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Graduate Awards

The History Department is proud to sponsor and distribute awards to outstanding graduate students. Below is a description of these awards, their most recent recipients, and an archive of past winners.

Rosemary Moore O'hara award

Rosemary Moore O'Hara was a teacher and historian of American constitutional history. She started a PhD at the University of Minnesota and co-authored a monograph with Herbert McClosky and Paul Hoffman that examined the disparity between the attitudes of party leaders and followers. She taught social studies for two years at Lakeland High School and for twenty-one years at King High School in Tampa. She was responsible for initiating and teaching the Advanced Placement American History courses in Hillsborough County high schools and was most proud of the fact that several of her students later obtained advanced degrees in history. The Rosemary Moore O'Hara Award is presented annually to honor undergraduate students majoring in History and graduate students in the History Department on the Tampa campus.

Application form can be found here. Deadline, October 3rd, 2025.

 

Harry Newman and Julian Newman Award

Dr. Julian Newman has been a longtime friend and supporter of the University of South Florida. He graduated from New York University in 1954 and in 1958 received a Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Tampa in 1959, and began his career as an Optometrist. Ever since he was a student, Dr. Newman has been committed to improving the life of unrepresented and disadvantaged groups. In 1953, while at Penn, he advocated for racial integration of fraternities; in 1959, he was the first optometrist to open an integrated waiting room in Tampa; and in 1972 he was one of ten members in the biracial committee approved by the Federal District Court, in charge to desegregate the Hillsborough County Schools. In spite of a demanding medical career, in the 1960s, Dr. Newman began auditing courses in the English Department at USF, and discovered that he derived a great deal of his own intellectual energy from the classroom. In 2018 he began supporting the History Department with a generous gift. The Newman Endowment Growth Fund will support the research of PhD students studying American history and the history of social change and equality.

, formerly known as Julian Newman Graduate Student Award, is designed to support a full-time History department graduate student. The award was initially created for a student who plans to conduct research in the field of social change and/or equality, and who intends to use their education to effect social change, in 2017 it was renamed and redesigned to support the winner鈥檚 doctoral dissertation research. Eligibility is restricted to students in the History Ph.D. program who have completed their comprehensive exams and who are specializing in American history.

Application form can be found here. Deadline, January 16, 2026.

 

Harry and Julian Newman, Eula and Joe Brown Black History Award

This gift will support graduate student (M.A. or Ph.D.) research and scholarships in any area of Black History, including but not limited to African American history and the history of the global African diaspora in any period. Additional criteria; full or part-time graduate students pursuing a History major, in the College of Arts & Sciences. This scholarship should be awarded 2 semesters and is based on merit with a preference for financial need.

Application form can be found here: Deadline, January 16, 2026.

 

The Jo Ann and Louis Cimino Research Award

This award is the result of a generous gift by Jo Ann Haskins Cimino (1930-1998), a native Tampan and descendent of a Fort Brooke pioneer family, who studied History at USF and researching and writing about Ybor City and the history of Tampa. With her late husband, Lou Cimino, a pediatric cardiologist, she raised eight children. 

The award covers expenses for 鈥渞esearch in American history, broadly conceived鈥� with a preference, if possible, for those studying Ybor ethnic clubs. The funded research may address any aspect of U.S. history, including domestic or foreign policy, cultural developments, gender/ethnicity/sexual orientation, or any other subject that would fit under this heading. Because this grant is designed to facilitate research and travel within the United States, students researching topics outside the United States should apply to the Stryker Award, listed below.

Awards of up to $2500 per applicant are available to full-time M.A. or Ph.D. students in the program, and an application form, with detailed description, is attached and will be available on the History Department website.

Application form can be found here: Deadline, April 10, 2026

 

The Charlie Stryker Research Award 

This award is the result of a generous gift by Laurey Styker, former chancellor of USF-Sarasota-Manatee, in honor of her late husband, Charlie (1940-2025).  Charlie studied International Relations and U.S. History at FSU, but his first career was in advertising, working for major corporations including Xerox and Apple. After a 30-year corporate career, Charlie returned to the classroom and received an MA in History from USF.  He spent 15 years teaching U.S. history at HCC and USFSM. 

The funded research may address any aspect of non-U.S. history, i.e., the history of any country or region outside the United States. Because this grant is designed to facilitate research and travel outside the U.S., students researching topics within the U.S. should apply to the Cimino Award, listed above.

Awards of up to $5000 per applicant are available to full-time M.A. or Ph.D. students in the program, and an application form, with detailed description, is attached and will be available on the departmental website.

Application can be found here: Deadline, April 10, 2026.