The results of the 2018-2019 James L. Fisher Outstanding Thesis Award Competition have been announced by John Baur, associate vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at Illinois State University.

Overall University Winner:
Erin Barr of Buffalo, New York, with the thesis “Fortune Will Favour the Brave: Irish Women Come to America, 1845-1870” in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of History.

University Runner-Up:
Dylan Poorboy of Hayden, Idaho, with the thesis “Effects of Territory Quality on Reproductive Allocation in Female House Wrens” in the College of Arts and Sciences’ School of Biological Sciences.

College Winners:
Benjamin Lynn of Mahomet, Illinois, with the thesis “Communication in Live Sports Broadcasts: Attributions of Task Performance Errors” in the College of Arts and Sciences’ School of Communication.

Derek Hevel of Orland Park, Illinois, with the thesis “Testing the Effects of Message Framing on Physical Activity Motivation in Active and Non-Active Adults” in the College of Applied Science and Technology’s School of Kinesiology and Recreation.

The awards ceremony will be held on Monday, April 8, 2019.

All college winners will receive $200 awards. The university runner-up receives an additional $100 award, while the overall university winner receives an additional $200 award plus $200 as the Illinois State University submission to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) regional competition.