Cecilia Winters, Ph.D.

Study Abroad       Paris 2007Dr. Cecilia Ann Winters is a professor emerita of economics at Manhattanville College. After 20 years of teaching she took a medical retirement in 2011. In 1987 she was the second woman ever hired to teach full-time in the department of Economics, Finance & Management and subsequently became one of two women granted tenure in 1993. During her career at the college she served on college-wide committees such as Status, Board on Academic Standards, Service, Academic Policy and Strategic Planning, among others. She was a founding member of the Faculty Compensation Committee and advocated forcefully and successfully for a new faculty salary structure that reflected a commitment toward gender equity. She was involved in organizing a faculty initiative that resulted in the resurrection of the Manhattanville chapter of the AAUP and an affiliation with NYSUT. These endeavors all reflected the courage of her convictions and were undertaken with great personal integrity.

Professor Winters earned her PhD in economics from Fordham University. Despite receiving rigorous training in orthodox economics, she was drawn toward research in heterodox economics, examining poverty, inequality, development and economic justice. She maintains a burning interest in this area of economics largely due to her experience and interactions with intellectually curious students of diverse and fascinating backgrounds. She has published scholarly articles in refereed publications that explore and examine development and economic justice in Central America and the Caribbean. The inspiration for many of them germinated in conversations with intensely bright students who spent hours in the office after class in lively and challenging discussion about people, places and theories.

She is an associate editor on the Forum for Social Economics, an international, pluralistic academic journal sponsored by the Association for Social Economics.

Professor Winters was a devoted instructor who was able to convey to her students the importance of embracing "the devil in the details" regardless of whether those "details" belonged to statistical calculations, financial ratios or the benefits of trade. Her primary purpose was to model and pass on the distinctive importance and vibrancy of the life of the mind. No conceptual point was too minor to warrant passionate discussion. The opportunity to share this gift with her students was an honor and a privilege for which the Professor is truly grateful.

You may contact Professor Winters through the college website or Linked In. If you are a former student in need of a letter of recommendation or merely wish to share an update on your personal progress, please do not hesitate to get in touch.