Alumni

Christ College Alumnus Wins National Dissertation Award

Valparaiso University Christ College alumnus Michael Chasar ’93 recently received the Distinguished Dissertation Award, the nation’s most prestigious honor for doctoral dissertations.

Chasar’s dissertation, “Everyday Reading: U.S. Poetry and Popular Culture, 1880-1945,” uses personal poetry scrapbooks, poetry broadcast on commercial radio and billboard advertising poetry to show how “ordinary” readers read and use verse in their daily lives.

Chasar currently is a visiting assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa. His poems and reviews have appeared in publications including Alaska Quarterly Review, American Book Review, Antioch Review, Black Warrior Review, The Formalist, Poetry, Rain Taxi and The St. Petersburg Times.

The Council of Graduate Schools presented the award, which recognizes recent doctoral recipients who have made unusually significant and original contributions in the humanities and life sciences. Two awards are given each year, with the winners receiving a $1,000 honorarium.