The CLAS Dissertation Writing Fellowship is awarded annually to 10 graduate students, providing time and funding for the completion of a PhD dissertation. The fellowship provides a total of $14,000 to each student. Dominic Dongilli’s thesis “Interspecies America: Animal Lives and Reproductive Politics at the Smithsonian National Zoo” examines encounters between human and nonhuman animals at the Smithsonian National Zoo, arguing that zoos mediate U.S. identities, cultures, and environmental futures in which humans and nonhuman bodies interact.

Stephen Warren, professor of history and American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), received the Distinguished Achievement in Publicly Engaged Research Award. The award recognizes an individual faculty member who has put addressing public needs and direct engagement with the public, in the service of improving quality of life through research, at the forefront of his or her academic activities.

Dominic Dongilli, graduate student in American Studies, discusses the history of Easter Monday at the Smithsonian National Zoo and how it became a tradition for Black families in Washington, D.C.