The University of California has just honored Suad Joseph with the 2023-2024 Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award in recognition of her career in research, teaching and service.
Joseph, a distinguished research professor emerita of anthropology and gender, sexuality and women’s studies in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science, is a leading scholar of women and gender in the Middle East. She is the fourth UC Davis faculty member to receive the award since it was established in 1983.
“We are all so proud to see Professor Joseph’s continuing contributions to our college and university so highly recognized by this award,” said Estella Atekwana, dean of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. “She has long been a powerful driver of growth in her research field while also paving pathways as a mentor to her colleagues and students.”
“Teaching is all I ever wanted to do,” said Joseph. “I’m profoundly indebted to UC Davis for providing me an academic ‘home.’”
Expanding scholarship on women and gender in the Middle East
Joseph began her career at UC Davis in 1976 and quickly established herself as a leading researcher on Middle Eastern society and culture. Across her career she has won many awards and honors for research and teaching, including the UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.
Joseph has also been a driving force to expand her fields of scholarship. She founded the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association. She also founded the Association for Middle East Women's Studies and co-founded its internationally recognized Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies.
She also co-founded the Arab American Studies Association, the Association for Middle East Anthropology and the Arab Families Working Group. At UC Davis, Joseph founded the UC Davis Arab Region Consortium and co-founded the Feminist Research Institute.
Joseph is the founding and continuing general editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Culture (EWIC). With its second print edition published between 2020 and 2022, EWIC now encompasses over 1,500 articles by more than 1,200 authors from research disciplines across the social sciences and humanities. EWIC has won two awards from Choice magazine.
“Muslim women have been systematically misrepresented by a lot of the media for decades and decades,” said Joseph. “We need to understand their conditions, their realities, their histories and their cultures from their voices and how they see themselves.”
Today, Joseph continues her work at UC Davis, incorporating undergraduate and graduate students from across the social sciences into her research. She has published over 100 articles. Since retirement, she has published four edited or co-edited books, over 15 online supplements of EWIC as well as the second print edition of EWIC (9 volumes). She founded the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program at UC Davis and has raised over $6 million in external awards.
About the Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award
The Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award was named in honor of a long-time professor of sociology at UCLA who is described as the architect of the UC Retirement System. Panunzio and was particularly active in improving pensions and stipends for his fellow Emeriti. The award includes a $5,000 prize.
Suad Joseph shares the 2023-2024 award with Brian Copenhaver, a distinguished professor emeritus of philosophy and history at UCLA. Only one candidate from each of the 10 UC campuses can be nominated for this annual award.
Since 1983, this award has honored one or two University of California emeriti faculty each year. Joseph is the first UC Davis faculty member since 2015 to receive the award and one of two from the College of Letters and Science in the award's history.