Call for Presidents Dissertation Award 2026

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Dear Coalition Colleagues,

I hope this email finds you well. The CFSHRC is currently accepting submissions for the Presidents’ Dissertation Award.

Presidents’ Dissertation Award:

In recognition of the close relationship between scholarly excellence and professional leadership, the CFSHRC Presidents Dissertation Award is given to the author(s) of a recently completed doctoral dissertation that makes an outstanding contribution to our understanding of feminist histories, theories, and pedagogies of rhetoric and composition. This award is adjudicated every year and carries a $200.00 honorarium.

Eligibility: Any doctoral dissertation that engages feminist histories, theories, and/or pedagogies of rhetoric and composition and is completed within appropriate time frames (see below) is eligible for this award.

  • For the 2026 Award: Any PhD dissertation completed (defended and filed/deposited with the institution) between 6/1/2025 and 5/31/2026 is eligible.

Review Criteria: The doctoral dissertation that receives this award will not only rigorously engage extant feminist research and scholarship in rhetoric and composition, reflective of the many cultural and intellectual traditions that comprise our field; they will also enhance our understanding of feminist academic work in rhetoric and composition through the methods and methodologies they employ, the critical praxes they model, and the conclusions they draw along with the invitations they offer for subsequent inquiry and exchange.

Submission Procedures: The deadline for nominations for the next award cycle (the 2026 Award), including self-nomination, is October 1, 2026. Nominees should submit an electronic copy of the completed dissertation in its final form, as it was submitted to the author’s (or authors’) home institution to Becca Richards, Immediate Past President, at: rebecca_richards@uml.edu. In the body of your email, please also provide documentation of completion, including date of submission/deposit to the institution.

Best wishes,

Becca Richards

Immediate Past President