The Department awards the Linda Penkower Essay Prize each year to honor capstone senior thesis papers for excellence in research and writing. This year’s winner, announced at the Graduation Reception on Friday April 28, was Yasmeen Gauri for her paper, “The LGBTQ+ Community vs. Religious Universities: U.S. News Coverage and Implications for Inclusion.” Honorable mention was awarded to Marion Riley for her paper, “Museum of the Bible, Manuscripts, and Misrepresentation: Biblical Scholars’ Allergy to a Museum that Woos American Media.”