Hartford Seminary has awarded three prizes to four different recipients for outstanding papers from the calendar year 2015, as announced by Academic Dean Uriah Kim this week. Current students’ papers are nominated by Hartford Seminary faculty and award winners receive a course tuition waiver.

The Hartranft Scholarship Fund provides a course tuition waiver to the degree program student who “has demonstrated excellence in written expression.” Candidates for this prize are nominated by the faculty. The prize is in the name of Chester David Hartranft, who was President of the Seminary from 1889 to 1903, and was Professor of Biblical and Ecclesiastical History from 1878 to 1914.

The 2015 prize was split by John Blossom and Maggie Mitchell Siddiqi. John Blossom’s paper was nominated by Prof. Timur Yuskaev and titled “The Eruv: Developing a Flexible Fabric of Public Religious Life” while Maggie Mitchell Siddiqi wrote “The Sanctuaries: A Diverse Community of Faith and Empowerment through the Arts,” which was nominated by Prof. Scott Thumma.

The William Thompson Fund provides a course tuition waiver to a degree program student who “has demonstrated notable proficiency or interest in the field of biblical studies.” Candidates for this prize are nominated by the faculty. The prize is in the name of William Thompson, who was Dean and Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature from 1834 to 1881, after which he was Dean Emeritus until 1889.

The 2015 recipient of the William Thompson Fund award was Christine Marchetti, for her paper titled “Women Prophets in the Hebrew Bible.” Marchetti’s paper was nominated by Dr. Uriah Kim.

The Bennett Tyler Scholarship Fund provides a course tuition waiver to any student of the Seminary (degree or certificate) who has demonstrated “excellence in written expression.” Candidates for this prize are nominated by the faculty. The prize is in the name of the first president of Hartford Seminary, Bennett Tyler, who was also a Professor of Theology from 1834 to 1857.

Madiha Bhatti was the 2015 winner for her paper, nominated by Scott Thumma, titled “The Path of Most Resistance: Social factors affecting gender identity among young Muslim women.”