As a teacher of mass communication and a former ad professional, Dr. Patwardhan views the classroom as a marketplace of ideas
– sometimes confusing, sometimes unpredictable, but never dull. A willingness to introduce change in the classroom drives her teaching style. Patwardhan teaches courses in integrated marketing communication, advertising, copywriting and production, public relations, and senior portfolio. Prior to joining Winthrop faculty in 2005, she taught undergraduate and graduate advertising and communication courses at Texas Tech University. She also has taught graduate students at the University of Pune, India.
As a scholar, Patwardhan has won numerous conference awards and research grants for national and international projects. Her interests focus on industry and consumer issues in international advertising, account planning, media dependency effects, online advertising, and social media. Since Patwardhan obtained her Ph.D. in 2003, her research has appeared in leading communication and advertising journals including
International Journal of Advertising,
Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising,
Journal of Interactive Advertising,
International Gazette,
Journal of Communication Management,
American Journalism,
Journal of Promotion Management,
Asian Journal of Communication, and
Atlantic Journal of Communication.
Patwardhan is a member of the American Academy of Advertising, Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. At AAA, she has served on the membership committee for several years and chaired its international advertising education committee for two years.
Prior to entering academics, she worked as copywriter and creative consultant with multinational ad agencies in India and as a columnist writing on advertising and media in a regional Indian daily. In 2006, Patwardhan received a competitive Visiting Professor Fellowship from the Advertising Educational Foundation and spent part of summer at the global agency headquarters of Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) in New York.
Click here to read a feature story about the fellowship.
Patwardhan is a self-confessed news junkie. She also enjoys freestyle cooking, TV dramas, and epic novels. She is married to Hemant Patwardhan, associate professor of management and marketing at Winthrop. The couple has two children.