University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

48
By Marty Morrison
Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh ’90 experiences déjà vu quite often at Mary
Washington. When he became a member of the UMW faculty in
2004, he’d already spent countless hours on campus, both as an
undergraduate and growing up as the son of professor Raman K.
Singh, who taught English here until 1994.
“My first memories go back to 1967,” Singh said. “I was
3 or 4 years old when my father first started working at Mary
Washington. I remember visiting his office in Chandler Hall and
playing on Dad’s typewriter.”
An assistant professor of political science and international
affairs, Singh is the 2007 recipient of UMW’s Giving Tree Award
for outstanding faculty or staff. He received a master’s degree in
Arab studies from Georgetown University and a doctorate from
the University of Virginia. While living for seven years in the
Middle East, Singh helped design and implement democracy
programs in support of the 1996 Palestinian elections. He also
managed offices in the Occupied Territories, consulted regularly
with senior Palestinian and Israeli officials, served as a consultant
for a member of the ruling family in Bahrain, and worked as an
Arabic-English translator in Washington, D.C.
These days, Singh is busy making more Mary Washington
memories – he brings his own son, Leo, nearly 1, to visit his
office in Monroe Hall.
Q. What do you love most about UMW?
A. It’s one of the most beautiful campuses you could hope to work
on. I often think when driving here that it’s like working in a park.
One of the things I really love is how congenial the people are. It’s
a very friendly place, and we have some of the most polite students
I’ve ever met.
Q. What would you change about UMW?
A. I’d like to see the campus internationalized more, with more
foreign students and different types of students, and I’d like to
see our students spend more time studying abroad. They learn so
much more living in another country than they do in a classroom.
I’d also like to see them study in nontraditional countries, like the
Middle East, Africa, and Asia, more often
than they do.
Q. What has most influenced your life?
A. My travels and the experiences I’ve had in other countries. It
informs my teaching and affects my sense of priorities. I’ve been
in countries where life is very difficult and there’s a lot of poverty
and political unrest. I think in some ways that brings an emotional
aspect to my academic work here.
UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON MAGAZINE����������������
Karen Pearlman
Q. What matters most to you?
A. Trying to find a balance between family and professional life.
I try to keep a clear head about what my priorities are and where
they should be and to find a balance between my job, which I love
very much, and being a good dad, a good husband, and a good
son.
Q. What motivates you?
A. Sometimes I’ll be reading or watching television or I’ll overhear a
conversation, and I’m struck by a really good idea. I try to think
about how that idea can relate to what I do. It can be a huge
motivator that adds a sense of excitement to what I’m doing, either
in teaching or research.
Q. Who inspires you?
A. People who work very hard in anonymity to do the right thing. I’m
thinking of people I’ve met in the Gaza Strip, one of the poorest,
most violent places on Earth. Sometimes I have to step back and
wonder how a society can function when there’s that much poverty
and fighting, and I’ve been fortunate to have met the people who
make that happen every day. They’re not famous. They work
against overwhelming odds just to make sure the kids are going to
school and the streets are getting cleaned.
Q. What books have you read lately?
A. I just finished Peeling the Onion, the autobiography of Nobel
Prize-winning author Gunter Grass. He is of the generation of
Germans who, as teenagers, were drafted and fought in World
War II. What I appreciated was the complexity of his life and how
it was shaped by history and forces beyond his control, and how
he, as an individual, tried to deal with those forces.
Q. What one thing would people be surprised to know
about you?
A. How rustic and rural my upbringing was. I was raised on a
working farm in Stafford, and my brother and I would slaughter
chickens and shovel manure. I remember days when we’d
slaughter as many as 200 chickens and put them in the freezer.
We also had goats, and we baled hay every summer.