Eight faculty members will each receive a three-year grant totaling $15,000 as members of Texas A&M University’s newest class of Arts and Humanities Fellows, the Division of Research announced on May 3, 2023. Two of the eight faculty members, Dr. Fritz Bartel and Dr. Reyko Huang, are from the Bush School of Government & Public Services.
The Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program has funded 64 Texas A&M faculty members since its launch in 2015.
“The program represents Texas A&M’s enduring commitment to encouraging its scholars and artists to pursue excellence in the arts and humanities,” said Dr. Jack G. Baldauf, vice president for research.
“These Arts and Humanities Fellows have proposed outstanding projects that will challenge conventional thinking on multiple fronts,” Baldauf said. “Projects like these advance our understanding of culture and civilization. They also enhance the visibility of Texas A&M as a leader in the arts and humanities. We look forward to the results of these efforts.”
Each year, a new class of Arts and Humanities Fellows is chosen by a peer-review committee from project-based applications. Selections are based on merit and originality, professional qualifications, clarity, benefit to the public and the quality of the overall proposal.
Application to the program is open annually to all Texas A&M faculty engaged in scholarship in the humanities or in creative work in the arts.
“Our faculty submitted many high-quality proposals for this round of funding,” said Dr. Gerianne Alexander, associate vice president for research and director of the fellowship program. “We urge all eligible scholars and artists to consider applying for future fellowships.”
The following faculty members were named to the fellowship program’s Class of 2022:
- Michael “Fritz” Bartel, assistant professor, Department of International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, will conduct research into the historical relationship between political and economic liberalization from 1971-2016 with the goal of producing a book-length manuscript.
- Susan Egenolf, associate professor, Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences, will develop a standard digital edition of letters written by 19th century British author Maria Edgeworth, drawing on the expertise of Edgeworth scholars, digital humanists, librarians and technology specialists.
- Reyko Huang, associate professor, Department of International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, will create the first comprehensive cross-national database on the top leaders of rebel organizations, enabling a “personal biography approach” to understanding international politics.
- Claire Katz, professor, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, will produce a book that examines forgiveness by focusing on three recent cases: the Dixie Chicks, the Magdalene Laundries and the Charleston Church Massacre.
- Brian Rouleau, associate professor, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences, will write a biography of Lee Christmas, an American mercenary who worked closely with U.S.-based corporations to topple several Central American governments during the early 20th century.
- Daniel Schwartz, associate professor, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences, will expand Syriaca.org, a digital humanities project, with a module tentatively called The Syriac Taxonomy, which will serve as a controlled vocabulary of keyword concepts tailored to Syriac studies.
- Dawna Schuld, associate professor, Department of Visualization, School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, will produce a study of artists who served as residents in scientific and industrial settings during the Cold War in the United States and the United Kingdom.
- Tianna Helena Uchacz, assistant professor, Department of Visualization, School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, will examine ornament prints and their title pages from the European artistic landscape of 1550-1600, analyzing their shared features, rhetorical strategies and claims.
By Texas A&M University Research Communications and Public Relations
Note: This article originally appeared in Texas A&M Today on May 3, 2023
