Christine Norris

The criteria:
The selection committee looks for a student who best exemplifies what Humanities appreciated about Chris Norris: an enthusiasm for learning; the ability and desire to explore ideas and issues for their own sake; careful scholarship; and a concern for a clear and forceful articulation of ideas. We look for someone who is not only a conscientious student with strong academic achievement, but someone who might sit with Chris in her office for an hour discussing the meaning of a passage or the structure of a paragraph -- someone, in sum, who best embodies the humanity that Chris Norris gave to Humanities.

The process:
We solicit nominations from teaching assistants and faculty familiar with the above criteria. We tabulate grades plus speak to pertinent teaching assistants and faculty about the nominations. Finally, we look at the students' Humanities essays, again not only looking for good writing skills and scholarship, but for originality, style, and a personal voice.