As part of his Oral History master's thesis, Jeff Brodsky interviewed White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson, US Senator Ron Wyden, and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffet.

As part of his Oral History master's thesis, Jeff Brodsky interviewed White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson, US Senator Ron Wyden, and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffet.

Announced in November of 2015, the Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History Award is given to one or more student annually whose thesis makes an important contribution to knowledge and most exemplifies the rigor, creativity, and ethical integrity that OHMA teaches its students. The cash award is supported by a generous donation from the family of OHMA alumnus Jeffrey Brodsky. In 2022, the Brodsky Family generously increased the annual funding to $6000 and extended the award for five more years, so that we are able to acknowledge multiple excellent theses each year. Candidates are considered based on nominations from the thesis advisors and the winner is selected by a committee made up of Amy Starecheski, Peter Bearman, and the last recipient.

For his thesis, Mr. Brodsky conducted more than 60 hours of oral history interviews, in which politicians recount their first political races.  The project was featured in the Washington Post and on NPR, where you can listen to an interview Mr. Brodsky about the project. Since graduating from OHMA, Mr. Brosky has continued to expand upon his thesis research by interviewing leaders abroad. Mr. Brodsky has interviewed a dozen world leaders about their formative political experiences and campaign memories, including Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar, President Alejandro Toledo of Peru, among many others. In addition, he has conducted interviews with CEOs on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange and with famed news veterans Peter Kann (Wall Street Journal), Sam Donaldson (ABC), and Bob Schieffer (CBS).

In July, 2023, Jeffrey H. Brodsky passed away at age 49 after battling Parkinson’s disease for the past decade. In the wake of his passing, our community has been reflecting on his many important and enduring contributions to oral history at Columbia University and beyond. Jeffrey Brodsky’s thesis and more recent oral history work exemplified the rigorous intellectual values and creative skills that OHMA teaches to its students.  The Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History Award will continue to pass on those values as it awards students for innovative and outstanding research.

Winners

2023

Winner: Bronte Gosper, Collapsing Time: Indigenous Storytellers and the ‘Everywhen
Additional methodology winner/s: Christopher M. Pandza, Using Natural Language Processing to Organize and Analyze Oral History Projects
Additional methodology winner/s: Rebecca Kiil, Roots of Silence: How Retracing My Family’s WWII Escape Routes and Bearing Witness to Their Breaking of Long-Held Silences Unexpectedly Led Me to Compassion, an Open Heart, and My Voice

2022

Winner: Courtney Scott, ‘I Am Your Nanny’/I am [not] your [m]other
Excellence in Education: Max Peterson, Real World History: Intergenerational Learning & Student Oral Histories of The Great Migration
Excellence in Creative Collaboration: Sach Takayasu, Microphones & Brushes: An Exercise in Radical Engagement

2021

Winner: Taylor Wilson Thompson, “Tell Me About That World”: Speculative Archives + Black Feminist Listening Practices
Runner-up: Liú Méi-Zhì Wén-Yuàn Bransfield Chen, the tidal flats: a documentary-collage on east asian american queer kinship

2020

Winner: Holly Werner-Thomas, THE 40% PROJECT: An Oral History of Gun Violence in America & The Survivors: A Documentary Play 
Runner-up: Christina Barba Living in the Shadow of the Armenian Genocide

2019

Winner: Carlin Liu Zia, Uncertain Journeys
Runners-up: Kim-Hee Wong, He Lei Wahine: Oral History Through a Hawaiian Lens
Tomoko Hiramoto, Restoring Testimonies: Rediscovering the Individual & Unfolding Memory in Hibakusha Narratives
Lynn Lewis, The Picture the Homeless Oral History Project: Don’t Talk About Us, Talk With Us!

2018

Winner: Fernanda Espinosa, Hogar de la Distancia: Memory Transmission Containers
Runners-up: Emma Courtland, Finding Fathers: Navigating Uncertainty in the Oral History Interview
Fanny Julissa García, Reminiscences on Migration: A Central American Lyric

2017

Winner: Nyssa Chow, Intersecting Histories: The Story of Her Skin
Runner-up:  Ellen Coon, Dil Maya Aji: Narratives of a Traditional Newar Midwife

2016

Winner: Benji de la Piedra, “That Something Else’’: Botkin, Portelli and Ellison on Democratic Pluralism and the Dialogical Encounter