Biennial award recognizes English professor’s extraordinary support of early career feminist scholars and her lasting impact on the academic community.
The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS) has announced the creation of a new biennial honor, the Suzanne Edwards Mentorship Award, recognizing extraordinary mentorship of early-career feminist scholars. The award debuts this year with its namesake, English professor Suzanne Edwards as the inaugural recipient.
“Through her brilliance, generosity, and integrity, Suzanne has shown us what feminist mentorship can and should be,” the citation reads. “It is our honor to celebrate her by establishing this award in her name.”
The award’s creation was proposed by scholars Sarah Baechle of the University of Mississippi and Carissa Harris of Temple University and received unanimous, enthusiastic approval from the SMFS Advisory Board. In honoring Edwards, colleagues, students, and mentees shared overwhelming praise for her impact on the field of feminist medieval studies and beyond.
Edwards is widely celebrated for her intellectual generosity, her commitment to inclusivity, and her ability to merge rigorous scholarship with feminist praxis. Tributes describe her as a model of what a true academic community can and should be. Colleagues point to her scholarship’s meaningful engagement with Black feminist thought, her critical attention to whiteness, and her consistent efforts to build community across disciplinary and institutional boundaries.
Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences News.
Spotlight Recipient
Suzanne Edwards
Professor