Saru M. Matambanadzo, Ph.D., joined the faculty of Tulane University School of Law in 2010. As the Moise S. Steeg, Jr. Associate Professor of Law, Matambanadzo incorporated her diverse interdisciplinary research interests through law, policy, philosophy, vulnerability theory, and women’s studies, examining questions concerning the ways law and policies facilitated belonging and inclusion or led to exclusion and marginalization. Matambanadzo’s research also spanned topics such as feminist legal theory, employment discrimination, animal rights, and food justice. Her publications included writing on legal pedagogy and critical theory, legal sex and trans* identity, legal personhood in historical and contemporary contexts, and pregnancy discrimination against new mothers.
As a Social Entrepreneurship Professor, Matambanadzo applied design thinking methodology to her work to address the challenges mothers in the Gulf South Region faced with employment discrimination, maternal health, and resource accessibility. Furthermore, she used design thinking principles to examine the complex problems related to food justice in the region, particularly in rural Mississippi. For this initiative, Matambanadzo and her husband David Noble purchased a 32-acre farm in Foxworth, MS as a laboratory for grounding research in law and policy around food-related issues. They grew lavender and seasonal vegetables for market and participated in the local agricultural community to understand and innovate food justice. While at Taylor, Matambanadzo worked to increase integration and synergies between the Law School and the Taylor Center by teaching topics such as employment discrimination and social innovation.
Matambanadzo received her Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from the University of California – Los Angeles, where she was awarded numerous competitive grants, including the UC President’s Dissertation Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, the Twin Pines Award, and the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship to support her research. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh summa cum laude in English Literature and Philosophy. She was awarded the Helen Faison Scholarship for her undergraduate studies and a K. Leroy Irvis Fellowship for her post-baccalaureate studies in philosophy.
Saru M. Matambanadzo held the Ratner Family Professorship of Social Entrepreneurship from 2017–2022.