The Helen Terry MacLeod Prize, awarded for the last 12 years through the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women for an outstanding undergraduate honors thesis on women or gender, will be given as a grant starting this year. This year also marks the beginning of the Ruth Simmons Prize in Gender and Women's Studies, which awards the same amount of money for the same criteria as the MacLeod grant.
The Helen Terry MacLeod Research Grant commemorates the life of Helen Terry MacLeod, who never went to college but who financially supported all of her grandchildren in their pursuit of higher education.
The $1,000 grant is awarded for undergraduate research from any department, as long as the subject matter pertains to women or gender or the subject matter is analyzed with a feminist perspective.
Pembroke Center Director Elizabeth Weed said she has wanted to increase the number of grants awarded by the center. Previously, the only grant available through the center was the Barbara Anton Internship Grant, which supports undergraduate research involving an internship or volunteer work that aims to better the welfare of women or children.
The center understands the financial difficulties students face in completing research for their theses, Weed said, and believes it is "extremely important" for all departments to support students during the process. Because the new Ruth Simmons Prize is so similar to the prize given in memory of Helen Terry MacLeod, it was "the perfect opportunity to convert it," Weed said, so that the center could offer another grant.
Applications for both Pembroke Center grants were due Monday.
