Professor Catharine Stimpson, born in Bellingham, Washington State, is known in the academic community as a pioneer in women’s and gender studies. She is also one of the founders of feminist criticism and an eloquent author with a contagious desire to learn. She has been invited to speak at many conferences around the world, to discuss her writing and the knowledge she has acquired during her career.
Stimpson is university professor and dean emerita of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University. She is currently based at the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy. She is also an affiliated faculty member of many schools and departments, including New York University Law School, New York University Abu Dhabi and the Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities at NYU.
Stimpson was chair of the New York State Council for the Humanities, the National Council for Research on Women and the Ms. Magazine Board of Scholars. She also serves on the boards of various philanthropic, educational and cultural organizations, including chairing the board of the international academic network Scholars at Risk, whose mission is to protect and promote academics’ freedom of expression around the world. Her many and varied accomplishments all share one goal: to help build an inclusive society.
Stimpson has received nearly 20 honorary doctorates, and will receive another from Jacques Frémont, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Ottawa, on October 28. It is also important to note that in 2015, the American Research Library Association magazine, CHOICE, awarded Dr. Stimpson the prize for one of the most important academic texts for her book entitled Critical Terms for the Study of Gender.