Ļć½¶Ö±²„graduate wins 2018 best dissertation award in Southern history
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.āA recent Mississippi State doctoral graduate is receiving the 2018 C. Vann Woodward Dissertation Prize from theĀ Southern Historical Association.Ģż
Jason Hauser, a 2017 graduate and current editor for MSUās Research and Curriculum Unit, will be recognized with a $3,000 prize at the SHA annual meeting in Birmingham next month for having the best dissertation in Southern history. Previous Woodward winners come from Yale, Johns Hopkins, theĀ University of North Carolina, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Northwestern. Ā Ā
Hauserās work, āBy Degree: A History of Heat in the Subtropical American South,ā examines heat as a social construct, tracing the ways in which the Southās climate served as both a material and ideological force. He argues that perceptions of heat and climate were as important as the reality and were intimately linked with the political, economic and social history of the South, from the Ice Age to the recent past.
āThe way that Hauser conceived of his dissertation ā a study of Southern heat ā demonstrates Hauserās mind and versatility,ā said Alan Marcus, head of MSUās Department of History. āHe studied ideas of Southern heat and their application to climate, environmental and racial sciences, as well as literature, culture and social organization. It was so finely done that the committee awarded him ādistinctionā when he defended the project several months ago.ā
āI came to Ļć½¶Ö±²„because this is the only university in the nation that has a specialization in Southern environmental history, and clearly, the climate has hadāand continues to haveāa huge impact on the South,ā Hauser said. āI decided to write a history of heat because the students who I taught during my doctoral work found it interesting.ā
Hauser called his award a āwin for Mississippi Stateās history department.ā
āWe have some of the most supportive and hardest-working faculty in the nation. Professors at Ļć½¶Ö±²„really invest in their students, and winning this award is a result of their efforts as much as mine,ā Hauser said. āJim Giesen, my primary adviser, is the single most important influence in my academic life. Heās a tireless champion of his students; I donāt know of any mentor who is so generous with his time.ā
Hauser said his Ph.D. committee was comprised of āsome of the top minds in their fields.ā
According to the SHA prize committee, Hauserās thesis is āan ambitious and novel dissertation, grand in scope and interdisciplinary in methodology.ā
Established in 2000, the Woodward Award is given annually to recognize the best dissertation in Southern history defended in the previous calendar year. The $3,000 stipend is made possible from a donation by Comer Vann Woodward, who won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1982 and is regarded as an influential historian.
Organized in 1934, the SHA seeks an āinvestigative rather than a memorial approachā to Southern history and mandates a promotion in interest and research in Southern history, the collection and preservation of the Southās historical records, and the encouragement of state and local historical societies in the South.
Hauser joined the universityās Research and Curriculum Unit in July. He earned a bachelorās in 2009 and a masterās in 2012, both in history, from Appalachian State University before earning his 2017 Ph.D. in American history from MSU. Ā He spent six years teaching in MSUās history department and also served as a researcher for the department and the Calhoun National Forestās Critical Zone Observatory.
MSUās College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,300 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments.ĢżComplete details about the College of Arts and Sciences and the history department may be found atĀ or .Ģż
Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiās leading university, available online atĀ .Ģż