Following in the footsteps of a renowned researcher

Three students received Donald T. Campbell Research Prizes this year for excellence in social science research.

Erica Dollhopf, who is pursuing an M.A. in American Studies, won the $500 graduate award for a study titled “A Mighty Ballot: Patterns of Voting Discussion in Christian Publications During Presidential Elections, 1960-2008.” Dollhopf investigated the political engagement of Christian organizations in U.S. presidential elections as reflected in the election coverage of three major Christian periodicals.

Two seniors shared the $500 undergraduate award for their honors theses. Stephen Buryk, a joint major in international relations and modern languages and literature with a concentration in Russian, won for his paper, “Russia's Natural Gas: The Strategy and the State Behind It.” Kirsten Muser, a psychology major, won for her paper, “Representational Gestures Reflect Conceptualization in Problem Solving,” which examined the role of gestures in conveying information.

“We were pleased by the wide range of papers we received this year,” said Kathy Olson, associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication and chair of the Campbell Prize Committee. Submissions came from students conducting research in history, sociology, anthropology, political science, international relations, psychology, economics, journalism and communication.

Donald Campbell was university professor of social relations, psychology, and education at Lehigh until his retirement in 1994. He was the author of more than 200 articles in fields ranging from social psychology to philosophy. He served as president of the American Psychological Association. Seventeen books have been dedicated to him by colleagues.

The Campbell Prize was created in his memory and is awarded to social science papers of high quality, methodological originality, and societal significance.

The 2010 Campbell Prizes were sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Cognitive Science program, the Globalization and Social Change Initiative, the Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise, and the departments of economics, history, international relations, journalism and communication, political science, psychology, and sociology and anthropology.