About this Prize
Adele Dalsimer (1939-2000), inspiring teacher, scholar, and dynamic Irish Studies pioneer, graduated from Mount Holyoke College, received an MA from Hunter College, and a PHD from Yale University—in addition to honorary degrees from University College Dublin, Ulster University, and Mount Holyoke College. Her publications include Kate O’Brien: A Critical Study, The Unappeasable Shadow: Shelley’s Influence on Yeats, and Visualizing Ireland: National Identity and the Pictorial Tradition.
Adele joined the English Department of Boston College in 1969, and with historian Kevin O’Neill, co-founded the Irish Studies Program there in 1978, co-directing it until her death. She and Kevin created a major center for Irish literature, history, music, and visual art in North America; helped establish the position of the University’s annual Burns Scholar for visiting academics in Irish Studies; and produced a generation of scholars who now teach and lecture in the US, Canada, Ireland, and beyond. The ACIS Adele Dalsimer Prize for Distinguished Dissertation reflects her major commitment to identifying and training scholars and teachers in the field she played such a major role in establishing.
The Adele Dalsimer Prize is open to dissertations in any field/discipline with an emphasis on Ireland and/or the Irish diaspora. Submissions must be in English or Irish. Dissertations originally published in another language and translated to English or Irish will be considered.
Prize Committee and Submission Information
Amanda Crabb, Curry College
Jonathan O’Neill, Villanova University
An electronic version of the dissertation should be submitted via the form below by January 1, 2026. It is the responsibility of the nominated author to ensure that the deadline of January 1, 2026 is observed.