Undergraduate Honors and Awards
The Department of Sociology provides the following competitive awards to outstanding undergraduate students.
Please click on each individual undergraduate award listed below for full description and application instructions. A selection committee will recommend recipients for each award to the Department Chair. The recipients will be notified in writing by the end of the Spring semester.
CLA Alumni Outstanding Senior Award
Awarded each spring semester to a graduating senior in Sociology or Law and Society
Description: This annual awardee is selected by an Undergraduate Committee for an outstanding graduating senior in Sociology or Law and Society. The award is granted by the Department of Sociology and the College of Liberal Arts Alumni Board. Criteria for the award are to have achieved academic success; demonstrated a commitment to his or her major; balanced an academic load with extracurricular activities and/or a job; and demonstrated leadership ability.
Eligibility: Undergraduate Student
Due Date: Not applicatable
How To Apply: Faculty nominations to Undergraduate Committee; No student application
Outstanding Undergraduate Paper Award
Awarded each spring semester to a Sociology or Law and Society student completing a sociological research paper that is outstanding theoretically and/or methodologically
Description: This annual award is granted by an Undergraduate Committee to an outstanding major in Sociology or Law and Society, usually a Senior, who has written a sociological research paper that is outstanding theoretically/methodologically. The paper may have been written in any sociology course, in Sociology 498 (honors), selected for presentation in the annual CLA Colloquium, selected for publication in the university undergraduate research magazine; selected for presentation at a regional or national sociological association meeting; and/or selected for publication in a sociological journal.
Eligibility: Undergraduate Student
Due Date: Not applicatable
How To Apply: Faculty nominations to Undergraduate Committee; No student application
Outstanding Community Service Award
Awarded each spring semester to a Sociology or Law and Society student who has performed extensive service on campus and/or the greater Lafayette community
Description: This annual award is granted by an Undergraduate Committee to an outstanding major in Sociology or Law and Society, usually a Senior, who has performed extensive service on campus and/or the greater Lafayette community, either as an individual or as an organizer of a group of volunteers.
Eligibility: Undergraduate Student
Due Date: Not applicatable
How To Apply: Faculty nominations to Undergraduate Committee; No student application
Carolyn C. Perrucci Achievement Award
Awarded each spring semester to a Sociology or Law and Society student who has been involved in progressive campus co-curricular activities relating to feminist programming and activism
Description: The award is named after Carolyn Perrucci, Professor of Sociology and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Every even year, the Department of Sociology offers an award to a graduating sociology or law and society major with a high grade point average who also has been involved in progressive campus co-curricular activities, especially in feminist programming, and activism, thus realizing feminism’s foundational concepts of feminist theory and practice. A monetary prize of $250.00 is given to the awardee.
Eligibility: Undergraduate Student
Due Date: Spring Semester of Every Even Year
How To Apply: Submit an essay (1-2 pages) to the Undergraduate Committee describing how feminist concepts have informed or inspired your political or community activism, and the ways in which your activism reflects what you have learned in feminist studies. Include a transcript and a brief cover letter.