Two alumnae honored for cinema studies

The Society for Cinema Studies, the foremost academic organization for film scholars, has presented its two 1994 student awards -- for best dissertation and best essay -- to Chicago graduates for work completed while they were at the University. This is the first time that Chicago students have won both awards.

The awards were presented this month at the society's 1995 conference in New York.

"This is quite wonderful recognition for the students working at Chicago in cinema studies, and it underscores the significance of the work done in our Film Studies Center," said Philip Gossett, the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in Music and Dean of the Humanities Division.

The dissertation award was presented to Pamela Robertson for her doctoral dissertation Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp and the Female Spectator. Robertson received her A.M. in 1988 and her Ph.D. in 1993 from the University. She now teaches at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

The student-essay award was presented to Jennifer Peterson for "The Competing Tunes of Johnny Guitar: Liberalism, Sexuality, Masquerade." Peterson's essay, which won the University's Steiner Award in 1993 for best master's thesis in English, will be published in the society's quarterly, Cinema Journal. She received her A.M. in 1993.

Another Chicago alumna, Shari Roberts, was ranked third in the dissertation award category for her doctoral dissertation Seeing Stars: Feminine Spectacle, Female Spectators and World War II Hollywood Musicals. She received her A.M. in 1988 and her Ph.D. in 1993.