Writer: Sara Tweedy

University of Southern Mississippi history doctoral candidate Michael Doidge of Monroe Township, N.J. has been awarded the Harry J. Carman Fellowship in the amount of $8,000 by Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). 

In the past 65 years, the union has granted over $20 million in scholarships, grants and fellowships, with this fellowship being its single largest award. 

Doidge also received a $10,000 fellowship from the United States Army’s Center of Military History at Fort McNair in the District of Columbia. It is the first award of its kind to be given to a Southern Miss history student. 

The fellowship will allow Doidge the opportunity to move to Washington, D.C. in late summer of 2009 to carry out his dissertation research, all expenses paid.   “My dissertation examines the U.S. Army's post-World War II strategic, doctrinal and bureaucratic transformation.  I hope to trace the Army's experience well into the 1950s,” Doidge said.  

Both fellowships are highly competitive awards that bring in applicants nationwide and are only offered to doctoral candidates who are at “all-but-dissertation” status.

Dr. Michael Neiberg, director of graduate studies for the Southern Miss Department of History and co-director of the Center for the Study of War and Society, knows the value of the Army’s Center of Military History fellowship, as he was its recipient in 1996.

“It is national recognition of the hard work he has done and of the promise in his dissertation. It’s a tremendous honor for a young scholar, and one Mike richly deserves,” he said.

Most recently, Doidge was notified that he also earned a 2009 Kennedy Research Grant for $1,000 from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library to fund travel and research to the Kennedy Presidential Library in support of his dissertation.

Both professor and student agree that these awards will have a positive impact for Southern Miss history department.  “It is a tremendous step for both Mike and the Center for the Study of War and Society,” Neiberg said. “It will help our graduate program reach a new level.”

For Doidge, he hopes that his success will make it possible for other graduate students in the Southern Miss program to succeed by following his lead.

“I would like to believe that what I have found at Southern Miss via its constant support and encouragement is a family of intellectuals that I, as an alumnus, will always be proud to call my home,” he said.

Doidge received his bachelors in history from Rutgers University in 2002 and a masters in diplomacy and military studies from Hawaii Pacific University in 2004.

In addition to these recent awards, Doidge received the 2008 George C. Marshall
Baruch Fellowship from the George Marshall Library in Lexington, Va., and the McCain Fellowship from the Southern Miss history department.  He was also selected to attend
the 2008 West Point Summer Seminar in Military History.

For more information, visit the Web at www.usm.edu/coal or contact Angela Kilcrease at 601.266.4988.

Click to enlarge

About The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi, founded in 1910, is a comprehensive doctoral and research-extensive university fulfilling its mission of being a leading university in engaging and empowering individuals to transform lives and communities. In a tradition of leadership for student development, Southern Miss is educating a 21st century work force providing intellectual capital, cultural enrichment and innovation to Mississippi and the world. Southern Miss is located in Hattiesburg, Miss, with an additional campus and teaching and research sites on the Mississippi Gulf Coast; further information is found at www.usm.edu.