ACLS Announces 2012 African Humanities Program Fellows
The American Council of Learned Societies is pleased to announce 51 fellowship awards to African scholars in the fourth year of the African Humanities Program (AHP), a multi-year initiative of annual, international competitions funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The program is open to humanities scholars in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The AHP is inspired by a commitment to advancing the humanities as a core component of higher education in Africa, in the conviction that the humanities are essential to every society’s progress and development. To revitalize humanistic study AHP offers fellowships for the completion of Ph.D. dissertations and postdoctoral projects by early-career scholars. Stipends provide a year free from teaching for full time dissertation writing or postdoctoral research and writing.
Applications are evaluated by an international committee of senior scholars from African universities in a rigorous process of peer review.
In addition to fellowships, the AHP has organized public meetings in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda for discussion of new intellectual directions and standards of quality in humanities scholarship, and for workshops in the preparation of applications.
In future years AHP plans to publish the best work completed under terms of its fellowships in the AHP Humanities Publications Series.
Application materials for the 2012-13 competition will be available in early September. See the competition announcement (PDF
(Source: acls.org)
ACLS Awards over $15 million to 2012 Fellowship Recipients
The American Council of Learned Societies is pleased to announce the results of its 2011-12 fellowship competitions. ACLS awarded over $15 million to more than 320 scholars worldwide, making it a major source of support for humanistic scholarship in the United States
The 2012 fellows include:
- ACLS Fellows, individual scholars conducting research on topics in the humanities and related social sciences
- Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellows and Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellows, scholars at specific academic career stages embarking on large-scale, ambitious research projects
- ACLS Digital Innovation Fellows and ACLS Collaborative Research Fellows, whose projects demonstrate the range and value of alternative research methods
- East European Studies Fellows, American Research in the Humanities in China Fellows, and Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society grantees, whose work focuses on particular regions
- Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellows and Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellows in American Art, graduate students conducting dissertation research or completing dissertation writing
- ACLS New Faculty Fellows, recent Ph.D.s appointed to two-year positions at universities across the United States where their particular research and teaching expertise answered curricular needs
“The crisis of underfunding in the humanities often makes headlines,” noted Nicole Stahlmann, director of fellowship programs. “ACLS is pleased to be a positive counterpoint to them. We congratulate the fellowship recipients and wish them well in the hard work of forging new knowledge that will benefit their students, peers, and larger communities.”
Browse new recipients and their projects at www.acls.org/fellows/new.
The 2012 ACLS Public Fellows, recent Ph.D.s appointed to positions in the nonprofit and government sectors, and the African Humanities Program Fellows will be announced later in the summer. Applications for the 2012-13 fellowship competitions will be available by early August. Updated program descriptions and application information will be posted at www.acls.org/programs/comps.
(Source: acls.org)
ACLS Names 2012 New Faculty Fellows
The American Council of Learned Societies is pleased to announce the 2012 cohort of New Faculty Fellows. The 39 recent Ph.D.s will take up two-year positions at one of the participating U.S. universities. This initiative, supported by The Andrew Mellon Foundation, began in 2009 as a rapid response to an urgent problem: the need to preserve a new generation of humanities scholars in the face of an uncertain academic job market. See the full list of 2012 New Faculty Fellows and appointments.
During the current competition, 50 institutions nominated close to 600 of their most qualified recent Ph.D. recipients. The submitted dossiers underwent a rigorous multi-stage peer-review leading to a very competitive group of candidates to whom universities could offer two-year affiliations. Participating institutions made offers to those individuals whose expertise answered curricular needs. Pamela Schirmeister, associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University, recently noted that these ACLS-funded postdocs provide an “infusion of good ideas” to the university community. Indeed, the program aids both the careers of younger scholars and the universities and colleges that they join. This year’s third cohort brings the total number of New Faculty Fellows to 147.
“This program has been a unique collaboration between ACLS and research institutions, and has been possible only through the dedicated efforts of many committed individuals on campus,” remarked Nicole Stahlmann, director of fellowship programs. “Fellowships are long-term investments; these very much so. Many of the teacher-scholars who are beginning their careers with this initiative will someday have students whose own careers will stretch throughout this century. On behalf of the Fellows who have been able to start their profession with help of NFF, I would like to thank all of those who enthusiastically supported the program.”
(Source: acls.org)
Susan Ware Appointed General Editor of American National Biography
ACLS is pleased to announce that Susan Ware has been appointed the General Editor of the American National Biography (ANB), the premier biographical encyclopedia of U.S. history. She succeeds Mark Carnes, who has held that post since the ANB began.
Susan Ware is an accomplished historian, editor, and the author of seven books, including biographies of Billie Jean King, Amelia Earhart, Molly Dewson, and Mary Margaret McBride. She served as the editor of several documentary collections and of the most recent volume of Notable American Women, published in 2004, which contains biographies of 483 women from over 50 fields. Educated at Wellesley College and Harvard University, Dr. Ware taught at New York University and Harvard. She has long been associated with the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and is active in a variety of professional organizations. She has extensive media experience in radio, television, and documentary film and is committed to bringing women’s history and feminist scholarship to a wide popular audience.
Alice Kessler-Harris, professor of history, Columbia University and president of the Organization of American Historians wrote: “Susan Ware is the best possible selection for the next general editor of the ANB. A distinguished historian and biographer, she served as general editor for the magnificent third revision of Notable American Women. She is judicious, even-handed, principled, and thoughtful. You could not have placed the ANB in better hands.”
Mark Carnes welcomed his successor, saying, “A superb choice! Susan Ware is an outstanding biographer, a proven editor, and a wonderful person. She will thrive in a job whose importance does not preclude it from being great fun.” In 1986, Carnes, now the Ann Olin Whitney Professor of History at Barnard College, and Professor John A. Garraty accepted then ACLS President Stanley Katz’s invitation to design and develop the American National Biography. “When Mark Carnes began his service 26 years ago, the ANB was only an idea,” commented ACLS Vice President Steve Wheatley. “Mark’s effort, expertise, and leadership were essential to turning the idea into a shelf of print books and then into an online resource bringing deep knowledge of broad scope to the general public in a form both authoritative and accessible. We appreciate that he now wants to apply his enormous energy to new projects, including the pedagogically innovative project, Reacting to the Past (http://reacting.barnard.edu/).”
The landmark American National Biography offers portraits of more than 18,700 men and women—from all eras and walks of life—whose lives have shaped the nation. First published in 24 volumes in 1999, the ANB received instant acclaim as the new authority in American biographies, and continues to serve readers in thousands of school, public, and academic libraries around the world. Its online counterpart, ANB Online, is a regularly updated resource currently offering portraits of over 18,700 biographies, including the 17,435 of the print edition. ACLS sponsors the ANB, which is published by Oxford University Press.
(Source: acls.org)
Can the liberal arts college help to save our democracy?
The Lycoming College History Department will host a lecture by Dr. Stanley Katz, president emeritus of the American Council of Learned Societies, as part of the 39th annual Ewing Lecture. His presentation, “Can the liberal arts college help to save our democracy?” is scheduled for Tuesday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Heim Building G-11. The event is free and open to the public.
Katz is professor and director of the Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies. His recent research focuses upon the relationship of civil society and constitutionalism to democracy, and upon the relationship of the United States to the international human rights regime. He received the annual Fellows Award from Phi Beta Kappa in 2010 and the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2011.
(Source: lycoming.edu)