UCPS Gives First Undergraduate Essay Prize
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Aaron Cordova, Junior, Computer Science student is the recipient of the first Hossein Amirsaleh Student Award in Persian Studies. The award, established in 2006 at the University of Maryland’s College of Arts and Humanities is in the name of a pioneer Iranian-American philanthropist; it consists of a citation and a monetary prize, and is given annually to an outstanding essay written by a UMCP undergraduate student for a regular undergraduate course offered at the UMCP |
To be eligible, the essay must be in English and be nominated by the instructor to whom it was submitted in partial fulfillment of a regular course’s requirements. It should also relate, wholly or in substantial part, to Persian Studies broadly defined, inclusive of topics in Persian language and literature, and humanistic or social science studies directed at the modern countries of Iran, Afghanistan, and Persian-Speaking Central Asia, as well as Iranian and Persian-speaking diaspora communities.
Aaron wrote his essay for PERS 441 – Islam in Iran, taught in spring 2006 by Professor Ahmad Kazemi-Moussavi. Titled “Infallibility and Islamic Authority,” Aaron’s paper was evaluated overall as the best among a total of eight papers nominated for the award over three semesters. A committee of faculty members at the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures assessed Aaron’s paper as “well-researched,” “coherent,” and “informative,” and judged the author as “quite familiar wit the topic” and “advancing a sustained line of argument.” Honorable mention went to a paper titled “The Metamorphosis of Women and Love in Modern Iran: A Textual Analysis.” The author, Sara McFann, Junior Linguistic Major, submitted her paper to Professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak in May 2007 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for PERS 353, Iranian Life in Literature. More information on CPS’s Awards and Scholarships can be found at:
http://www.languages.umd.edu/persian/Academic_Philantrophy.php
