John Hart Award (Excellence in Literary Study)

The English Department chooses the winner of this award with the utmost seriousness, for it values highly the commitment to the study of literature which it represents. Dr. Hart retired from Albion College in 1982 after more than thirty years as one of our most respected teachers. As Joseph J. Irwin, former chairman at Albion, once wrote, Dr. Hart was "an inspirational educator who led, cajoled, pushed, or pulled students toward a love of learning and toward an enduring relationship with English and American literature." Dr. Hart was also one of Albion's most productive scholars, having published three books and some fifteen articles. Dr. Hart, who passed away in 2011, came to represent for his colleagues the love of learning for its own sake, and this award was named in his honor partly to remind ourselves each year of the values which he asserted in the face of narrow specialization and pre-professional obsessions.

Awardees include:

• 2019 - Evan Rieth
• 2018 - Emily Allison and Travis Brady
• 2017 - Kathleen Casebeer and Emily McCaleb
• 2016 - Audrey DeGroot
• 2015 - Holley Taylor
• 2014 - Megan Connolly
• 2013 - Keegan Mogg
• 2012 - Emily Hopkins
• 2011 - Elizabeth Dunlap
• 2010 - Kristin Butler and Ellie Schulhoff
• 2009 - Amanda Haggerty
• 2008 - Andrew Brennan and Lauren Karcz
• 2007 - Catherine Janssen and Sean Stork
• 2006 - Natalie Corbin and Daniel Wreschnig
• 2005 - Jennifer Paine and James Rider
• 2004 - Steven Plunkett
• 2003 - Dana Lobelle
• 2002 - Kelly Kurtz
• 2001 - Rebecca Linz
• 2000 - Andrew Kolozsvary
• 1999 - Ryan Shirey
• 1998 - Clark Dawood and Beth Wittbrodt
• 1997 - Renae DeMunck
• 1996 - Kathleen Pilchowski
• 1995 - Rebecca Camp and Susan Quinn
• 1994 - Gregory Andrzejewski
• 1993 - Brenda Grile
• 1992 - Elizabeth Ludington
• 1991 - Lee Ann Richardson
• 1990 - Kara Tambellini
• 1989 - Jennifer O'Haver and Michael Stancliff
• 1988
• 1987 - Jane Conklin, Karolyn Johnson, Lisa MacDowell
• 1986 - Jennifer Lord
• 1985 - Sandra Mason
• 1984 - Jeffrey Coe
• 1983 - Catherine Sweet
• 1982 - Judith Gimik
• 1981 - Kathryn VanDyke
• 1980 - Tamara Groves
• 1979 - Michaela Swart