Sam Allen, a 1999 Elon graduate who majored in economics, has won the prestigious John Heinz Dissertation award for the best dissertation in the social insurance field completed between January 1, 2004 and August 1, 2005. The title of his dissertation is “The Economics and Politics of Workers’ Compensation: 1930-2000.” After graduating from Elon, Sam went to the University of Arizona to successfully pursue his PhD. Sam is currently teaching at the University of California-Davis.