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Student Research Projects

GSWS offers several opportunities for potential research funding

The Laura Levitt GSWS Research Award funds research opportunities for GSWS undergraduate and graduate students. Each student who is selected will receive a $1500 stipend; their faculty mentor will receive $500.

Bruce Davidson and Donald Barb Award provides financial support for two (2) students annually who are enrolled in the GSWS program and who are completing their required fieldwork experience. A one-time payment of $2,500 shall be awarded to one (1) student during the fall and spring semester each year.

Rebecca Alpert Fund This gift will fund field research experiences for students during the fall and spring semesters. The money will be divided equally among all students for the academic year. The amount is subject to vary depending on the number of student participants.

Hal Shanis Fund benefits students who are enrolled in GSWS by providing financial support for students to participate in fieldwork, internships, or other experiential learning that are meaningful to them and their specific GSWS interests.

Periodically, the GSWS Program has access to additional awards and funds.

Here is a sample of prior student research projects

Ari Gewirtzman, “Transgender Bodies: From Medicalization and Criminalization to Liberation”

  • This research explores how the relationship between cultural biases, medical practices, and legislation impact trans patients through analyzing historical and legal documents. The results of this research will be relevant for improving trans healthcare quality and informing activist strategies. 
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. J

Shelby Kubicka, “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization: Gender Stereotypes and Assumptions in the Language of the Supreme Court”

  • a textual analysis of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court case decision. This analysis is representative of a larger issue at hand and lends itself to additional research in the future to study how these harmful stereotypes become embedded into society and then work their way into the law.
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. J

Jack Kleiner, “What If Laughter Were Really Tears?: A Zine About Online Activism Across Gender, Sexuality, Race and Class at the End of the World”

  • With a focus on GSWS related topics, this paper researches how young people’s use of social media and how it affects activism. Presented as a zine, the work explores how many people are feelings great senses of demoralization, hopelessness, helplessness, nihilism and dread. The work encourages readers creative ways to get involved in activism. 
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. J

Presented at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Being in the first group for the Laura Levitt GSWS Research Award was not only an honor but one of the best research experiences I’ve had at Temple University. If I could do it again I would!

Jack Kleiner, Class of ’25

Anjani Ningaiah, “‘They Don’t Care at All’: Perceptions of Medical Transphobia and Resultant Changes to Outlook on the Healthcare System for Transgender Patients”

  • A study of trans people’s attitudes towards the healthcare system in general as well as trans-specific healthcare; additionally, to what degree do their experiences with the healthcare system positively or negatively impact their mental health.

Rebecca Albert Grant

Faculty Advisor: Prof. Brad Windhauser

Renata Pontes, “Afro-spirituality, Diasporic Commons, and Performative Politics in Caribbean Women’s Narratives”

  • A comprehensive archive of Black and women-of-color intellectuals from the Hispanophone, Anglophone, and Francophone Caribbean and its diaspora in the US (Ana Lydia Vega, Mayra Santos-Febres, Rita Indiana, Jamaica Kincaid, and Edwidge Danticat) in essays, short stories, novels, and musical performance released in late twentieth- and twenty-first-century (1980s-2020).
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. J

Samantha Sproviero, “Queen Louise of Prussia: Fashion, Gender and Power”

  • Analyzes Queen Louise of Prussia’s feminized military uniforms to better understand the complicated intersection of gender, power, and material culture used to navigate the position of queen consort in Prussia. The paper argues that Louise’s use of military-inspired clothing was performative, and that her fashion choices were informed (and limited ) by her gender. 
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. J

Julia Levin, “‘Boys Don’t Cry’: Examining Emotional Suppression, Masculinity and Gender-based Violence”

  • This project examines the ways in which expectations surrounding hegemonic masculinity force boys and men to suppress certain emotions. It then explores the connection between this emotional suppression, and gender-based violence.  
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. J

Presented at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Symposium.