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Distinguished Teaching Awards
David Domke
Erika Goldstein
James Green
John Peterson
Priti Ramamurthy
Barry Witham
Carol Zander

Excellence in Teaching Awards
Chia-Hui Huang
Steve Wolfman

Distinguished Staff Awards
Brian Davis & James Boeckstiegel
Gary Ausman
Felicia Hecker
Sandra Kroupa
Keith Ward

Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award
Thomas Daniel

S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award
Sergio Palleroni

Outstanding Public Service Award
Anita Ramasastry

Brotman Diversity Award
Business Educational Opportunity Program
Student Outreach Ambassador Program

Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence
Dance Program
Research Apprenticeship Program

Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award
Geoff & Judy Vernon

Alumna Summa Laude Dignatus
Donald Baker

UW Recognition Award
ARCS Foundation, Seattle Chapter

President's Medalist
Roy Chan

Priti Ramamurthy, Women Studies

Distinguished Teaching Award

The Distinguished Teaching Awards are given to University faculty who show a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor and a passion for teaching

“Dr. Ramamurthy provides a rigorous intellectual space for students from several majors such as women studies, anthropology and the Jackson School of International Studies. Together, she and her students puzzle out issues related to international economic development and international feminism, as well as the meanings of the concepts of ‘development’ and ‘globalization’ in the daily lives of women and men in various parts of the world,” says associate professor Shirley Yee, one of Priti Ramamurthy’s colleagues in the Women Studies Department.

An assistant professor, Ramamurthy studies gender and agricultural change in south India through research on feminist commodity chains, a methodology she has pioneered. The relationship of gender, nationality and race to socioeconomic inequality and international development are her central concerns. Among other things, she is an outstanding teacher because she leads students to question their deeply held assumptions about these subjects, to apply contradictory theoretical approaches they are learning to empirical, grounded activities, and to become active citizens, says Judith Howard, chair of women studies.

“Crucial to these contributions is Professor Ramamurthy’s gentle insistence that our primarily Western students consider a global, transnational perspective on the issues they take up,” Howard says. That’s one of the key things Ramamurthy says she hopes her students gain from her classes, “I want them to learn how to read their lives in the context of world events.”

“It required me to question and reflect upon my understanding of the world and my position in it,” says undergraduate student Danielle Hayashi of Ramamurthy’s course, Women in International Economic Development. “It questioned many of my assumptions about both gender — a subject to which I previously did not give much thought — and development, about which I often thought but did not connect to gender issues.

“I was very impressed with her emphasis on avoiding the trap of cynicism and the need to develop a balanced understanding of the effects of development while bearing in mind the potential to negotiate changes in the world through dialogue and action. This encouraging attitude refreshed the discussion of problems that can be depressing and overwhelming.”

Ramamurthy could be in an economics or business department, what with her bachelor’s in economics from the University of Delhi, her master’s of business administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, a master’s in regional planning from Syracuse University and career experience in marketing and economic development. She chose women studies at the University of Washington because of the department’s intellectual commitment to international feminism and interdisciplinary collaboration, and its emphasis on the links between theory and practice.

“Due to her commitment and support, says recently graduated Yaffa Truelove, “I am now traveling to India to work with an organization focusing on women and development. I strongly feel that the depth, intensity and engagement of her teaching has provided me with the necessary analytical skills and resources for me to successfully engage in my current endeavor abroad.”

Ramamurthy’s first opportunity to teach was in the early 1990s at Syracuse, where she earned a doctorate in social sciences. Since coming to the UW four years ago, she has developed several new undergraduate courses and graduate seminars.

“Ramamurthy is inventive,” says Tani Barlow, professor of women studies. “I am familiar with the material on her syllabus and I can tell you it is hard to teach, because it is dry.”

Barlow admires the currency of Ramamurthy’s syllabi with space built in to accommodate new material as issues change. And her mix of intellect, ethics and service activism is truly rare in the academy, Barlow says, “There is a lot of talk and not much action among faculty on this topic. Every year Ramamurthy goes to India and does the field work that informs her teaching and her research. Priti Ramamurthy models how it is truly possible to be an intellectual and an activist and a principled human being all at the same time.”

– Sandra Hines
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