From the Office of the Dean...

June 19, 2009

Women's and Gender Studies Program presents research awards

The Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST) program recently awarded three research awards.

Marjorie J. Spruill, a professor of history, received the 2009 Josephine Abney Faculty Research Award for her project “Remembering International Women’s Year 1977: A Feminist History Preservation Project.” Designed to encourage cutting edge research that is solidly grounded in women's and gender studies perspectives, the $5,000 award will go toward transcribing a vast archive of oral interviews conducted with women who attended the 1977 International Women’s Year conference in Houston, Texas, with a special focus on South Carolinians.

Erica Gibson, an assistant professor of anthropology and WGST, received a 2009 Carol Jones Carlisle Faculty Research Award for her project “Perinatal Care Access: A Cross- Cultural Study of Mexican and Mexican-American Women.” The award was created by friends, colleagues, family, and students of Dr. Carlisle, who taught at Carolina for nearly 40 years. She is now an English Professor Emeritus and internationally known as an important Shakespeare scholar. Agnes Mueller, an associate professor of German, also received a 2009 Carol Jones Carlisle Faculty Research Award for her project “Jews and Gender in Contemporary German Literature.” The $1,000 award can be used for travel, software, books, supplies, and/or equipment.

Additionally, graduating senior Annie Boiter-Jolley received the Arney Robinson Childs Award, which honors the former dean of women at Carolina and recognizes a WGST undergraduate who exemplifies the leadership and scholarship of Dean Arney Childs. A native of Chapin, Boiter-Jolly is a double major in political science and WGST, with a minor in Southern studies. A Carolina Scholar, Lieber Scholar, and Palmetto Fellows Scholar, Boiter-Jolley was named Phi Beta Kappa in 2008.