The Department of History is proud to announce that one of our undergraduate students, Emily Adams, was recently named the winner of the 2019 John Fraser Ramsey Award! The award, one of The University of Alabama’s Premier Awards, is given in the memory of long-time history professor John F. Ramsey and honors students who embody the goals of a liberal education. Awardees receive a $7,000 cash prize and a trip to Europe, with an itinerary designed by the student to reflect their own idea of a Great Ideas Tour, modeled after Dr. Ramsey’s popular Great Ideas of Western Civilization course.

Adams is a junior who is double majoring in History and International Studies with a minor in Social Innovation and Leadership through the University Fellows program. She serves as counselor to the Chief Justice on the SGA Judicial Board and is an Honors Ambassador. She has been involved in multiple research projects in the History Department, including a comparative study of Alexander the Great and an analysis of the ways in which other nations have dealt with controversial monuments in the public sphere. Currently, Adams is researching how US intrusions into Cold-War Cuba’s state sovereignty have affected relations among the US, Cuba, and Russia. She recently visited Cuba with the University Fellows Experience, which takes juniors to Havana and Viñales as part of their program. She is interested in issues of American involvement in other country’s foreign policies. For her Great Ideas Tour, Emily plans to go tour Greece and Italy and perhaps England and Scotland.

Emily’s father works for Homeland Security, which is where her interest in government work began. After graduation, she expects to continue her research and pursue a dual degree in law and global policy or security studies. She believes that her travel will make her a “more culturally competent person” and prepare her for an eventual career in government work. Adams says that the Department of History has been her “home away from home” and that the “professors in the department have been so supportive.” During her time in history, she “learned to be a good researcher” and “to think about hot button issues in really interesting and critical ways.” She says that she is “really lucky to be studying something that I’m extremely interested in” and “it doesn’t feel like work to me!”

We are very proud of all that Emily has accomplished so far, and we hope she enjoys her trip and we can’t wait to see what lies in her future! Congratulations, Emily!