WISA at NASPA 2026: Celebrating Our Award Winners

Our Womxn in Student Affairs Awards highlight the achievements of some of our wonderful members! Every year, WISA selects people doing the good, intersectional work to promote womxn’s issues in higher education. We offer two types of awards, Research & Scholarship and Professional Development.

Our Womxn’s Issues Research & Scholarship awards offer monetary grants designed to support cutting-edge research in the field. Our Professional Development awards fund winner attendance at the NASPA Annual Conference, usually paying for conference registration fees. We often fund one Professional and 1-2 Graduate Students to attend the NASPA Annual Conference.

This year, we honored four wonderful recipients at our reception! It was so meaningful to connect with them, honor their contributions to our field, and see their impact in real-time.

Womxn’s Issues Research and Scholarship Award

Savneet Bains, The University of Texas at Austin

• Savneet is the Program Manager for Industry Experiences in the Office of Career & Life Design at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from UT Austin. Her research examines how senior South Asian women leaders navigate systemic barriers and leverage cultural capital to forge leadership pathways. Actively engaged in NASPA, Savneet is committed to strengthening leadership pipelines, increasing representation, and advancing institutional practices that support women in higher education leadership.

Womxn's Issues Professional Development Access Grant
Marylou Bagus (Professional)

• Marylou Bagus-Hansen is an American-Pilipina and is energetic about supporting students and her communities. As Program Manager for the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps Fellowship and a 2nd-year Ed.D. student in Benerd College’s Leadership and Innovation program, both at the University of the Pacific, she is uniquely positioned to research this growing program. Her current research focus includes civic engagement, service-learning, high impact practices, and social responsibility.

Josephine “Joey” Rios (Graduate)

• Joey Rios is a graduate student in the College Student Personnel program at Western Illinois University, where she is pursuing her master’s degree in student affairs. She also serves as the Manager of Member Experience for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), supporting student leaders and collegiate chapters across the country by helping them engage their members, strengthen their chapters, and build community on their campuses. She is also highly engaged in NASPA as a part of the WISA community.

Sarah Ann Harris (Graduate)

• Sarah is a second year Ph.D. student at Baylor University. Her scholarly interests are in the realm intersection of capital and social class, low income students, and student involvement.

We’d love to see your applications next year! Check out our socials in August 2026 for more information.