Congratulations to  Chapman University history majors Kirsten Moore (’11) and Chelsea Judy (’11), who  took home the first and third place undergraduate paper awards, respectively, at the 2011 Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society Southern California Regional Conference.  The Chapman University-hosted conference on April 9th drew over 100 students and faculty from throughout southern California who delivered papers and attended sessions throughout the day. Conference participants as well as prominent members of the Chapman community attended the concluding banquet where President James Doti honored renowned California historian Kevin Starr with an honorary degree. Starr then delivered a keynote speech on the meaning of Chapman University’s 150th anniversary for higher education in California and Orange County. 
Graydon “Jack” Tunstall, the Executive Director of Phi Alpha Theta, presented the three undergraduate  research paper student awards. Kirsten Moore received her first place prize for her paper, “Medical Manipulations: Public Health as a Political Tool in the 1918019 Influenza Epidemic in San Francisco.” She will begin a PhD program in the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in the fall. Chelsea Judy, received the third place prize for her paper, “Unbroken Towards the Sea: The National Trust and the Rise of Coastal Preservation in Late 19th- and 20th- Century Britain.” This is the fifth consecutive year that Chapman University students have won the majority of prizes at the regional Phi Alpha Theta conference. Both papers will be published in the spring issue of Voces Novae, the on-line Chapman University History Review.
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