WVU Doctoral Candidate Awarded Gilder Lehrman Fellowship

Morgantown, WV, May 12, 2006:  Melinda Hicks, a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at West Virginia University, has been awarded a research fellowship by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Hicks will conduct research at the Gilder Lehrman Collection on deposit at the New York Historical Society. Her project title is “Women as Colonial Entrepreneurs: The Life and Economic Legacy of Alida Livingston of New York.”

Hicks received a B.S. from Liberty University and an M.A. in History from Youngstown State University. She received a WVU Foundation Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship, a Colonial Dames of America Scholarship, a Wesley M. Bagby III Scholarship, and a HERF Fellowship.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, an organization that promotes the study and love of American history, supports outstanding scholarship by awarding short-term fellowships in several categories. The Institute offers Research Fellowships for post-doctoral scholars at every faculty rank; Dissertation Fellowships for doctoral candidates who have completed exams and begun dissertation reading and writing; and Research Fellowships for journalists and independent scholars. The Gilder Lehrman Fellowships support work in one of five archives in New York City. In 2005, the Gilder Lehrman Institute awarded a total of $143,072 for 69 fellowships. Since 1994, it has funded a total of 390 fellowships.

For more information, visit www.gilderlehrman.org.

W-V-U