Undergraduate Awards

The Helen Power Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Award for Scholarship and Service

Helen Power graduated from the University of Chicago (1955) and earned a master's (1964) and doctoral degree (1966) in English from Washington University. She was a lecturer in the English department at Washington University and served as the Women and Gender Studies program's Coordinator for ten years. Helen's insight and passion for women's studies ensured that the program flourished and continues to do so. She played an important role in initiating the Stiritz Endowed Chair in Women and Gender Studies and assisted in raising funds for the matching grant to provide continued support and development of the program. As Coordinator, she negotiated with the administration for expanded resources, additional faculty, and recognition of the program's contributions to the university and to its students and faculty. Her work as a teacher has benefited students in the United States and abroad, where she taught courses in Iran and Afghanistan and with the University of Pittsburgh's Semester-at-Sea program. Helen Power has made critically important contributions to the Women and Gender Studies Program, to the lives of the students and faculty who have known her, and to Washington University. She has been an exemplary citizen of the University in her teaching, her collegiality, and her service.

This award is made annually to a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major. Candidates are nominated, on the basis of scholarly record and service, by program advisors. Selection is made by a committee within the Program. The award is presented annually at the graduating seniors' luncheon in May.

Andrea Biggs Undergraduate Research Award

Andrea Biggs (1960-1981) was an independent spirit who advocated tirelessly for women's rights, whether creating the first anti-prom at her high school or enthusiastically fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment later in life. In that spirit, this prize is for the promotion of undergraduate research that focuses on issues relating to gender, dedicated in loving memory to Andrea's spirit, in the hopes of further nurturing that same spirit in others.

The Andrea Biggs Undergraduate Research Award is available to all undergraduate students who are interested in conducting original research projects in the area of gender studies.

We request that summer award recipients not participate in any summer employment or summer school. If you are awarded funding from other sources (e.g. Pfizer, HHMI, Mellon Mays) you may accept the funding of only one source.

We also request that each student receiving an award apply to present his or her work at one of our symposia and publish a 300 word summary in WUURD, the Washington University Undergraduate Research Digest. As an alternative to the summary, you are invited to submit your work for one of WUURD’s feature articles.

The complete application should include the information sheet, mentor nomination form, current transcript, and a proposal of your research. If you are considering a project that requires something other than the stated stipend, please include an itemized budget.

Mail all material to:
Andrea Biggs Undergraduate Research Selection Committee
c/o Barbara Baumgartner
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Campus Box 1078
Washington University
St Louis, MO 63130

2007 Award:
Rachel Gartner, "A Comprehensive Sexual Education, Health, Empowerment Program to Be Instituted at the Women's Institute of Secondary Education and Research (WISER) in Muhuru Bay, Kenya"

Stueck Summer Internship/Study Award for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Students

This new award provides a student the opportunity to participate in a summer internship abroad. The internship may be one that the student has independently arranged with an organization, or it may be part of an international study abroad program, such as School for International Training (SIT). Students are advised to consult with Barbara Baumgartner, Study Abroad advisor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Current transcript (unofficial)
Resume
One letter of recommendation from a WGS faculty member or WGS- affiliated faculty member
Research proposal that addresses the reasons for pursuing a summer abroad internship, the ways it fits with course work and future goals (i.e., honors thesis, graduate study, employment plan), and qualifications for the internship.
Statement regarding financial need, including any scholarship or other relevant circumstances.

Student applications will be reviewed by a committee of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies faculty members and applicants will be informed of the results by February 15th.