S. Gottfried, an interdisciplinary College Scholar (with concentrations in philosophy, literature, and medieval studies) has been awarded the inaugural Carol Kaske Prize for "We’re Off to the Wild Woods: A Phenomenological Investigation of the First Branch of the Mabinogi," which offers a phenomenological reading of the Welsh Annwn (the Otherworld) to explore another way of existing with nature beyond technological domination. The prize was announced at the first annual Quodlibet Lecture on April 25, 2025.
The Kaske Prize was established in 2024 in memory of Carol V. Kaske (1933–2016), a renowned Cornell Professor of English and Medieval Studies from 1963 to 2003, who was widely respected for her groundbreaking teaching and scholarship on figures such as Marsilio Ficino, Edmund Spenser and Thomas Malory. She was a founding member of the Medieval Studies Program, shaping its trajectory and securing its national and international reputation. The Carol Kaske Prize is awarded to an undergraduate student in any major at Cornell who has written the best essay on a medieval or Renaissance topic.
