Amanda Campbell Awarded $35,000 Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship 

August 2, 2021. University of Memphis Honors College graduate Amanda Campbell of Clarksville, TN, has been selected as a recipient of the Sherrill Carlson Fellowship by The Honors Society of Phi Kappa Phi—the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Campbell is one of only two students nationwide to receive the prestigious, top-prized $35,000 fellowship. Created in 2018, the Sherrill Carlson Fellowship is awarded to the top-ranking nominee in the humanities and the arts.

Campbell earned her Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in history and African/African American Studies from the UofM in May 2020. Campbell was active in the Helen Hardin Honors College, serving as a college ambassador for three years and serving on the Honors Student Organization’s executive board. Campbell’s senior thesis—based on substantial archival research—focused on four Memphis-area ministers who were involved in the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike, and Campbell was invited to present this research at two undergraduate conferences. Campbell also used this award-winning research to produce a high school history curriculum, including lesson plans and primary source materials. In addition, Campbell has been active in her local community through service on the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope. Campbell’s interest in the intersections of race, religion, and social justice led her to pursue graduate studies at Harvard Divinity School. Ultimately, she hopes to work in higher education, helping students to see the intersections of history, religion, race, and social justice.

"I am grateful for the encouragement of many professors in the History and African American Studies Departments, particularly Dr. Beverly Tsacoyianis, Dr. Chrystal Goudsouzian, Dr. Aram Goudsouzian, Dr. Beverly Bond, and Dr. Ladrica Menson-Furr, Campbell said.  “I look forward to engaging questions of religion, race, and memory in a rich interdisciplinary environment at Harvard Divinity School. Receipt of the Sherill Carlson Fellowship provides financial freedom to pursue these questions.”

“I am delighted that Mandy won this prestigious award,” said Dr. Melinda Jones, director of the Helen Hardin Honors College. “Mandy has an impressive record as a scholar and leader with interests in the intersection of race, religion, and social justice. I have no doubt that she will continue this important work at Harvard Divinity School.”

Since its creation in 1932, the fellowship program has become one of Phi Kappa Phi’s most visible and financially well-supported endeavors, allocating $615,000 annually to outstanding students for first-year graduate or professional study. This year’s program awarded 50 fellowships of $8,500, six $20,000 Marcus L. Urann fellowships, named for the Society’s founder, and two awards at $35,000 each, the 1897 Fellowship and the Sherrill Carlson Fellowship.

Each year, active Phi Kappa Phi chapters select one candidate each among its local applicants to compete for its Society-wide awards. The selection process for a fellowship is based on the applicant’s evidence of graduate potential, undergraduate academic achievement, service and leadership experiences, letters of recommendation, personal statement of educational perspective and career goals, and acceptance in an approved graduate or professional program.