Merle Fainsod Prize

We offer the Merle Fainsod Prize to encourage students with a research interest in Russian or Eurasian studies to accept admission at Harvard. It is a one-time cash award of $2000 over and above any financial aid offer. Departmental admissions committees nominate candidates for the prize.

Four Fainsod Prizes were awarded to incoming students for fall 2007. Their names, departments, and research interests appear below.

• Oliver Bevan
PhD candidate, (Government)
Political economy of post-communism and questions of justice with regard to post-communist reforms
email Oliver

• Debra Caplan (Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations)
Yiddish art theatre in the 1920s and 1930s; Jewish literature and culture throughout Eastern Europe
email Debra

• Devon Dear (Inner Asian & Altaic Studies)
Early modern Central Asian history, particularly Qing Xinjiang; Central Asian intellectual history; metropole-periphery relations
email Devon

• Natalie Koch (REECA)
Migration law and issues of forced migration in European post-communist space.
email Natalie