Students across all Pitt schools voted GSPIA Assistant Professor Müge Kökten Finkel as the best grad professor in The Pitt News’ “Best Of” survey. Finkel teaches Gender and Development, a Capstone on Project Design and Evaluation, and a survey course on Global Poverty and Inequality at GSPIA.
“She is extremely intelligent, and the three hour classes fly by because she commands the room in a way that is participatory, not us just sitting there in a lecture,” said Naomi Yamashita Sperry, a student looking to get her master's in public health.
Finkel said she strongly emphasizes a more interactive learning environment that is discussion-based rather than lecture-based.
“Interacting takes more effort, courage and commitment, but the end result is always more satisfying,” Finkel said. “In grad classes, I believe we need to prepare our students for a professional life as expediently as possible.”
Outside of teaching, Finkel is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL) and Co-Lead for the Gender Equality in Public Administration research effort and working group. Through her work, she has advanced a long-standing partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. Finkel is also the Director of the Ford Institute for Human Security.