5/8/09 Women’s Studies recognizes student winner and two runners-up for 2009 Jameson Prize

L-R: Jameson Prize winner, Calli Baldwin;  Runners-up, Allison Weaver and Natasha Lagoudas

• The Women’s Studies Program has named Calli Baldwin this year’s Henry Jameson Prize winner, along with runners-up Allison Weaver and Natasha Lagoudas.
  
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• The award recognizes the selection of the best undergraduate papers addressing women’s lives and roles.
  

Women’s Studies recognizes student winner and two runners-up for 2009 Jameson Prize

The Women’s Studies Program has named Calli Baldwin this year’s Henry Jameson Prize winner, along with runners-up Allison Weaver and Natasha Lagoudas. The award recognizes the selection of the best undergraduate papers addressing women’s lives and roles.

Baldwin, a psychology major and a double minor in women’s studies and philosophy, wrote the winning submission titled “’Conceiving’ Women: The Legalities of Egg Donation and Its Social Ramifications.”

Baldwin said she chose to write her paper on reproductive rights because of her profound interest in feminist legal theory.

“The purpose of my paper is to get people to question the laws that govern our society and the effects they have,” Baldwin said. “When we see how technology -related to women’s health -is treated legally, it seems more apparent how society treats women, sometimes covertly.”

Weaver, a sociology major, was chosen as a runner-up for “The Failure of the Feminist Purity Movement.” Her choice of topic stemmed from her curiosity about the stringent moral systems in place during Victorian times.

“I thought that exploring the other side of the moral spectrum, prostitution, would be interesting,” Weaver said. “What I found to be most fascinating about my topic was that while the women of the feminist movement attempted to fight the patriarchy and hierarchy in their society, they could not help but to parallel those same ideals in their own organizations.”

Lagoudas, an aerospace engineering major and women’s studies minor, was chosen as a runner-up for “Women in Engineering at the Undergraduate Level.”

Prize honors a father and his values

The Jameson Prize was established in 1989 by Dr. Elizabeth Jameson, who initiated the award in honor of her father Henry Jameson, a graduate of veterinary school at A&M.

Jameson supported educational and professional opportunities for women in his own family, and his support for women extended outside his own home. “He was always very disturbed by the fact that women were not allowed at A&M and also that it was racially segregated,” Betsy Jameson said. “He spent a lot of his time as a very loyal Aggie wanting to change those things. I know he was pleased the women had been admitted, and I know that he would be pleased with this award.”

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Contact: Ashley Leathers txgrl6@libarts.tamu.edu 979-862-4987