Guittard & Labastida Award Honors Excellence in Historical Research

The Department of History is proud to announce the recipients of the Charles Francis Guittard & Nancy Davis Labastida Award in History, which recognizes outstanding scholarship produced in the History Capstone Seminar. Each year the awardees are recognized, and they receive a monetary award. 

This year's top honor was awarded to Elise Chei, whose paper, "The Moral Fabric of Revolution: Women, Virtue, and Patriotism in the Early 1770s," explored the relationship between gender, morality, and political identity in the years preceding the American Revolution. Chei, now a student at Baylor Law School, reflected on the significance of the award:

 “Receiving the Capstone Prize is such a meaningful honor. My time in the History Department has left a lasting impact on me as a student and as a scholar. I am indebted to the professors who encouraged me throughout my time at Baylor and challenged me to become a more thoughtful writer. I am very thankful to the department and to Mr. Guittard and Mrs. Labastida for making this recognition possible.”

The department also recognized Maura Okula with the honorable mention for her paper, "Performing Patriotism: The Battle of Bunker Hill as Sacred Theatre." Her research examined how cultural performances, commemorations, and artistic expressions shaped Americans' collective memory of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Revolutionary era. Okula is continuing her studies at Baylor in the Master of Arts in Theatre Studies program. She shared, 

“Receiving Honorable Mention for the Charles Francis Guittard & Nancy Davis Labastida Endowed Award in History is an incredible honor, especially because this project brought together so many of my academic interests. Performing Patriotism allowed me to examine the American Revolution beyond the battlefield and consider how plays, songs, poems, and commemorations transformed Bunker Hill into a powerful cultural memory. I am deeply grateful to the Baylor History Department and the professors who helped me pursue this paper and grow as a historian throughout the process.”

The Department of History congratulates Elise and Maura on their achievements and thanks Charles Guittard and Nancy Labastida for their ongoing support of undergraduate research and excellence in historical scholarship.