Birdsall Named Winner of 2024-2025 Cusimano/Guilbeau Award

Congratulations to Ashley Birdsall (BA, History, Dec. 2024), winner of the 2024-2025 Cusimano/Guilbeau Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. The award recognizes Birdsall's final paper for HIST 490: Research and Writing Seminar, entitled "Cunning Women in Early Modern England." The paper also earned recognition as co-winner of the 2024 Kimberly Hanger Prize, awarded for the best undergraduate-level paper on the Phi Alpha Theta program of the annual Louisiana Historical Association meeting. Birdsall is currently enrolled in our History MA program.

The Cusimano/Guilbeau Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research is named in honor of Jamie and Thelma Guilbeau, who endowed the Guilbeau Charitable Trust, and Dr. Richard Cusimano. Dr. Cusimano taught at USL, then UL, between 1970-2004, specializing in European history with a particular focus on Medieval and Renaissance history. Besides being a thought-provoking and dynamic in-class educator, he also served as head of the department and dean of the then-College of Arts, Humanities, and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Cusimano initially created this award to honor the memory of his parents, but with his own passing in May 2024, the decision was made to broaden it to recognize him, as well.