A week after Alison Piepmeier passed away, people came forth to create the Alison Piepmeier Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to a full-time studentmajoring or minoring in women’s and gender studies who has demonstrated arecord of feminist activism and leadership.

Piepmeier, who created the College’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program and directed the program for over a decade, passed away last December after a six-yearstruggle with brain cancer. She was a beloved activist, advocate, mentor, mother andfriend, and her legacy lives on through the Alison Piepmeier Scholarship. Leigh Friar ’17 is the first recipient of that scholarship.

“Dr. Piepmeier had a significant influence on me – not only on my academic career but on my personal growth,” says Friar, who plans to continue gender and sexuality studies at the graduate level and one day get a Ph.D. in social work and to teach and inspire others, just as Piepmeier did.

“I watched as Dr. Piepmeier inspired students to unapologetically carve out space for themselves,” says Friar. “I want to focus my teaching career on ethics in social work and intersectionality in academia.”