Gwendolyn D. Pough, dean’s professor of the humanities and professor in the department of women’s and gender studies at Syracuse University in New York, is the latest recipient of the 2023 Ede Mentoring Award from the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition. The biennial award recognizes impactful mentorship of students, campus leadership, professionals, and others.
CFSHRC is a diverse organization dedicated to advancing feminist research and pedagogy through collaboration. Their mission is to educate, mentor, and promote scholarship. The award announcement for Dr. Pough states, “Many talk about her presence, her generosity, her intellect, and her mentorship in terms that are reserved for someone who has been among the most impactful people in their lives. The committee was impressed by the holistically strong nomination filled with letters from a diverse and equally impressive collective of mentees. “
A Syracuse faculty member since 2004, Dr. Pough previously served as both the director of graduate studies for the Composition and Cultural Rhetoric Doctoral program and the William P. Tolley Distinguished Professor in the Humanities where she helped to shape conversations about pedagogical practices in the classroom with an emphasis on diversity, inclusion, social justice and activism. Professor Pough is the current president-elect of the Rhetoric Society of America and will be the first Black woman to lead the organization. She is the author of Check it While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere (Northeastern University Press, 2004).
Dr. Pough is a graduate of William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree in English from Northeastern University in Boston and a Ph.D. in English from Miami University in Ohio.