Jessica Sucherman, a senior in the Undergraduate Academy, an intellectual community of academically motivated students, has been named recipient of the Karen Raforth Scholarship.
The scholarship is administered by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies Certificate Program and provides a financial award to a graduate or undergraduate student at CU-Boulder who best exemplifies steadfastness, visibility and effectiveness in the quest for gay rights and the rights of all marginalized people.
"Through her work for the Women's Resource Center and other campus organizations, Jessica exemplifies commitment and courage," said Jan Whitt, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and UA co-director. "Jessica uses her intellectual gifts for the betterment of others, and in doing so she has become an example for me and for others at CU."
Sucherman is majoring in English and anthropology, with a minor in Women's Studies. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and has received several prestigious awards, including the Truman Scholarship and the Hazel Woodruff Memorial Scholarship.
She also is a CU-Boulder President's Leadership Class Scholar and a Jacob Van Ek Scholar, the highest honor awarded to Arts and Sciences students for outstanding academic achievement and contributions to the university and Boulder communities.
Sucherman has served as a volunteer for Helpline, a campus-based crisis hotline, the Family Learning Center in Boulder, the Teen Pregnancy Program and the teen clinic at the Boulder County Women's Health Center.
Named after Karen Raforth, an LGBT activist and former therapist in CU's Counseling and Psychological Services: A Multicultural Center, the Raforth Scholarship honors the past and future work of trailblazers who are advocates for diversity including sexual orientation and gender variance.