2008 EMERGING VOICE AWARD
Do you know a Purdue alumnus/a who is 40 or young and a rising star in his/her field? Nominate them today for this new award sponsored by the CLA Alumni Board. Nominations are due by MAY 16, 2008.

AMANDA BROWN LOPEZ
BA, 2001, Law and Society
MSW, 2004, University of Michigan
Child Welfare Policy Director, Association of Community Human Service Agencies

After graduating with honors from the Department of Anthropology and Sociology with a concentration in Law and Society and a minor in Psychology, Amanda Brown Lopez enrolled in the Masters of Social Work program at the University of Michigan. Her nominator, Jan Cortner shared, “Amanda was always one of those students who stood out from others. She had wonderful self-presentation skills, and an ability to take charge and offer strong and supportive leadership.” After graduating with her MSW, Amanda moved to Washington, DC to work in the Office of the Secretary and Budget Office in the US Department of Health and Human Services as a Program Analyst. Two years later, Amanda became the Child Welfare Policy Director for the Association of Community Human Service Agencies in Los Angeles, California. In this position, she represents and responds to 83 child welfare, mental health, and probation private non-profit member agencies, manages the policy direction of child welfare in Los Angeles County, and much more. Amanda received the US Presidential Management Fellow and National Association of Social Workers Region IV Student Social Worker of the year. She is also a mentor with the Orphan Foundation of America.

ARAM GOUDSOUZIAN
BA, 1994, Colby College
MA, 1997, University of Massachusetts at Boston
PhD, 2002, History, Purdue University
Assistant Professor, The University of Memphis

“He established himself as a talented, diligent, innovative graduate student, committed to intellectual diversity and pressing the boundaries of scholarship.” History professor, Randy Roberts, is speaking of our next recipient, Aram Goudsouzian. After completing the PhD program in History at Purdue, Aram taught at Suffolk University, University of Massachusetts at Boston, and Hamilton College before accepting his current position as an assistant professor at the University of Memphis. Aram is the author of two books, The Hurricane of 1938 and Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon. Goudsouzian received many accolades for the latter, including, a finalist position for the Theatre Library Association Award of 2004 and reviews in the New York Times Book Review and Washington Post Book World. In addition, Aram, has written several book chapters, journal and encyclopedia articles, book reviews, and more. Among his numerous awards and grants, he most recently received an Honorable Mention of the Edgar Landsdorf Award for Excellence in Writing from the Kansas State Historical Society for his article, “Can Basketball Survive Chamberlain?: The Kansas Years of Wilt the Stilt.” In addition to his writing and teaching, Aram is the editor of his department’s newsletter, Advisor for the Agnostic, Humanist, Atheist Student Union, and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change.

EMILY ROSKO
BA, 2001, English, Purdue University
MFA, 2003, Cornell University
Currently in the PhD program, University of Missouri-Columbia

As a junior at Purdue, our last recipient became one of the youngest poets to be accepted into the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets. Emily Rosko’s potential was already obvious. According to her nominator, Dino Felluga, “What strikes me about Emily’s record is how wonderfully precocious she has been in her development.” After Purdue, Emily completed the MFA program at Cornell and is now working towards a PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In between the two, she was chosen out of 1,300 applicants to be one ten to receive the Wallace Stegner Writing Fellowship in Poetry at Stanford, where she studied for two years. Rosko shares her passion for writing through her teaching and involvement in a variety of panels, readings, and lectures across the country. Emily has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants, including the Iowa Poetry Prize for her first book of poetry, Raw Goods Inventory, the Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers, and the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize. In addition, she has written over 30 individual poems and worked in editing. During her time at Purdue, Cornell, Stanford, and Missouri-Columbia, Emily organized panel discussions and reading series, represented her department at events and on committees, and was actively involved in such students groups as Environmental Action and Students Against Sweatshops. Her next manuscript is currently in progress.