Fund:

Marguerite Waller Endowed Award in Sustainability Studies Fund

Department:

Gender & Sexuality Studies Dept D01032

Purpose:

Undergraduate Student Support

Fund Purpose: This Fund shall be used to provide support for undergraduate students majoring in sustainability studies, a program housed within the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Eff: 12/31/2021 - True endowment converted from endowment intent #6I0107.

BACKGROUND:
Marguerite “Margie” Waller served as Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at UC
Riverside from 1991 to 2018. She also served as Chair of the Department of Gender and
Sexuality Studies and led efforts to found the undergraduate major in Sustainability Studies in
2015. This interdisciplinary major emphasizes social and environmental justice issues and is
offered through the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies. It was the first of its kind
nationally.
Before arriving at UCR, Margie earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from Yale University
and rose as faculty at Amherst College in English and Women’s Studies from 1974 to 1991. She
is considered a “Pioneer Woman” as a result of her time and contributions there.
Professor Waller’s teaching interests included feminist discourse, human rights, peace studies,
film and media studies, critical theory, and the Italian renaissance (e.g., Dante’s Commedia). She
directed the University of California Rome Study Center from 2007-2008. She also went beyond
her academic job and career to organize several national and international feminist conferences
and work in the early 90’s with the women’s border justice and art-making collective Las
Comadres, active in the San Diego/Tijuana border region.
Family, friends, and colleagues of Professor Waller have pledged to donate the necessary funds
to create an endowment to honor Margie’s legacy. This named memorial fund will allow the
department to support students majoring in sustainability studies through financial awards to
recognize excellence and/or assist students pursuing experiential activities related to their major.


General Purpose
This Fund shall be used to provide support for undergraduate students majoring in sustainability studies, a program housed within the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies.


Criteria and Selection Process:
The Fund is to be administered by the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies. A committee of sustainability studies faculty shall be responsible for making award decisions.

The Fund shall support annual awards to declared majors in sustainability studies. Awards may be given in recognition of academic or research excellence, or in support of experiential activities including internships, service opportunities, research, conferences, or travel including studies abroad.

It is preferable for selections to be made in the spring quarter for awarding during the next academic year.

Selection shall be based on merit and need.

In years when there is no candidate who meets the criteria, awards will be held until the following year.