Professor Ruth B. Mandel, who escaped the Holocaust with her family and dedicated her life to promoting women’s rights, human rights, democracy, and civic engagement, co-founded the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics in 1971 and served as the Center’s director until 1994. Mandel served with distinction as director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics for 24 years. At the time of her passing, she was Board of Governors Professor of Politics at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and a senior scholar at CAWP.
Dr. Mandel’s leadership was critical to CAWP’s history and impact and as its director she built a national center with multi-faceted research, education, public service, and information programs, helping to define and build the field. For more than five decades, CAWP has been committed to promoting greater knowledge and understanding about the role of women in American politics, enhancing women's influence in public life, and expanding the diversity of women in politics and government.
We are grateful to her family for establishing an endowed Legacy Fund at CAWP which allows us to provide awards to graduate students working on dissertations in the field of women and American politics. CAWP is proud to ensure that Dr. Mandel’s work continues by supporting the next generation of gender and politics researchers and the latest research that will help to yield progress for women in U.S. politics. You can read more about Ruth and her extraordinary career here.
We will award up to four Ruth B. Mandel Dissertation Research Awards annually, with the expectation that at least one award will be designated for a Rutgers University student. These awards, which will be $2,000/each in value, will support dissertation research on women, gender, and U.S. politics. Eligible recipients include advanced doctoral students from any relevant discipline at U.S.-based institutions who have successfully defended their dissertation proposal. We encourage applications from scholars who are traditionally underrepresented in the academy.