There is no competition for this award; eligible submissions will be considered without application. For further information, please contact the Department of English. Abramson wrote a senior thesis on the architecture of Le Corbusier and felt it to be one of the most significant experiences of his undergraduate career.
Just two years beyond graduation from the College, and about to enter Law School, Mr. Abramson passed away after a brave battle with cancer. He wished to share his appreciation of the valuable experience of writing a thesis with his fellow concentrators and so endowed this prize to recognize annually the greatest achievement of this scholarship by a concentrator in history of art and architecture. There is no competition for this award; the decision is based on the grades submitted by thesis readers, along with a discussion of the relative standing of the winning thesis among all those written during that academic year.
For further information, please contact the Department of History of Art and Architecture. The wide range of subjects and approaches to the study of architecture, across fields and time periods, appropriately reflects the legacy of Professor James Sloss Ackerman โ and his rigorous and innovative scholarship.
Ackerman joined the faculty at Harvard University in , where he taught and advised generations of students and served as the Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Arts from until his retirement in His methodology situated architecture within the broader contexts of cultural and intellectual history.
From the mids, Ackerman was the most widely read architectural historian in America, and his seminal studies on Michelangelo โ and Palladio appealed to both specialists and non-specialists alike. During his career, Ackerman received many prestigious honors and awards, culminating in with the Balzan Prize for achievement in architectural history and urbanism and the Paul Kristeller citation of the Renaissance Society of America for lifetime achievement.
