Lerman-Neubauer ‘69 Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring
Award: This prize, established by Trustee Jeanette Lerman at the time of her marriage to Joseph Neubauer, requires its recipient to be not just an exceptional teacher, but also one who has had a significant impact on students’ lives as a mentor, advisor and friend.
Biography: Ferry began teaching at Brandeis in 2002, after earning her bachelor’s degree from Columbia, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. Her undergraduate courses include Anthropology of Development; Latin America in Ethnographic Perspective; Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems; Production, Consumption, and Exchange; and Anthropological Inquiry, and her graduate courses are Anthropological Approaches to Development, Critical Global Issues and the GSAS Interdisciplinary Dissertation Seminar. She also teaches numerous internship, senior thesis, and graduate readings and dissertation courses. Her research, which focuses on Mexico, U.S.-Mexican relations and silver mining, has been published in many different journals and in three books: “Not Ours Alone: Patrimony, Value and Collectivity in Contemporary Mexico,” the co-authored “Social Relations of Mexican Commodities: Power, Production and Place,” and the edited volume, “Timely Assets: The Politics of Resources and their Temporalities.”
She has served as both Director of Graduate Studies and Undergraduate Advising Head in Anthropology, and also on the Committees on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities, Latin American and Latino Studies, Global Studies, University Writing, Study Abroad and the Justice Brandeis Semester.
Student Comments: “After taking a number of courses with her, I have been overwhelmed by her commitment to students both inside and outside of the classroom.”
“Professor Ferry’s willingness to set time aside for her students speaks far more of her as a person yet only adds to her talents as a professor. I can whole-heartedly say that she is one of the strongest faculty members at Brandeis, providing both intellectual stimulation and support to her students.”
“She inspires me!”
