Eugene R. Cummings Senior Thesis Prize in LGBT Studies

Harvard Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality will award $1000 to the best senior thesis on a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender Studies topic from any department or program at Harvard. The thesis should focus on LGBT subject matter, rather than touching on LGBT issues tangentially. Theses may be submitted by a faculty member or by an undergraduate; there is no formal nomination process.

PDF versions of the thesis and of the readers’ comments should be emailed to the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at wgs@fas.harvard.edu by Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Please use "Cummings Prize submission" as the subject of the email. If readers’ comments are not available by the deadline, students are responsible for asking their concentration’s Director of Studies or Head Tutor to email wgs@fas.harvard.edu with the date the readings will be available. To expedite distribution of the award, the email should include the following information: the entrant's name and Harvard ID number, telephone number, mailing address, and e-mail. The prize will be awarded in early May 2021.

Eugene R. Cummings, the son of an Irish immigrant schoolteacher from Fall River, Massachusetts, was a gay student at the Harvard Dental School who ended his life on June 11, 1920, just days short of receiving his degree, after being interrogated and informed that he would be expelled by the “Secret Court” that purged gay men from Harvard in 1920. The prize was established to ensure that his name and experiences will not be forgotten and that future generations will have opportunities for self-expression that were denied to Mr. Cummings. It is made possible by gift of The Open Gate, a private charitable foundation established by the Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus.