Amemasor came to Illinois State from Ghana, where he had been working as an education officer in the Cape Coast Castle Museum. According to Mark Wyman, History emeritus professor and advisor for Amemasor's thesis work, "James's approach to history is to foster understanding through confronting unpleasant realities of the past—whether of the slave trade, as in his work in Ghana, or of slavery itself, as he did with his master's thesis."

This is the second year in a row History has taken this honor. Last year, 2003 Master’s graduate Andrew Koke won for his thesis “Making Time: The Development of Modern Temporal Consciousness.” "The fact that for two consecutive years graduate students in the Department of History have won the Fisher Award," said Dean Olson, "is testimony to the high quality of graduate-level instruction being provided by History faculty."

This year, two Arts and Sciences students were honored as College award recipients: Japhia Smith from Biological Sciences for “Vegetation Analysis and Restoration Plan for an Old-Growth Forest in Central Illinois,” and Bryan McCann from Communication for “Victim, Family, and Justice: Therapeutic Themes in Pro-Death Penalty Responses to Illinois Governor George Ryan’s Death Row Communications.” 

Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony on December 7 at the Bone Student Center’s Old Main Room.