Winthrop’s highest teaching accolade, the Kinard Award, has been given to Professor Padmini Patwardhan of the Department of Mass Communication.
“The Kinard Award is given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated a dedication to teaching and is highly regarded on campus by faculty and students,” according to Winthrop.edu.
Professor Patwardhan is originally from India and taught at the University of Pune before moving to the U.S. to concentrate on becoming a scholar.
“I felt I was at a point in my life where I really needed to become a good scholar, and in India, I worked professionally and taught at the same time, so I wanted to focus a lot more on being a scholar-teacher,” Patwardhan said. “And that’s why, kind of mid-career, I just jumped into a Ph.D. program here, and that was what first brought me to Southern Illinois University.”
Patwardhan has been a member of the Winthrop faculty since 2005. She originally moved here to be closer to her husband, Dr. Hemant Patwardhan, who teaches marketing in the College of Business. Professor Patwardhan is well-regarded by
her students and peers. She holds very high expectations for her students and is known to be a tough grader, but offers them the mentorship they need to rise to the occasion. She describes her classroom environment as “a marketplace for ideas—where we can all share and grow and learn,” she said, “and believe me, I’ve learned so much from my students.”
As a researcher, she is constantly trying to stay up to date with her classroom materials and avoids teaching antiquated ideas to students. Student feedback is important to her and is always taken seriously, leading her to make tweaks and adjustments as needed. She values direct and hands-on engagement with her students and does not conform to the practice of strictly lecturing.
“My favorite part of teaching students is the relationships—even after students graduate and they’ve moved on, I make sure I stay in touch, or they stay in touch with me,” Patwardhan said.
This is not the first time that she has received accreditation and recognition for her excellence in teaching. According to Winthrop.edu, she has also received the 2017 Charles H. Sandage Teaching Excellence Award from the American Academy of Advertising and the 2017 Distinguished Teaching Award in the Advertising Division from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
“Once the technology gets ahead of me and I feel that I’m no longer relevant in the classroom, I’m not saying I would retire, but I would try to seek to transition to something else,” Patwardhan said.
“I might actually focus more on soft skills—career development, guidance—you know, that kind of stuff. I just love doing that—helping students build portfolios, conduct mock interviews and all that kind of stuff.”
Patwardhan is integral to Winthrop’s community and maintains a standard of excellence that reflects well on Winthrop faculty.
Photo courtesy to Winthrop University
