University of Notre Dame rising senior Katharine Steffes has been awarded a Beinecke Scholarship worth $35,000 in support of her graduate education. She is Notre Dame鈥檚 11th Beinecke Scholar overall and third since 2023.
Steffes worked closely with the (CUSE) in applying for the award, which is available to juniors at participating institutions in the U.S.
鈥淎t Notre Dame, students within the College of Arts and Letters have access to top-tier faculty mentorship as well as research and co-curricular opportunities, allowing them to develop into promising young scholars who are competitive among the finest undergraduate students in the country,鈥� Emily Buika Hunt, assistant director of scholarly development at CUSE, said. 鈥淭hroughout her time here, Katharine has made the most of these resources as she has pursued enriching experiences in her studies.鈥�
An anthropology and supplementary French major from Los Angeles, Steffes is a member of the Anthropology Club, Lewis Hall Council and Tutor ND. She is an with the
With , research associate professor of anthropology, she researches transactional networks in vulnerable communities and their relationship to societal cohesion and conflict. She鈥檚 also conducted research with , C.S.C., assistant professor of anthropology.
She previously served as an art advisory intern with Filimonov Art Advisory in Los Angeles, and as an undergraduate research intern with the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., where, alongside Joshua Bell, chair of the Department of Anthropology, she contributed to the creation of the National Museum of Natural History鈥檚 first comprehensive catalog guide to collections associated with the U.S. military occupations between 1898 and 1934.
As an anthropologist, she is interested in provenance research and the politics of cataloging 鈥� particularly, how Catholic missions contributed to anthropological knowledge and how museums continue to shape the historical narrative of missionary activity.
鈥淚 am incredibly honored to be named a 2026 Beinecke Scholar,鈥� Steffes said. 鈥淚鈥檓 especially grateful to the Anthropology Department at the University of Notre Dame, as well as my professors and mentors, for their support and encouragement throughout my academic journey.鈥�
Established in 1971, the Beinecke Scholarship seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to 鈥渂e courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities and social sciences.鈥�
For more on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit .