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Faculty of Culture, Language & Performing Arts

History Program Honor Society

Phi Alpha Theta and Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize

Phi Alpha Theta
Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize

Phi Alpha Theta

Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) is a national organization for exceptional undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty interested in history. Decades ago, faculty and students here in Lāʻie organized the Xi Delta chapter of PAT at BYU-Hawaiʻi. Since then the activities, traditions, and opportunities have grown considerably. All committed history majors are encouraged to join Phi Alpha Theta and participate in its various programs. Each year, for example, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus holds a PAT student conference through which members can make formal paper presentations, meet renowned scholars, and enjoy a conference experience. PAT members also qualify for special scholarships and can even participate in the national conference.

Requirements

Although PAT is specifically established for history majors, anyone can join provided they have taken 12 credits of history courses, maintained at least a 3.00 GPA through those courses, filled out an application form, and paid the one-time fee of $45.00. Membership is a lifetime. New members are inducted into PAT during the winter semester. For further information please contact the department chair, Professor Jim Tueller at jim.tueller@byuh.edu. For more information, please visit Phi Alpha Theta Membership Requirements.

Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize

Brigham Young University–Hawaii History Department sponsors an award for the best history book written by a resident of the state of Hawaii. The prize is awarded by a group of judges selected from the University History Departments throughout the state. The Committee of Judges is chaired by a BYU–Hawaii historian. Historians from Hawaii Pacific University, Chaminade University, University of Hawaii, Manoa, University of Hawaii, Hilo, and University of Hawaii, West Oahu serve as committee members.

As BYU–Hawaii hosts the Baldridge Prize and administers the process, each of the faculty members has participated as judges, administrators, and enthusiastic supporters of the award. It has been a beneficial activity, connecting the University History Departments throughout the state. Only one book can win the prize but the participation, the concomitant discussion about history books, and the meritorious recognition of all the authors represent a good example of service in the field of history.

The Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize is awarded for the outstanding book in any field of history written by a resident of the state of Hawaii. The prize consists of a certificate of merit and a cash award of $500.

Requirements

The next award will be given in 2026 for history books published by an author, resident in the state of Hawaii, published in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

About

The prize competition honors the life and work of Kenneth W. Baldridge (1926 – 2021). He taught history as a professor at BYU–Hawaii from 1968 to 1993, where he was an enthusiastic supporter of BYU–Hawaii’s Phi Alpha Theta chapter. He also founded the BYU–Hawaii Oral History Program and served as chair of the university’s Division of Social Sciences. In addition to being an exemplary educator, Ken was a first-rate human being. Whenever there was flooding on the North Shore, he could be seen roaring around in his four-wheel-drive pickup, dressed in helmet, waders, and a yellow slicker, piling up sandbags and moving people to higher ground, as a volunteer with the Oahu Civil Defense Agency. As a much beloved and fondly remembered colleague, his former students and the community of Laie, honor his contributions to the study of history.

  • 1994 Award - Leonard Y. Andaya, The World of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the Early Modern Period. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1993.

    1996 Award - John J. Stephan, The Russian Far East: A History. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.

    1999 Award - James P. Kraft, Stage to Studio: Musicians and the Sound Revolution, 1890-1950. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

    2001 Award - Mark Helbling, The Harlem Renaissance: The One and the Many. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999.

    2003 Award - Pierre Asselin, A Bitter Peace: Washington, Hanoi, and the Making of the Paris Agreement. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

    2005 Award - Noenoe Silva Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004.

    2008 Award - Davianna Pōmaika‘i McGregor, Nā Kua‘aina: Living Hawaiian Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2007.

    2011 Award – Vina A. Lanzona, Amazons of the Huk Rebellion: Gender, Sex, and Revolution in the Philippines. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009.

    2014 Award - Isaiah Walker, Waves of Resistance: Surfing and History in Twentieth-Century Hawaiʻi. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2011.

    2017 – Ned Bertz, Diaspora and Nation in the Indian Ocean: Transnational Histories of Race and Urban Space in Tanzania. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2015.

    2020 - Jon Thares Davidann, The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Create Modernity, 1860-1960. New York: Routledge, 2019.

    2023 - Tom Coffman, Inclusion: How Hawaiʻi Protected Japanese Americans from Mass Internment, Transformed Itself and Changed America. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2021.