The 2011 recipient of the Rose Laub Coser Award was Miranda Waggoner, Brandeis University, for her dissertation proposal “Anticipating Motherhood and Medicalization: The Emergence of Preconception Care, 1980-2010." Honorable mention went to Valerie Francisco, CUNY Graduate Center, for her proposal “Families from Afar: Filipino Domestic Workers, Transnational Family and Multi-Directionality of Care.”

The Rose Laub Coser Award Committee invites submissions for the 2012 award. The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2011. The Coser award is given annually to a graduate student for an outstanding doctoral dissertation proposal in the area of the family or gender and society. The award was established by the family, friends, and former students of the late Rose Coser, a former president of ESS and recipient of its Merit Award.

To be eligible for consideration, the proposal must have been approved by the student's department within two years prior to submission, and the dissertation cannot have been completed or published when the proposal is considered. Proposals should include:

1. a cover sheet indicating the title of the dissertation, the student's name, email address, the university with which the student is affiliated, and the names of the doctoral committee members;
2. a two-page summary or abstract of the proposal;
3. a narrative, which must not exceed 15 double-spaced pages (excluding references) and should include:
4. a statement of the problem to be addressed in the dissertation
5. a justification of the importance of the research problem for the field
6. a description of the methods to be employed in the study
7. a statement of the anticipated outcomes and their significance

Ancillary material such as budgets, work schedules, and human subjects review documentation should not be included.

In 2012, the annual meetings will be held in New York City, February 23-26. The award will be announced and presented at a special session at the meeting. The winner must attend the annual meeting to receive the award in person or otherwise will forfeit the award. Eligible students must also fulfill an ESS membership requirement in one of three possible ways: hold a current ESS student membership, or have a current ESS membership held by one of the dissertation committee members, or be enrolled in a department with a current ESS departmental membership. Eligible students should submit an electronic copy of their proposal by the deadline of September 30, 2011 to:

Anita Garey, Chair
Rose Laub Coser Award Committee
anita.garey@uconn.edu