Student Awards

Spring 2024 Deadline for all awards: March 15, 2024

Note: Students can apply for multiple awards.

The bell hooks Transforming Lives Awardbell hooks looking off camera

This award honors a graduating student who has demonstrated perseverance to accomplish a transformational, educational goal. An acclaimed feminist writer and prolific cultural critic, bell hooks is best known for exploring the interlocking connections among race, class, gender, and culture. Such work challenged feminist thinkers and activists to theorize gender oppression in the context of other critical social factors like class and race.

Eligibility: WGSS majors and minors graduating spring or fall 2024. 3.0 cumulative GPA and 3.3 GPA in all WGSS coursework.

Application Guidelines: Describe the transformation you have experienced because you engaged with WGSS theory and practice. In addition, you may include any reflection or insight based on your embodied experience.

 

The Sharon Sievers Scholarly Achievement Award

This award honors a graduating student who has demonstrated an exceptional engagement with the field of WGSS through a culminating research project. Sharon Sievers was a noted specialist in Japanese History and a feminist leader on the CSULB campus for 40 years. She co-founded the WGSS department and defended it in a legal suit against the university when anti-feminist forces attempted to shut it down.Sharon Sievers next to woman in pink dress

Eligibility: WGSS majors graduating spring or fall 2024. 3.0 cumulative GPA and 3.3 GPA in all WGSS coursework.

Application Guidelines: Please submit a 250-word synopsis of a major research project related to the study of women, gender, and/or sexuality. Examples of research include a capstone project or a culminating research paper. Applications can consist of research currently in progress.

 

The Dolores Huerta Activism Award

This award honors a graduating student who has demonstrated a serious commitment to feminist activism and social justice. Noted labor leader and civil rights activist, Dolores Huerta, co-founded with Cesar Chavez the United Farm Workers. Huerta has been an activist her entire life; her participation in non-violent civil disobedience activities has led to 22 arrests, while her commitment to progressive causes has earned her numerous awards such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.  

 Eligibility: WGSS majors and minors graduating spring or fall 2024. 3.0 cumulative GPA and 3.3 GPA in all WGSS coursework.Dolores Huerta shouting into a megaphone

Application Guidelines: Please submit a 250-word description of your social justice or feminist involvement and the specific role in this work. The work can include both on or off-campus activities.