Economics

Prizes and Honors

The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize

On May 28, 1913, William C. Brownell established prizes in memory of his wife, a member of the class of 1873. These prizes are awarded to students for excellent work in biology, political economy, and history.

The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize

Established December 1986 by Robert F. Jackson in memory of his wife, Agnes Reynolds. In past years this award has gone to the senior whose paper is judged to be the best senior seminar paper.

The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize

Established April 14, 1938 by Arthur R. Hutchinson in memory of his wife, a member of the Department of Economics and Sociology at Vassar for 12 years. This prize is awarded for excellence in a paper on American economic history.

The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize

Established February 4, 1929, by Chester D. Pugsley in memory of his grandmother, the Blakeley Prize is awarded to an undergraduate for a study in international economic relations.

Past Economics Prize Recipients

Honor Societies

Phi Beta Kappa

Vassar College was granted a charter by the national honor society of Phi Beta Kappa in 1898. Members from the senior class are elected by the Vassar chapter each spring. The basis for selection is a high level of academic achievement; breadth of study, requiring substantial work in several areas of the liberal arts curriculum; and general evidence of intellectual adventurousness.

Omicron Delta Epsilon

The Vassar Economics Department has an active chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) the international economics student honor society. Eligibility for membership does not require one to be a major, but one must have completed at least five courses in economics and maintained a B+ average in economics courses.

If elected to membership, it is lifetime in duration. ODE members are eligible for prizes for excellent papers at both the undergraduate and graduate level. These are published in the society’s journal, The American Economist. PhD candidates who are ODE members compete to present papers at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, where ODE has a designated session.

Activities of the Vassar chapter in recent years have included joint meetings with other regional chapters (SUNY New Paltz, West Point, Bard College) evenings with former Vassar economics majors who now work in the profession, a faculty debate, and joint activities with the Majors Committee.

Members of ODE are acknowledged at Commencement exercises by wearing honor cords with their caps and gowns.

The current faculty advisor to the chapter is Professor Paul Ruud.

Recipients

2024

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Jessica Young and Markus Skelton
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Markus Skelton and Zhiyang (Charlie) Chen
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Adah Anderson and Nora Jensen
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Sarah Dumaresq and Nathan Strope 

2023

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Erin Kuo and Shannon Bender
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Noah Siderhurst and Noah Case
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Rose Sosnowski
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Assel Omarova

2022

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Mihajlo Ivanovic and Yumeng Li
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Dazheng Xu and Yixiao Cao
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Ha Bui and Ethan Ross
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Yumeng Li

2021

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Thuy Le
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Bhargav Poudel
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Benjamin Brody
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Nika McKechnie

2020

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Praew Grittayaphong and Nina Zacharia
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Dahlia Forte, Ronela Haxhiaj, Danyal Rahman and Praew Grittayaphong
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Sydney Majka and Connor Levchuck
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Linh Nguyen and Lucas Krishan

2019

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Letian Yu
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: April Rose Lonchar and Katherine Grace Shively
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Kai Hart Matheson
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Remy Gould Beauregard and Yunhao Cai

2018

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Lan Kuang
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Amanda McFarland
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: not awarded
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: not awarded

2017

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Yujie Feng and
    Leah Pan
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Yujie Feng,
    Clancy Green, Nicholas Johnson, Steven Mages and
    Aaron Payne 
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: not awarded
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: David Sampoli, Seungyup Shin and Laura Wood

2016

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Amanda Ballard and Andrew Joung
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Benjamin Glasner
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Andrew Joung
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Matthew Gabriele

2015

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Kevin Behan 
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Sean McCoy and
    Zhengren Zhu
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Marissa Hashizume
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Karlin Gatton and
    Lea Rendell

2014 

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Jiayi Bao
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Jiayi Bao 
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Harry Feigen
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Arushi Raina

2013 

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Yuemeng Geng
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Clayton Masterman 
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: not awarded
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Gloriana Alvaraez

2012 

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Roiana Reed and Pengpeng Xiao
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Michael Mestitz 
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: William English 
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Adam Brouillard 

2011

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Stephanie Owen and Ivan Vanchev
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Nina Nguyen
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: Maximillian McGraw
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Rachel Shea and Si Si Wang 

2010

  • The Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize: Matthew Fixler and Dmitrij Levitski 
  • The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Prize: Joshua Miller and Lauren Rubin 
  • The Ruth Gillette Hutchinson Prize: not awarded 
  • The Catherine Lucretia Blakeley Prize: Kartik Naram