Jeanette McVicker Scholarship
Jeanette McVicker Women's and Gender Studies Scholarship:
Requirements for the Women’s and Gender Studies Scholarship:
The Jeanette McVicker Women’s and Gender Studies Scholarship was established to recognize and encourage scholarship—and activism informed by scholarly inquiry—in the area of Women’s and Gender Studies. Award amount: $500.
Eligible Applicants:
- Have taken/are taking WGST 201, and six additional hours in courses with the Women’s and Gender Studies designation (WGST).
- Shows academic promise. (Suggested GPA of at least 3.0)
- Shows potential to improve status of gender and sexual minorities through scholarship and/or activism.
* Declared Women’s and Gender Studies minors and majors will be given preference.
Application Procedure:
1. Cover sheet: Eligible applicants must fill out the following cover sheet:
2. Cover letter: Respond to the following questions in no more than two typewritten pages:
- How did you become interested in women’s and gender studies and why are you interested?
- How do you see yourself and others benefiting from your work in women’s and gender studies during your college career?
- What are your goals for the future, and how do they reflect your commitment to elevating the status of women?
- Tell us why you should receive this award and how you would benefit from it. Include any factors about your life situation (financial or otherwise) that you would like the committee to consider.
3. Two Letters of Recommendation: At least one should be from a faculty member. The second could be from a professional staff member at Fredonia or a pertinent supervisor. Be sure that letters speak to your qualifications for this scholarship in women’s and gender studies. Please have the letters signed across the seal in envelopes, and returned to you to be turned in with your complete application.
4. Transcript: An unofficial copy from the registrar’s office will suffice.
Turn in a hard copy of your complete application to Dr. Jeffry Iovannone, coordinator of the Women's and Gender Studies Program, Fenton Hall 239. Applications may be left in Dr. Iovannone's mailbox in the English department. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Iovannone at jeffryiovannone@fredonia.edu.
Deadline: April 19, 2017, 12 noon
History of the Jeanette McVicker Scholarship:
Dr. Jeanette McVicker began teaching in Fredonia in 1988. She, along with a group of Fredonia faculty, was pivotal in reinstating the defunct Women's Studies program in 1996. She served as director of the program from 1996 to 2000, ensuring in those important first years that the curriculum reflected the dynamism and rigor of Women's Studies as an interdisciplinary field of academic inquiry. She also served as faculty advisor to the Women's Student Union from 1993 to 2000.
McVicker continues to teach as a full professor in the Department of English at Fredonia, and currently serves on the advisory board for the newly transitioned Women and Gender Studies program, which she co-coordinated in 2012-2013. The majority of her professional work has explored the convergence of politics, economics, gender and culture in the 20th century, expressed in literature (including authors such as Virginia Woolf), critical theory, and media.
The annual fundraising event “Women, Rock and Soul” was integral in getting the scholarship fund off the ground. “When Women, Rock and Soul started out in 1996 (the year the minor went into effect and my first year as director),” McVicker said, “the fundraiser supported Women's History Month and Women's Studies programming because we had no budget and WSU was still just an acknowledged student group; they only had a couple hundred dollars a year.” As the program and WSU gained more stable funding, the scholarship became the focus of the event. “We wanted to have an annual event that celebrated women and creativity, and Women Rock & Soul transitioned into the scholarship fundraiser,” she said. McVicker’s name was added to the scholarship when she stepped down as director in 2000, as a gesture to honor her service to the women’s studies program by those who came after her.
Previous Recipients:
- Faith Winship (2019)
- Anneliese Bienko and Leah Minio (2018)
- Sydney Flanagan, Honorable Mention: Jaqlyn Colangelo (2017)
- Dean Bavisotto, Honorable Mention: Amanda Thornton (2016)
- Renee Willett (2015)
- Claire Woodcock (2014)
- Courtney Loiacono and Hanna Neumann (2013)
- Angela Barney (2012)
- Alyssa Brooke-Gay (2009)
- Rebecca Grady (2008)
- Sarah T. Schwab (2007)
- Kathryn Diebold (2006)
- Sandra D'Alonzo, (2005)
- Melissa DiMartino (2004)