The Samia I. Spencer Annual Creative Mentorship Award in the College of Liberal Arts encourages and recognizes the special efforts of the Women’s and Gender Studies affiliate faculty who take an interest in the life and development of students through mentoring that extends beyond the classroom. It jointly rewards a faculty member and a student for their creative collaboration and scholarly collaboration.
Eligibility
The faculty candidate must be an affiliate of the Women’s and Gender Studies program. The student candidate must be an undergraduate or graduate student who is pursuing a women’s and gender studies minor. The faculty candidate must have a tangible mentoring relationship with the student candidate, and the focus of their work together must be the student’s extracurricular development of intellectual curiosity through research on issues related to women and gender. The research project can stem from coursework or curricula, but the mentoring relationship needs to move beyond the classroom instructor-student relationship and/or degree program advisor-student relationship.
The student and faculty member should prepare an application packet consisting of:
- A letter from the student describing the research project and the mentoring relationship
- A letter from the faculty member describing the research project and the mentoring relationship
- Materials that correlate to the research project and the mentorship relationship, such as the student’s CV, indicating any relevant academic activities, including conference presentations and publications or performances and installations
The application packet should be sent via email attachment to the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program. A selection committee will be appointed by the director. Awardees will be recognized at the annual business meeting and award ceremony.
Amount
The annual award totals $5,000, with $2,500 awarded to the faculty member and $2,500 to the student. If the selected application includes multiple faculty members or students, the $5,000 will be split evenly among all recipients. Each award is for one academic year. Previous recipients may be eligible for this award again after three years from the date of receipt.