SUNY Potsdam Professor Honored with AAUW Research Award

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SUNY Potsdam politics faculty member Dr. Susanne Zwingel has been awarded the AAUW Research Award from the St. Lawrence County branch of the American Association of University Women.

POTSDAM, NY (11/03/2011)(readMedia)-- SUNY Potsdam faculty member Dr. Susanne Zwingel was recently honored with an award recognizing her research by the St. Lawrence County branch of the American Association of University Women. The branch presented the sixth annual AAUW Research Award to Dr. Zwingel, an associate professor of international relations and women's and gender studies at SUNY Potsdam at its fall membership meeting on Oct. 25.

Dr. Zwingel joined the Department of Politics at SUNY Potsdam in January 2006. Her academic interests focus on human rights, global governance, transnationalism and conflict dynamics, taking a feminist perspective, and her current book project focuses on international women's rights in domestic contexts. Zwingel is also preparing a textbook on gender politics in international governance, which grew out of a conference she organized in Geneva, Switzerland.

With the first World Women's Conference in Mexico in 1975, the United Nations adopted gender equality as one of its goals, and in 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). However, as Dr. Zwingel explains, "inequality and subordination based on gender are still pervasive."

Equality of rights for women is a basic principle of the United Nations. The Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations sets as one of the Organization's central goals the reaffirmation of "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women." Passed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979, CEDAW provides a universal definition of discrimination against women that establishes a basis for every government's domestic and foreign policy to combat gender-based discrimination. Although the United States has been a signatory to CEDAW for more than 30 years, it has yet to ratify this important treaty and strengthen the foundation from which we work toward ensuring gender equity for all. AAUW has endorsed the ratification of CEDAW since 1981, and is still urging the Senate to take action to ratify this important treaty.

A native of Germany, Zwingel publishes and presents her work in both German and English. She recently was awarded a Drescher leave from SUNY Potsdam to pursue her research interests, and received several international grants, including the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

Zwingel's work is of particular important to the AAUW New York State project, "My Sister's Keeper," a statewide initiative to foster a greater understanding of the plight of women worldwide and within our domestic borders. Among the areas of concern are gendercide, violence, lack of educational opportunities, the lack of maternal health care and efforts to support the rights of women and gender equality. The St. Lawrence County Branch of AAUW said that it was pleased to recognize Zwingel for her work to better the understanding of women internationally.

SUNY Potsdam students pursue the study of politics to prepare for careers in law, government, foreign service, public policy, social action, teaching, business or some combination of these fields. To find out more about the accomplished faculty in the College's politics department, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Pols.

Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.

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