical and religious interpretations of social justice, and social justice issues can be looked at through a variety of different lenses, including class, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and the intersection of these aspects of identity. Social justice issues can also be studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and can often be seen as related to issues of public policy, economics, social relations, and various environmental concerns.
Submissions for the 2022 Award
Submissions of essays or other creative works for the Alan Dawley Prize will be due April 28, 2022. To submit your project, please (i) fill out this submission form; (ii) email your project to maratea@tcnj.edu with “Alan Dawley Prize submission” in the subject of your email; (iii) if you have a faculty member who can endorse your submission, please send your name and project title to the faculty who will need the information to fill out the faculty endorsement form (we will send the form to the faculty upon receipt of your submission). If you are submitting a group project, please click here for additional instructions.
A multi-disciplinary faculty Alan Dawley Prize Committee will select the best project(s). The 2021 awardee(s) will be announced at commencement, and the winner(s) of the Alan Dawley Prize will receive a certificate, a cash prize of $1000, and recognition on a plaque displayed on campus.
For further information on the Alan Dawley Prize, please contact: Dr. McGreevey mcgreeve@tcnj.edu.
Past Winners
2022: Nicholas Textores and his team for their project “I AM…”#notyourstereotype TCNJ AAPI Photo Exhibit”.
2022: Joshua Riker for his research on Hershey Unwrapped: Central Hershey, Cuba and the Politics of Myth Making in the Hershey Company, 1916-2022
2021: Carlos Delcid – “The Unrecognized Worker: Temp Industry in Trenton NJ”
2021: David McMillan – “Collective Responsibility and Global Poverty”
2020: Zachary Kozak – “Racism within the Construction of John Fitch Way”
2019: Alexandra Mallinas – Toxic Towns: A Case Study Analysis of Environmental Racism in Urban Communities
2017: Courtney Kalsfsky – “Authenticity and Witnessing in Postmemorial Holocaust Literature,”
2016: Tyler Holzer – “Consequences and Solutions for Trenton Structural Unemployment”
2015: Nick Lauda
2015: Shannon Kane – “Ain’t No Harm to Keep Your Mind Stayed on Freedom: Black Resistance in Trenton 1962-1965”
2014: Steven Thompson – “ ‘A Very Grim Affair from All Perspectives’: The Dakota War and Mankato Executions”
2013: Meghan Mistretta – “Post-Memory and Maternal Abandonment in Second Generation Holocaust Narratives”
2012: Rebecca L. Stefaniak – “Applying Girls’ Rules to a Girl’s Fight: The Impact of Second-Wave Feminism on Rape Law Reform”
2011: Jillian Hernandez – “The Unjustness of Modern Wars: Just War Theory and the Lack of Just Cause
2010: Natalie Serra – “Women in Nicaragua: Dentro y Fuera de Política”