Andrew Specht, a Ph.D. student in the philosophy department in The College of Arts and Sciences, was presented with the Mary Hatch Marshall Essay Award during a Syracuse University Library event on April 25. Specht’s winning essay is titled “Rethinking the Neglected Alternative.” He is a native of Evanston, Ill.
To honor and help perpetuate Mary Hatch Marshall’s scholarly standards and generous spirit, Library Associates established this annual award in 2004 for the best essay written by a graduate student in the humanities. Members of Library Associates, Marshall’s friends and family, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Central New York Community Foundation all contributed to the endowment that has funded this annual award.
Full- and part-time students from African American studies; English; fine arts; languages, literatures and linguistics; Latino-Latin American studies; religion; philosophy; the writing program; and the women’s and gender studies program are eligible for the $500 award. Nominations are coordinated by the respective department and program chairs. Faculty members who served on the selection committee this year were Gerry Greenberg (chair), Dympna Callaghan, Jeff Carnes, John Robertson and Steve Park.
Born in 1903, Marshall graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College, received a Ph.D. from Yale University and was later named a Guggenheim Fellow. She joined the SU faculty in 1948 and became the first woman to achieve the rank of full professor in the College of Liberal Arts. During her tenure, Marshall held the Jesse Truesdell Peck Chair in English literature; helped to establish the Honors Program, serving as its first director; and was among the founding members of Library Associates. After retiring from full-time teaching with emeritus status, Marshall continued to offer courses through the Humanistic Studies Center at University College until 1993. Among the awards and honors she received were the Post-Standard Award for Distinguished Service to the Syracuse University Library, a Chancellor’s Citation and an Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.
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