June 12, 2024 – CARLISLE, PA – The Army Heritage Center Foundation (AHCF) is pleased to announce that COL (USAF Ret.) Cornelia Weiss has been selected to receive its LTC John William Whitman Research Grant for 2024.
Weiss’s proposed research focuses on discovering why the post-WWII military governments in Europe imposed gender wage gaps on local women workers, when in the U.S., women were to receive equal pay for equal work.
“Colonel Weiss’s professional legacy is transformative–from her work with the military justice system in wartime Colombia to her research on women in the military,” said Julie Germany, President of the Foundation. “We’re looking forward to hosting her research and seeing how it impacts the world around us.”
Weiss is a graduate of the Inter-American Defense College. She holds a GED, an AA (Colorado Mountain College), a BA (University of Utah), an MA (ANEPE), and a JD (Vanderbilt). Her previous fellowships include the Ian Axford Fellowship (New Zealand and Timor-Leste) and the Rotary Peace Fellowship (Thailand and Nepal). In 2022, she served as Scholar-in-Residence at the Law Library of the Library of Congress.
“I am deeply moved to be awarded the LTC John William Whitman Research Grant,” said Cornelia Weiss. “LTC Whitman’s aunt is Eleanor Treadwell. I don’t know if they are related, but Mattie E. Treadwell’s 1991 ‘The Women’s Army Corps’ is possibly the only history commissioned by the U.S. military to highlight women. Given DoD’s ‘Women, Peace, and Security’ reporting requirements, I anticipate LTC Whitman would be delighted if his grant spurs the U.S. Army to task its historians to excavate U.S. Army heritage about women. It is amazing; for example, General MacArthur’s forgotten first demand for reform to the government of Japan in post-WWII Occupied Japan – the ‘emancipation of women.’ My published research about General MacArthur’s first demand is now taught to UN peacekeepers. I can’t wait to see what treasures will be unearthed as a result of LTC Whitman’s grant.”
The Whitman Grant, named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel John William Whitman, provides financial support to independent researchers working on under-explored topics of military history. Funded research will be conducted at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) in Carlisle, Pa.
The Army Heritage Center Foundation is the support group of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. The Foundation’s mission is to help USAHEC realize its full potential as a hub of knowledge and expertise for the military, government, academia, and American public.