2026 Senior Thesis Winner: Madison Quinn
The Battle for Bodily Autonomy: Situation Steralization and Abortion Policy Within U.S. Reproductive Governance.
Senior Thesis Award
The C. Margaret Hall Senior Thesis Award is given to the graduating senior whose thesis, in the opinion of the Sociology faculty, displays an outstanding research design and methodology; high-quality writing; strong analytical skills; and a notable contribution to sociological knowledge.
All senior sociology majors may submit their thesis for consideration.
Award Winners (2016-Present)
2025 Senior Thesis Winners: Jordan A. Keene and Rachel Fang Tao
Jordan A. Keene: Sobering Inequalities: Examining Judicial Paternalism and Protections in Virginia Criminal Courts
Rachel Fang Tao: Team Players: The Relationship Between Unionization and Community and Political Engagement Among Americans
2024 Senior Thesis Winner: Erin Farrell
Left Unsaid: Gendered Differences in Physical Mannerisms Within University Classrooms
2023 Senior Thesis Winner: Courtney Fanning
Refraction of Self: East Asian Transracial and Transnational Adoptees’ Experiences with Their Racial and Ethnic Identities
2022 Senior Thesis Winners: Natalie Guarino and Jennifer Martinez Sanchez
Natalie Guarino – The Meritocracy Myth: The Influence on Demographic Factors on Meritocratic Beliefs at Wealthy College Campuses
Jennifer Martinez Sanchez – Becoming Essential (and Forgotten) During the COVID-19 Pandemic
2021 Senior Thesis Winner: Madeleine Gibbons-Shapiro
Swiping for Sex or Self?: An Examination of Women and Nonbinary Femmes’ Presentations of Self on Tinder
2020 Senior Thesis Winners: Charlotte Matthews and Helena Oft
Helena Oft – Harm in Healing: Institutional Betrayal by the healthcare system shapes physical and mental health outcomes for victims of sexual assault
Charlotte Matthews – Fertility Day 2016: An Analysis of News Reactions to Italian Fertility Marketing Campaigns
2019 Senior Thesis Winner: Aaron Ray Weinmann
Anticipating Death: A Strict Religious Adherence’s Impacts On the Perception of Death
2018 Senior Thesis Winner: Garet Williams
Community in Diversity: Social and Cultural Capital and the Coherence of Low Income First Generation Students as a Community at Georgetown University
2017 Senior Thesis Winner: Victoria Efetevbia
Black Undergraduate Students’ Experiences with Menstruation at Georgetown University
2016 Senior Thesis Winner: Michael Crozier
The Great Glass Ceiling: An Analysis of Low-Income Schools in Washington, D.C. and College Readiness