The Rose Laub 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. It includes $500 for the award recipient. 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. To submit a nomination for the Coser Award, please email the following materials to the Committee Chair by October 15, 2025: 

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 300-word abstract of the proposal;

3. a narrative, which must not exceed 5 double-spaced pages (excluding references) and should include:

     a. a statement of the problem to be addressed in the dissertation

     b. a justification of the importance of the research problem for the field

     c. a description of the methods to be employed in the study

     d. a statement of the anticipated outcomes and their significance

4. Do not include ancillary material such as budgets, work schedules, and human subjects review documentation.

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The award will be announced and presented at a special session at the Annual Meeting. 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. 

 

The 2025 recipient of the Rose Laub Coser Award is Chinyere Odim, Brown University, for: “Wealth, Education, and Culture: Sketching a 21st Century Black Elite."

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Committee Chair: 

Catherine Tan (ctan@vassar.edu).

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