History PhD Student Wins International Dissertation Fellowship

The History Department congratulates Ph.D. student Chase Norton, who has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council fellowship from the Canadian government.  This prestigious and highly competitive scholarship will provide Norton with three years of funding to cover his doctoral studies in History at UH.  Less than 20% of applicants to the SSHRC program receive the award, and only a small fraction of the awards go to Canadian students studying at U.S. institutions.  Norton, who is currently completing his first year in the History Ph.D. program at UH, focuses his research on 20th-century U.S. political history, with a particular interest in conservatism in the post-Cold War era.  Working with his faculty advisor Dr. John Sbardellati, Norton is developing a dissertation project on grassroots conservative movements, anti-government sentiment, and populist politics in the 1980s and 1990s, questioning how conservatism shifted and changed as the Cold War ended.  Says Norton, “I am primarily interested in the relationship between the Republican Party and outside conservative organizations as the country left the Reagan years and entered the 1990s.”  This major fellowship will support Norton as he pursues his research goals and his doctoral degree.