Ruth Forsythe, of Winona, will be recognized by Winona State University with the Distinguished Faculty and Staff Award Friday, Sept. 25 as a part of the university’s Homecoming celebration.
Forsythe joined the WSU Department of English in 1980 and retired in June 2015. Forsythe taught both graduate and undergraduate courses throughout her career. She served as Chair of the Department of English from 2002-11. Forsythe was selected as a Fulbright Scholar in 2011-12, working as a teacher and researcher at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan. She taught courses in American popular culture, Asian Studies, and Recent American Immigrant Literature, and conducted research on identity politics and Kumiodori (Okinawan theater). Forsythe served as a visiting professor at Misr University in Cairo Egypt for month-long terms in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and designed a WSU summer program for Misr students in 2007 and 2008. She was Executive Director for the Minnesota State University branch campus in Akita, Japan from 1992-94, WSU Director of Global Studies and Study Abroad Program from 1990-95 and taught high school English in Tokyo, Japan (1974-75), and Forest Lake, Minn., in 1973-74. Forsythe received her bachelor’s degree in English education and Asian studies from St. Olaf College in 1973, her master of arts in comparative literature from the University of Minnesota in 1977, and her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature/Japanese Language and Literature in 1988.
