Professor Choi Chatterjee of Cal State LA, chair of the Department of History, has been acknowledged and recognized for her excellence in teaching and achievements on August 19 during the university convocation.
Cal State LA “is a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution, Minority-Serving Institution, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution”, as per its website.
According to a press release, Indian-American professor Choi Chatterjee was honoured with a 2021 Cal State LA President’s Distinguished Professor Award, which “goes to a previous outstanding professor recipient, acknowledges the faculty member’s superlative teaching and exceptional commitment to students, as well as professional accomplishments and services,”
Chatterjee’s research revolves around a wide range of subjects. She has published in the fields of world history, Russian-American relations and transnational history.
Her works that have been published include one monograph, two textbooks, four edited volumes of original scholarly essays and many peer-reviewed articles. Her latest monograph, titled “Russia in World History: A Transnational Approach”, is set to be published next year by Bloomsbury Press.
Chatterjee, who earned her master’s degree in history from the University of Calcutta, India, and her PhD in Soviet history from Indiana University Bloomington, is known for creating courses in Russian history, comparative European history, Russian-American relations, globalization and food justice at Cal State LA. She has earlier served as a coordinator of the history department’s Teaching Preparation Program. She has taught upper-division courses for the Honors College.
Chatterjee was presented the Cal State LA’s Outstanding Professor Award in 2014. She serves on the Advisory Committee of The Wende Museum in Culver City and on the editorial board of the international journal Slavic Review.
Among many art exhibitions that Chatterjee co-curated, one on the centenary of the Russian Revolution was displayed at Cal State LA in 2017.
A co-founder of the Living Backyard to Table project, Chatterjee advocates everyday environmentalism. Last year, Chatterjee and a team of faculty were given a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build an urban food garden at Cal State LA. The garden now serves as a site of multidisciplinary research and student engagement.
