Professor Cooperman Receives the first John M. Kramer Faculty Award

At the 2017 annual Spring Awards ceremony, Professor Rosalyn Cooperman received the first John M. Kramer Faculty Award. This award is an acknowledgement of Professor Cooperman’s dedication to students, service to the University, and contributions to academia.

Established in 2016, the John M. Kramer Faculty Award is named for Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Affairs John Kramer. In celebration of Professor Kramer’s distinguished career, his wife, Mary Louise, and 169 other prominent alumni of the department and the European Capitals program joined forces to establish this endowment. The donors hope that, through this endowment, promising faculty will continue to maximize students’ potential through teaching, mentoring, and the pursuit of scholarly excellence. As stated in the Award’s terms of agreement, “The recipient shall be an outstanding faculty member in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs who has demonstrated dedication and excellence in teaching, scholarly endeavor, and student mentoring.

Professor Cooperman has taught and encouraged hundreds of students since she joined the Faculty at Mary Washington in 2003. Professionally focused on elections and women in politics, Professor Cooperman contributed to the development of Women and Gender Studies at Mary Washington. Professor Cooperman’s contributions to academia are numerous, and she currently has half a dozen works in progress or currently under review.  Her recent work focused on the role of women in campaign fundraising. In addition, Professor Cooperman has collaborated on research with students and faculty members from other departments at Mary Washington. In the past, she served as the principal investigator for five important surveys and studies of political convention delegates. Professor Cooperman has also served as a manuscript reviewer for seven peer review academic journals, a difficult and vital service to academia. For the past eight years Professor Cooperman has served as the faculty advisor to the Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Society and served on multiple committees for the University.