Outstanding achievement by students majoring in one of the Social Sciences is recognized by the award of College Scholarships at a Spring Honors Ceremony.  The scholarships represent the generosity of many friends and alumni.  They honor former deans and students in the College of Social Sciences.  These scholarships are designed to reward academic excellence, as well as to help finance the ever-increasing costs of higher education.  Selection reflects impressive accomplishments of a college career.

• SJSU Alumni Association Scholarships
• Gerald Wheeler Scholarships
• Inez and Donald Burdick Scholarships
• Charles Burdick Scholarships
• Dudley Moorhead Scholarships

Eligibility and Criteria :

• Must be declared a major in one of the Social Sciences at SJSU.
• Both graduate and undergraduate students may apply.
• A minimum of 3.5 grade point average is required for course work taken at SJSU and all college work overall.
• Completion of a significant number of graded units at SJSU is expected: a minimum of 30 graded units is preferred for undergraduates.
• Service to the university and community may be considered.
• Financial need may be a consideration for award of the Inez and Donald Burdick Scholarships.

To download application click here (MS-Word).

Outstanding Thesis Awards :

                        Two outstanding thesis awards of $500 are presented by San Jose State University each Spring. SJSU's Graduate Studies and Research Committee allows each college to select only one thesis to be sent forward for consideration. Students with degrees awarded in May of the year are eligible, as well as those with degree dates from the immediately past May, August and December. Prior May degree recipients are included so that high quality work completed too late for the past year's selection process can participate. However a thesis sent forward to the Graduate Studies and Research Committee one year may not be nominated a second time.

                        To assist the College Research Committee in selecting the one thesis to send forward, departmental selection committees are reminded of these guidelines:

• Only one thesis may be submitted by each department.
• Include a one-page  statement outlining the merits of the nominated thesis, including its contribution to the knowledge in the field.

  Recipients of Scholarship winners for 2009 from the College Of Social Sciences

  • SJSU Alumni Association Scholarship: Jason Amarante(Sociology major); Wei-Ju Chen(Psychology major)
  • Gerald Wheeler Scholarship: Julissa Duenas(Psychology major)
  • Charles Burdick Scholarship: Hants Williams(Psychology/Behavioral Science major)
  • Dudley Moorhead Scholarship: Paul N. Hierling(Urban Planning major)
  • Inez and Donald Burdick Scholarship: Jesus Gomez (Political Science major); Steven Davison(History major); Angelina Loyola(Sociology major)

  All-university winners from the College Of Social Sciences

  • 2001:  Michael Elliot, Betwixt And Between:
    Exploring the Utility of the Concept Semiperiphery,
    Sociology Department
  • 1998:  Viviana Bellifemine,
    Mortuary Variability in Pre-historic Central California:
    A Statistical Study of the Yukisma site, CA-SCL-38,
    Anthropology Department.
  • 1996:  Brenda Jackson,
    Women's Lives on the Overland Trail,
    History department.

For more information on the Outstanding Thesis competition contact the Associate Dean of the College of Social Sciences or the Graduate Studies and Research Office