WGSS Awards and Scholarships

This fund recognizes an undergraduate woman who embodies the spirit and ideals of the Women’s Studies Program. One award of $275 annually.

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This award is offered for an outstanding, first generation undergraduate female student whose creative expression is related to gender issues or represents an unusual achievement for a woman. One award of $250 annually.

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One scholarship of $500 is available.

The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program will award an undergraduate WGSS major whose scholarship and/or activism uses transnational feminism as a tool of analysis and/or organizing. The recipient's scholarship and/or activism will reflect Chandra Talpade Mohanty's work on transnational feminism and social justice, especially women, gender, and sexuality issues among communities of color in the U.S. or in the global south.

In addition to the scholarship, the recipient will receive a book authored by Mohanty.

Named for one of the earliest spokespersons for the contemporary women’s movement, this award is offered for an outstanding fiction or creative non-fiction submission by a male or female student whose work explores progressive gender relationships. Offered for an outstanding fiction or creative non-fiction submission by a student whose work explores progressive gender relationships. One award of $50 annually.

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An award created to support special Women’s Studies projects. Helen Sampson was a pioneer in founding Women in Higher Education, the UW System Office for Women with commitments to equal employment, educational opportunity, and affirmative action, and in institutionalizing the field of Women’s Studies across the UW System. The UW-Eau Claire Foundation and the Women’s Studies Committee are pleased to recognize the pioneering contributions of Professor Helen X. Sampson by naming awards in three categories in her honor.

• Helen X. Sampson Graduate Award
• Helen X. Sampson Undergraduate Paper Award
• Helen X. Sampson Undergraduate Project Award

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The Social Justice award of $500 is open to all Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies MAJORS in good academic standing and who have financial need. The recipient must be engaged in activism, research, or student organizations on campus or the community where they are working on intersectional issues related to racial, gender, sexual, and queer justice. The recipient will be recognized at the Program’s Awards Ceremony in March 2021.

The Turell award is offered for an outstanding undergraduate or graduate paper or project related to the application of feminism to one’s life. This award is given in honor of the memory of Donna C. Turell, a gracious woman whose presence honored both her community and her family throughout her life. One award of $200 annually.

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One scholarship of $1,000 is available.

This scholarship will be awarded to an LGBTQ+ student with financial need who is engaged in activism, research, or a student organization on campus or the community where they are working on intersectional issues related to racial, gender, sexual and queer justice.

The Rising Star Award is given to a first or second year student who is a Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies (WGSS) major or minor. This student should have taken at least two WGSS courses at UW-Eau Claire and show potential in their feminist work. Students can submit a project or paper for the committee to review. The number of awards and amounts will vary based on the pool of applicants and funding available.

Awarded to a student of junior status with a WGSS major or minor. In order to qualify, a student must have completed a minimum of 12 WGSS credits and hold a minimum of a 3.0 GPA in their major/minor. The student must also show leadership skills, preferably relating to gender issues, and incorporate feminist theory into their lives. Variable number of awards, total of $400 annually.

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