Established in 2009 by her family, the Andrea Scamihorn Memorial Award and Scholarship honors the life of the late Andrea Scamihorn. Andrea was the first student to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from Ball State University and was also the recipient of the 2005 Women’s Studies Outstanding Student Activism Award. Andrea’s activism led her to Santiago, Chile where she became a teacher and an influential leader promoting anti-racism, equal rights, and anti-fascism.
She passed the day of her scheduled return to Indiana in December of 2008. Since then, the Outstanding Student Activism Award has borne her name. Recipients of this award and $250 scholarship are nominated by Women’s and Gender Studies faculty and selected for excellence in and commitment to activism on the local, national, and international level. The recipient’s name is also engraved on a perpetual plaque that is displayed in the Women's and Gender Studies program office.
Previous recipients have organized campus-wide awareness walks; lead feminist student organizations; and directed and coordinated theatrical fundraisers that have benefited the YWCA Central Indiana and A Better Way.
The Andrea Scamihorn Memorial Award and Scholarship is not an endowed fund and is dependent on ongoing contributions to further its mission. Financial support of this award and scholarship helps the Women’s and Gender Studies program recognize and encourage outstanding Ball State University students working towards gender, sexual, and racial equality.
