The Scholars Lecture is an annual tradition that celebrates the achievements and innovative scholarship of core and affiliate faculty in women and gender studies. The event also helps to promote the work done at the graduate level by students in women and gender studies programs. This year’s program seeks to further highlight the scholarship, teaching, and service completed by graduate students through the newly established Rising Scholars Award. University faculty and staff were asked to nominate students associated with the program by completing a nomination form and providing a letter of support. Eligible students were those in the MAIS or graduate certificate programs.
The three final nominees for the award are:
- Marisa Allison, graduate certificate in women and gender studies and doctoral student in sociology
- Sara Hussaini, master’s of arts in interdisciplinary studies in women and gender studies
- Caroline Pendry, graduate certificate in women and gender studies and master’s student in sociology Each student is without a doubt worthy of such an award.
The three graduate students have a strong record of scholarship and service to the program and have served as role models.
“The people that I’ve come in contact with over the course of my graduate study have both inspired and challenged me. My colleagues have helped me to work through my research process and my faculty mentors have helped guide me through my coursework and thesis. I couldn’t ask for a better support system and all of this makes it easier to give back to Women and Gender Studies,” says Caroline Pendry, in response to the news of her nomination.
Caroline was a survey interviewer for the Center for Social Science Research at George Mason University and is currently a graduate assistant in Women and Gender Studies. Caroline’s research interests include body politics, sociology of culture, feminist theory, and fashion and style. Caroline’s research on the politics of style began during her enrollment in the gender research project course. She presented the research last spring at the 81st Annual Eastern Sociology Society Meeting and is completing her thesis with this research. In terms of service to the program, Caroline was a key voice in the associate director search committee and has served for nearly a year on the director and student advisory committee.
“I am very fortunate to have been able to pursue research topics that interest me personally, rather than being forced to research my professors’ academic interests…When you are in an academic program whose mention results in receiving perplexed looks from the general public, when you are in an academic program that falls at the bottom of the totem pole in an academic institution, it is refreshing and reassuring experience to witness students being honored by Mason’s Women and Gender Studies program,” responded nominee Sara Hussaini.
Sara came to the program with a background in psychology, nonprofit management, development expertise, and a variety of professional experiences. Since joining the program, Sara has presented as the Southeastern Women’s Studies Conference and the Gender Research Conference. Sara was also a featured artists at the Reve(a)ling Feminist Art show in March of 2011. Sara has maintained an excellent academic record in her graduate studies and shows outstanding promise in her field of research.
“My thesis is taking a thematic approach to reflecting on the motif of "liminal spaces" as found in South Asian Sufi poetry, questioning and reframing binary modes of thought in gender and sexuality, particularly from a Muslim religio-spiritual perspective. In a world hell-bent on oppressing the Other, remarkably in the name of religion while confounding self-reflexivity with sin, studies such as these are a sine qua non. I am extremely grateful to my professors who have not only taught me, but have rendered me transformable,” Sara said.
Marisa Allison recently completed her graduate certificate in women and gender studies. Since coming to Mason for her Ph.D. in Sociology, Marisa has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to the principles of gender scholarship. Marisa has taught several courses for the women and gender studies program and has taught additional courses for other departments on campus and in the northern Virginia area. Marisa has been published in the Justice Quarterly, the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, and the Journal of Crime and Justice. Marisa has presented at numerous local and regional conferences and will be presenting this week at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference. Her research interests include the feminization of U.S. higher education, educational stratification, women’s empowerment, and social stratification. Marisa has been an advocate for the formation and continuation of the Women’s Grad School Survivor Hour and is the graduate student representative on the women and gender studies executive committee.
In response to the news of her nomination, Marisa said, “Beyond the excited I feel about being nominated for this award, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to be mentored by so many phenomenal scholars here at Mason. The nomination of any one person’s scholarship represents the visible and invisible work of so many others.”
Combined, the service, scholarship, and experience of each nominee represents the very best that the program has to offer. “Our graduate students are wonderful mentors to our undergraduate students and it is such a powerful experience to have this kind of community in the program,” explained Angela Hattery, associate director of women and gender studies.
November 07, 2011
