Bessie Stak Schiffman Award for Excellence in Women’s Studies
The Bessie Stak Schiffman Award is given annually to a graduating senior who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in both academic work in women’s studies and in campus or community activism. This award was created through the generosity of Prof. Ann Saltzman, Dept. of Psychology, the 1994 recipient of the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. The award is named in memory of Ann’s grandmother who, as a young woman, learned Hebrew and became the “prayer reader” for the women of her small synagogue, enabling them to participate in activities otherwise restricted to men. Her story embodies the ways in which women’s knowledge can transform community. The first Schiffman was awarded in May of 1995.
Schiffman Award Recipients
1995 Kearsten Davis (Psychology) & Chakshu Patel (Women’s Studies)
1996 Bridget Guarasci (African American, Women’s Studies)
1997 Alison Kinney (English, Women’s Studies)
1998 Carolin Collins (Anthropology)
1999 Lori Babcock (Behavioral Science)
2000 Emily Musil (American Studies)
2001 Sue Brennan (Women’s Studies) & Chelsea Hoffman (Theatre)
2002 Marissa Hildebrandt (Women’s Studies) & Jenn Russell (Music)
2003 Jessie Gamble (Women’s Studies)
2004 Kristen Ackley (Psychology, Women’s Studies)
2005 No award given
2006 Kim Buonarota (Political Science, Women’s Studies)
2007 Victoria Sollecito (Women’s Studies)
2008 Stacy Johnson (Anthropology, Women’s Studies)
2009 Victoria Webbe (Women’s Studies, Political Science)
2010 Jill Swirsky (Women’s and Gender Studies, Psychology)
2011 Marissa Portuesi (Women’s and Gender Studies, Political Science)
Raval Prize in Women’s Studies and the Humanities
Established by her family and friends in memory of Shilpa Raval (1969-2004), the prize is awarded annually to a junior or senior whose interdisciplinary work, like Shilpa’s lively and innovative scholarship on gender and sexuality in the ancient world, connects women’s studies with study in an area of the humanities, languages or literature. As an undergraduate at Drew, Shilpa studied English, classics and women’s studies, receiving her B.A. in 1991. She subsequently received a Ph.D. in classics from Brown University and was an assistant professor of Classics at Yale, where she also directed the Yale Women Faculty Forum.
Raval Lecturers
2006 Vassiliki Panoussi, College of William and Mary
2007 Ruth Caston, University of Michigan
2008 Sara Lindheim, UC Santa Barbara
2009 Richard Billows (Classics), Columbia University
2010 Helene Peet Foley, Barnard College
2011 Kristina Milnor, Barnard College
2012 Yopie Prins, University of Michigan
Raval Prize Recipients
2005 Rachel Moore-Beitler (Women’s Studies)
2006 Victoria Sollecito (Women’s Studies)
2007 Stacy Johnson (Anthropology,Women’s Studies)
2008 Alicia Rodgers (Religious Studies,Women’s Studies Minor)
2009 Shaina Mirsky (English, Women’s Studies Minor)
2010 Ellen Taraschi (Women’s and Gender Studies)
2011 Nina Leone (Women’s and Gender Studies)
Helen Charlotte Brown Scholarship
The Helen Charlotte Brown Scholarship was endowed in 2001 by Professor of Sociology Jonathan Reader in honor of his mother. The scholarship is awarded annually to a Women’s Studies student who has demonstrated promise for continued academic achievement.
Recipients
2003 Jane Yamaykin (Russian Studies)
2004 Patricia Hagdorn (Political Science)
2005 Christine Ferro (Women’s Studies, Psychology)
2006 Kim Buonarota (Women’s Studies, Political Science)
2007 Stacy Johnson (Women’s Studies, Anthropology)
2008 Alexandra Steinheimer (Women’s Studies, Political Science)
2009 Samantha Kenn (Women’s and Gender Studies, Political Science)
2010 Carlin MacNichol (Women’s and Gender Studies)
2011 Kestin Gussoff (Women’s and Gender Studies, History)