2024 GENDER, WOMEN’S & SEXUALITY STUDIES (GWSS/SJUS) SCHOLARSHIPS

For all awards fill out the electronic application with supporting documents by February 2nd, 2024.

Ensure letters of recommendtions are sent to gwsstudies@uiowa.edu before February 2nd, 2024

Awards will be presented at the Annual Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women to be held in April 2024.

Tips for Applicants

FOR UNDERGRADUATE OR GRADUATE STUDENTS

STEPHEN LYNN SMITH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Stephen Lynn Smith (1944-2009) was born in Cedar Rapids and raised in nearby Marion. A 1963 graduate of Marion High School, he enrolled that summer in the ROTC program at the State University of Iowa (the original name of the University of Iowa), majoring in engineering. Perhaps influenced by the 1963 March on Washington that August, Steve embraced the Civil Rights Movement. He soon joined the local chapter of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and in 1964 participated in Freedom Summer, an effort to register African Americans in Mississippi to vote. He was one of more than 800 volunteers from across the country.

Two awards of $4000 each are given to students who demonstrate a commitment to the principles of social justice and progress. This award is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Applications must include:

• Application Form
• A one-page statement describing your academic or career goals, and some ways in which these reflect a concern for social justice.
• Two letters of recommendation.
• Unofficial transcripts of UI coursework

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

KRISTIN K. LIPPKE MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Kris Lippke was a University of Iowa undergraduate student one month away from graduating with a minor in Women’s Studies when a serious car accident changed the course of her life. In her memory the Lippke family has established a scholarship to be awarded to undergraduate students majoring in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) or Social Justice Studies (SJUS).

The 2024-2025 Kristin K. Lippke Scholarship will provide two awards in the amount of $4000 each to GWSS or SJUS majors based on academic merit and financial need.

Please note – this award will be distributed during the next academic year (2024-25); recipients must be enrolled as either a part-time or full-time GWSS or SJUS major during both semesters.

Applications must include:

• Application form
• A one-page statement describing your academic or career goals, and some ways in which these reflect a concern for women's lives
• Two letters of recommendation
• unofficial transcript(s) of undergraduate work

ADAH JOHNSON/OTILIA MARIE FERNANDEZ SCHOLARSHIP

This scholarship honors Adah Johnson, one of the first black women students to graduate from the University of Iowa (1912) and Otilia Marie Fernandez, one of the first Hispanic women to graduate (1924).

The 2024-25 Johnson/Fernandez Scholarship will be awarded to an undergraduate woman student of color who has taken courses in the Department of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies or whose academic interests include some aspect of women’s culture or experience.

One award of $1000 will be given.

Applications must include:

• Application form
• A one page statement describing your academic or career goals, and the ways in which these reflect a concern for women's lives
• Two letters of recommendation
• Unofficial transcripts

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

JANE A. WEISS MEMORIAL DISSERTATION SCHOLARSHIP

A $4,000 scholarship is awarded to a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Iowa whose dissertation focuses on issues pertaining to women. Graduate students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Criteria for selection:

• Applicant must be a currently enrolled PhD. candidate;
• Dissertation proposal must be accepted by the candidate’s department by December 9, 2023;
• Applicant must have a demonstrated commitment to women’s issues through activities in the University or larger community; and
• The dissertation promises to contribute to the understanding of women’s issues and to feminist scholarship.

Applications must include:

• Application form
• A letter of application that specifically addresses the selection criteria listed above. Provide information about your activist or community-based work, including information about activist groups or organizations with which you have worked.
• A four- to five-page (double-spaced) summary of your dissertation in terms intelligible to readers outside your field.
• Two letters of recommendation. One letter must be from a faculty member who is familiar with your dissertation. The second letter should be from a person familiar with your activism on behalf of women’s issues.
• Transcripts of graduate work
• Curriculum vita

ADELE KIMM SCHOLARSHIP

The Adele Kimm Scholarship is made possible by a bequest of Adele Kimm in honor of her brother, S. Conrad Kimm and her sister-in-law Hilda Kimm.

The 2024-25 Adele Kimm Scholarship will be awarded to a graduate student involved in the Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies Department through coursework or service. One award of $3000 will be given.

Please note – this award will be distributed during the next academic year (2024-25); the recipient must be registered as either a part-time or full-time student during both semesters.

Applications must include:

• Application form
• A one page statement describing your academic or career goals, and the ways in which these reflect a concern for women's lives
• Two letters of recommendation
• Unofficial transcripts

For all awards fill out the electronic application with supporting documents by February 2nd, 2024.

Ensure letters of recommendtions are sent to gwsstudies@uiowa.edu before Febraury 2nd, 2024