The Wilbur and Eloise Cohen Award:
In 2002, the CHASP Executive Committee created the annual Wilbur and Eloise Cohen Award for Outstanding Research in Health and Social Policy to recognize LBJ School students for exemplary Master's degree reports about health and social policy issues. All LBJ faculty members are invited to submit nominations. The winners are selected by the CHASP executive committee.
The 2009 recipient of the Wilber and Eloise Cohen Award is Melissa King for her professional report, "NGO's and the Role of Civic Engagement in Promoting Efficient HIV/AIDS Programming in Rural Africa." Ms. King recently moved to Boston, Massachussetts and is pursuing a career in health policy. Download Report
The 2008 recipient of the Wilber and Eloise Cohen Award is Jennifer DeRouen Moore for her professional report, "The Impacts of the Citizenship Documentation Requirement on the Medicaid Program." Ms. Moore currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Download Report
A list of past recipients and their reports is available via the Cohen Award Archives.
About the Cohens:
Wilbur and Eloise Cohen devoted their lives to public service. Wilbur Cohen was secretary of health, education and welfare in the Johnson administration and helped draft the 1935 Social Security Act. He served on the LBJ School faculty from 1980 until his death in 1987. The university passed a memorial resolution in his honor.
Eloise (Bittel) Cohen was a native Texan who moved to Washington to work on Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. She fought against the poll tax and established programs for senior citizens. She met Wilbur Cohen at a Washington party in 1934, and they married four years later. Given the Cohen’s deep commitment to health and social policy issues and enormous influence in the Johnson Administration, the CHASP Executive Committee felt it fitting to create an award in their name.
