Department of English

The Diane Hunter Dissertation Prize is awarded annually for the best dissertation submitted for a Ph.D. in English during the last calendar year.

This prize is made possible by the generosity of friends of Diane Hunter. Diane entered the English Ph.D. program in 1986 at the age of 54, after serving as an administrator in the Baldwin School for Girls in Bryn Mawr, PA for several years. She studied 18th- and early-19th-century British Literature, under the advisement of Professor Paul Korshin.

In 1990, Diane took over as Interim Director of the Freshman English program. Her students described her as an energetic, fun, and caring teacher who inspired them. Her professors said she brought maturity, experience and freshness to the English department, both as a teacher and a scholar.

On February 15, 1991, Diane passed away after a short bout with cancer. The Diane Hunter Prize is awarded in her honor to the dissertation that best exemplifies the kind of scholarly rigor and originality for which we remember Diane herself.

Dissertations must be nominated by the Dissertation Supervisor to be eligible, and two letters of support should be sent to the Graduate Chair. Two members of the faculty serving as judges will review the two letters of nomination, a dissertation abstract and table of contents, and one representative chapter of the dissertation, to be chosen by the author.

Submissions are judged during the summer term and the winner is announced at the English Department's annual Collation event in September. A cash prize is included.

Read more about Diane's life and work here.