Carroll Smith-Rosenberg Senior Thesis Prize in Women’s Studies

The Smith-Rosenberg Prize awards $250 each year for a superior senior thesis paper in the field of Women's Studies. During their senior year, all Women's Studies majors write a thesis based on original research they carry out on a topic relating to gender. The prize, which recognizes the student paper of the highest quality, is named in honor of the distinguished historian Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, a founder of the Women's Studies Program at Penn.

The 2008 Prize Recipient was Sonia Pascal for her thesis entitled, "A Fate Worse than Debt: Women, Bankruptcy, and the 2005 Reform Act."

Lynda S. Hart Prize in Sexuality Studies

The Hart Prize, established in the spring of 2006, awards $250 each year for a senior thesis or seminar paper in the field of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender) studies. This new prize will be awarded in memory of Lynda S. Hart, Professor of English at Penn and groundbreaking scholar in feminist performance studies and queer theory. The prize recognizes original, rigorous scholarship by an undergraduate in any field.

In 2008 there were two recipients of the award: Jordan Greenwald for his paper, "Picturing Desire: The Logics of Consumption and the Sexual/Textual Revisions of Dorian Gray" and Robert Medina for his paper, "In Search of Queer Spaces: Homoerotic Geographies and a Discourse of Power in Donoso's, 'Hell Has No Limit' and Puig's, 'Kiss of the Spider Woman.'"