Peña Scholarship

Undergraduate Awards

For questions, please call the Center for Women's and Gender Studies office at 471-5765.

The Cynthia Walker Peña Scholarship in Women's and Gender Studies

The Cynthia Walker Peña award was named after a staff member who worked in the Dean's Office at UT.
Cynthia, or Cindy, worked in Liberal Arts as a degree evaluator until she passed away in 1981, at the age of 26 from cancer.  While working at UT, Cindy showed an interest in women's studies courses and was able to audit a class with Dr. Pat Kruppa.  Read more about the Peña award's history here.

The scholarship is awarded annually to an undergraduate student who has earned distinction in Women's and Gender Studies scholarship and service (with an emphasis on service).  Scholarship of $250 to be awarded at the Annual Spring Reception in late April/early May, date TBA.

Requirements:

• Online Application
• List courses you have taken or are currently taking in Women's and Gender Studies. At least 6 hours of content-related courses required (submitted online) website will allow 800 char. max.
• List the department, contact info, and names of 2 UT professors whom we might call as references. (Letters are not required; submitted online) website will allow 800 char. max.
• Beyond academic work: Activities and contributions in the area of community and campus service that relates to women's issues. (Essay format, 100 lines max; submitted online)
• Academic essay on a gender topic, 2-4 pages, that informs our understanding of women, gender, and/or sexuality, including sources or bibliography*. website will allow 100 lines max - you may edit your paper to fit.
• Resume (100 lines max; submitted online)
• Academic standing

Essays and applications must be submitted online by 11:59pm on April 15th 2012..  When submitting to the online system, double-check formatting as punctuation may be lost.  Do not wait until the last minute to apply!   The server may become overloaded due to traffic and your browser might receive an error! Staff may not be available to assist with errors on April 15th. We advise you test your ability to save and work online as early as possible.  Please submit questions or report any glitches you find in advance to the CWGS office.

*To ensure a more competitive application, it is recommended that the essay be an academic paper that has been submitted/graded/revised.  The online application only provides 100 lines max.  There is also an additional space (of 100 lines max) provided for the remainder of the essay or bibliography page.  Double-spacing is not necessary.  A word of caution: the website's interpretation of 100 lines may differ from 100 lines in a word processing program.

Scholarship to be awarded at the Annual WGS Spring Reception late April/early May. Award winners should be present.

Applications are available online through UT Direct: http://tiny.cc/wgs-awards

If the shortened link does not work for you, please try: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/scholarship/student/menu.WBX?s_scholarship_owner=LWGS&s_user_role=S

Applications will open in February 2012.