Scholarships and Awards

JOIN US IN CELEBRATING OUR 2023-2024  AWARD WINNERS!

Justin-Ray Dutton

Outstanding WGST Graduate Teaching Assistant 

The WGST Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant is a Master of Social Work Candidate. They exhibit a type of dedication and care for their students and colleagues that is hard to replicate. Despite the heavy course load in their program, they continuously provide aid to other GTAs who need it and they keep everyone in the loop of events on campus. They provide thoughtful feedback and look for ways to build others up. They are the definition of what it means to put feminist pedagogy into practice 

Wren King 

Outstanding WGST Senior 

The WGST outstanding student is a triple major in Anthropology, Women's and Gender Studies, and Geography with a minor in Native American Studies. Their research is grounded in a Feminist Queer Studies lens, and they have presented several research projects at undergraduate research symposiums at the institutional, state, and national levels. 

Outside of their academic research, they have served as the Dental President for Global Medical and Dental Brigades, the Managing Editor of the Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review, and an Academic Coach for the MindFit Academic Enhancement Program. After graduation, they plan to return to graduate school to pursue a PhD in curriculum development. 

Sammy Leggett Bradley

Velma Miller / West Virginia Alliance for Women's and Gender Studies Graduate Scholar Award

Sammy Leggett Bradley is pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication Studies centering her research and service around marginalized and oppressed groups. Prior to attending WVU, she served as a full-time pastor for ten years. She recently created and facilitated "The Coming Out Workshop: Coming Out to my Christian Family" in partnership with the WVU LGBTQ+ Center

Montana Williamson

Winifred South Knutti Graduate Scholarship in Women's Studies 

Montana Williamson Is pursuing a Ph.D. in History and her research works at the intersection of violence, kinship, and gender in the Civil War South. This award will support travel to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History in Austin, Texas which is crucial for her dissertation entitled " Reconstructing Motherhood:  Identity, Labor, and Rebuilding in Nineteenth-Century Texas."

 

Wren King

Alma and Claude Rowe Excellence Through Equity Award 

Wren King is a triple major in Anthropology, Women's and Gender Studies, and Geography as well as a student researcher at WVU. This award will help fund their travel with the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, where they will present their capstone project, which focuses on the opioid epidemic in Appalachia- specifically the history and future possibilities of harm reduction in West Virginia

Sammy Leggett Bradley and Adrian McCaskey

Carrie Koeturius Scholarship

Sammy Leggett Bradley is pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication Studies centering her research and service around marginalized and oppressed groups. Prior to attending WVU, she served as a full-time pastor for ten years. She recently created and facilitated "The Coming Out Workshop: Coming Out to my Christian Family" in partnership with the WVU LGBTQ+ Center

Adrian McCaskey has always dreamed of being an English teacher. They started in the Secondary English Education program and then had to take an academic break. While working, they still found themselves teaching those around them and knew they had to find a way back into WVU, which they did! She is now pursuing a BA in English and plans to attend graduate school for Secondary English Education. 

Gillie Tuyet Gills is a Geography and Women's and Gender Studies double major. With funds from the award, they plan to attend the National Women's Studies Association conference in Baltimore, Maryland, where they will present their research entitled "Queerness and Identity in Appalachia," which aims to evaluate what it means to be queer within the Appalachian Region. 

The Helen E. Almasy Academic Enrichment Award supports the academic enrichment of undergraduate and graduate women who are pursuing degrees or certificates in the programs offered by the Center for Women's and Gender Studies or the college's Leadership Studies Programs. It recognizes, encourages, and supports the leadership, mentoring, and management skills of those students. 

Alysse Baker

Stitzel/Temple Finding Peaceful Pathways Award

Alysse Baker is a Ph.D. in Communication Studies. Her project explores how restrictions to reproductive healthcare constitute a health disparity and intends to outline strategies to address this health disparity, particularly focusing on the disproportionate, negative impact on disadvantaged groups, including Black and Brown women. This award will help fund her research and conference expenses in relation to her project.