ACLS News

Created through Donald J. Munro’s generous gifts, the fund will help support ACLS Fellowships awarded for research projects on Chinese philosophical traditions and ethical systems.

On December 12, 2011, ACLS hosted the third annual gathering of leaders of agencies granting research fellowships to scholars in the humanities through national peer-reviewed competitions.

ACLS is pleased to anounce that Robert Alter, Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, will deliver the Haskins Prize Lecture at the 2013 ACLS Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD.

Namesake of ACLS Fellowship for American history dies at the age of 95.

Grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support a second Public Fellows competition and a third New Faculty Fellows competition.

"Despite the thousands of documentary images made, photographs functioned neither to reveal history transparently nor to obscure it. Photographs make history. As such, images were integral to the incarceration process from its beginning and shaped the historical events that they purported to disclose. Rather than portholes on the past, photographs are artifacts in their own right that can be mined to enrich historical understanding."

"Freshness appears pre-industrial, yet its wide availability—whether in supermarkets or farmers’ markets—depends on a host of industrial technologies, from refrigeration to the Internet. “Fresh” may connote pure, but it has come at a high price for many humans, animals, and ecosystems. Its history shows, ultimately, that freshness is anything but natural."

"It is often said that a crucial feature defining our own species is language: while many other animals have systems of communication in some sense, only humans communicate with messages of unbounded complexity and breathtaking subtlety such as one finds in Swahili, German, or Iroquoian. So it is often said, but is it true? And if it is true, just how important is this distinctive feature to making us who we are?"

Stipends awarded in 2011-12 will be $65,000 for full professors, $45,000 for associate professors, and $35,000 for assistant professors. 

During the 2011 ACLS Annual Meeting last May, 44 Burkhardt Fellows gathered to celebrate a milestone for the Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowships for Recently Tenured Scholars.

"I will never forget the first time I went to visit Marie at her make-shift home in an overcrowded compound in the northern, less-glitzy part of Dubai known as the Satwa neighborhood."

The book on Roman architecture will be based on his ACLS-funded research.

Nearly $15 million was awarded to 350 scholars worldwide, making ACLS a major source of support for humanistic scholarship in the United States.

"[T]his approach to the study of stories and storytelling can get at the heart of questions concerning how people make sense of—and thereby put themselves in a position to engage with—the circumstances and forces that help shape the course of their lives."

The ANB is the premier print and online reference source for significant figures in American history.

The World History Association (WHA) was admitted to constituent membership in the American Council of Learned Societies at the 2011 ACLS Annual Meeting.

“[T]here is nothing unduly 'utopian' in the idea that fairness in the global economy can and should substantially guide public deliberation and choice about the kind of international world we should have and move towards.”

The project will publish all known letters to and from Charles Darwin.

In 2011 the program will place eight recent Ph.D.s in two-year staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector.

ACLS is pleased to announce the 2011 cohort of New Faculty Fellows.

The ACLS Annual Report for 2009-2010 has just been released, online and in print. 

Six scholars have received awards for projects that advance the digital humanities.

Gerhard L. Weinberg G'71, F'65 has been awarded the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History, the newest of ACLS's 70 member societies.

We at the American Council of Learned Societies are delighted to extend our congratulations to ACLS President Emeritus Stanley N. Katz on his receipt of the 2010 National Humanities Medal. 

Six teams have been selected this year for the third cohort of Collaborative Research Fellows, whose projects range from Roman slaves to Chinese roads.

ACLS Fellows Jesse Ferris F’08, F’07, Omnia El Shakry F’07, Iza Hussin F’07, Todd Presner F’06, and Jessica Winegar F’09 reflect on the uprising in Egypt.

Eileen Gardiner and Ronald G. Musto, co-directors of ACLS Humanities E-Book, jointly named executive director of the Medieval Academy of America and editor of Speculum.

ACLS will close for the holidays on December 24 and reopen on January 3.

ACLS congratulates Alexander C. Y. Huang F'10 on his receipt of the Modern Language Association's eighteenth annual Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies for Chinese Shakespeares: Two Centuries of Cultural Exchange.

The national Council of Colleges of Arts & Sciences (CCAS) has recognized ACLS with its 2010 Arts & Advocacy Award for "essential support to Ph.D. students and mid-career faculty members by providing fellowships for scholarly research."  

Joyce Appleby, professor emerita of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, will deliver the 30th Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture at the 2012 ACLS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. 

ACLS is pleased to announce the publication of the 2010 Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture, A Life of Learning by Nancy Siraisi.

ACLS congratulates Dan Cohen F’06, Todd Presner F’06, Andrew Stauffer F'06 and Timothy Tangherlini F’09.

Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown studies the effects of environmental poisoning in a poverty enclave on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Dissertation completion and postdoctoral fellowships were awarded to scholars in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded ACLS $11.6 million in support of the Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowships, Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowships for Recently Tenured Scholars, and New Faculty Fellows program.

Listen to a panel discussion on the Google Books project and its implications for scholarship from the 2010 ACLS Annual Meeting.

Intern will work in fellowships and grants department during June and July.

In 2010, ACLS awarded over $15 million to more than 380 U.S.-based and international scholars, including the 2010 ACLS New Faculty Fellows.

The Society for Military History was admitted to the American Council of Learned Societies at the 2010 Annual Meeting.

The Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO) will welcome John F. Kutsko on July 1, 2010, when he succeeds Kent Richards as executive director of the Society of Biblical Literature. 

The American Council of Learned Societies mourns the loss of Charles Ryskamp.  In 2001, the Council and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation established the Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowships in honor of his achievements as a scholar and as a leader of cultural and philanthropic institutions. 

The recent earthquake in Haiti has captured the world’s attention. Here, four ACLS fellows—scholars of art, literature, political science, and linguistics—describe how their research can expand our understanding of the disaster.

We are saddened at the loss of Michael Leff, president of the Rhetoric Society of America.

"Much of the extraordinary value of this collection," says Miller, "lies in the more intimate, frequently extemporaneous nature of recorded speech events, including conversations between well-known militants and their audiences, celebrations after militant operations, and poetry."

Entitled “A Life of Learning: Six People I Have Learned From,” the lecture presents the voices and stories of six Americans who have enriched and transformed the English language.

The Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO) welcomes Katherine Finley, who will assume the position of executive director of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) on March 1, 2010.

On December 14, the American Academy of Rome named Christopher S. Celenza F'03 its twenty first director.

Mitchell S. Green F’00, F’05 will embark on a three-year study on the possibility of introducing philosophical education to Virginia high school curricula.

Henry Glassie, College Professor Emeritus of Folklore at Indiana University, Bloomington, will deliver the 29th Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture at the 2011 ACLS Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

Two ACLS member societies recognize What Blood Won´t Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America by Ariela J. Gross F’03.

At its forty-second Triennial Council, the Phi Beta Kappa Society elected ACLS President Pauline Yu to its nominating committee.

ACLS is pleased to announce the ACLS New Faculty Fellows Program, which will provide funding for two years of teaching and research to 50 recent Ph.D.s.

The American Council of Learned Societies announces 35 fellowship awards to African scholars in the first year of its African Humanities Program (AHP), a multi-year initiative of annual, international competitions funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

ACLS announces openings for a program officer and a program assistant in its fellowships office.

The Online Fellowship Application system is now open for the 2009-10 competitions. OFA is available at http://ofa.acls.org.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded ACLS $10.6 million in continued support of the Early Career Fellowship Program, which provides support for young scholars to complete their dissertations and, later, to advance their research after being awarded the Ph.D.

In 2009, ACLS awarded over $10.2 million to 336 scholars based in the US and abroad working in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. This represents the largest amount the Council has given in a single year.

ACLS President Pauline Yu issues statement on appointment of new NEH Chair.

Deadlines for the 2009 10 fellowship and grant competitions are now available.   Awarding peer reviewed fellowships to individuals and, on occasion, grants to groups and institutions is at the core of ACLS activity. The intensive peer review process is

Nancy Siraisi, Distinguished Professor, Hunter College, City University of New York (retired), will deliver the Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture at the 2010 ACLS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia next May. 

ACLS mourns the passing of John Hope Franklin, who died on March 25th.  One of the most accomplished and widely read historians of the United States, Professor Franklin served on the ACLS Board and delivered the 1988 Haskins Prize Lecture.

The American Historical Association, an ACLS member society, has announced book prizes awarded to ACLS Fellows Amalia D. Kessler F'07 and Atina Grossmann F'01, F'91, G'84.

William Labov, professor of linguistics and director of the Linguistics Laboratory at the University of Pennsylavia, will deliver the 2009 Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture.

Congratulations to ACLS Fellows who had books published in 2008.

The redesigned, double-year report covers the years 2006-2007 and 2005-2006.

The ACLS is pleased to announce the publication of A Life Of Learning. The 2008 Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture by Theodor Meron.

The Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO) of ACLS member societies welcomes new representatives.

ACLS is pleased to announce that DePauw University has joined ACLS as an Associate member. 

Jay C. Rubenstein F'06, F'02 wins 2007 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship to support his work on medieval history.

The increased funding will support the new Collaborative Research Awards and African Humanities Program, and extend the Digital Innovation Fellowships and Initiative on East and Southeast Asian Archaeology and Early History.

In 2008, ACLS awarded over $9.3 million to 314 U.S.-based and international scholars.

Citing ACLS President Pauline Yu's scholarship and work on behalf of liberal education and the humanities, Bates College awarded her a Doctor of Letters degree.

The search is now closed.

The Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) joins ACLS as its 70th member society. The RSA was admitted at the 2008 ACLS Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh.

The Board of Directors of the American Council of Learned Societies announced today the reappointment of Dr. Pauline Yu as President of the Council for another five years beginning July 1, 2008.

Charles B. Lowry to succeed Duane Webster as Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries, an ACLS Affiliate.

Susan Westerberg Prager, former dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, will succeed Carl Monk as Executive Director of Association of American Law Schools.

Elizabeth Helsinger F’97 is spending 2007-08 as the first Meyer H. Abrams Senior Fellow at the National Humanities Center.

The March 2008 issue of the Journal of American History features an award-winning article by Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellow Andrew Kahrl F’07.

The 2007 Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian History was awarded to The Transformation of a Religious Landscape: Medieval Southern Italy, 850-1150 by Valerie Ramseyer F'06.

Shadi Bartsch F'99 is spending 2007-08 studying “Philosophy and the Figural in Antiquity" with support from the Guggenheim Foundation.

ACLS announces the receipt of nearly $5.1 million in a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to provide more fellowships and increase stipends for junior faculty awardees in the ACLS Fellowship Program.

On February 21, 2008, ACLS President Pauline Yu was named Vice Chair of Harvard University's Board of Overseers.

We are pleased to present the new website of the American Council of Learned Societies. We hope you will explore the site's expanded content, functionality, and finding aids.

The Modern Language Association of America awarded the forty-fourth annual William Riley Parker Prize for an Outstanding Article Published in PMLA to ACLS President Pauline Yu.

In January 2008, PBS debuted "The Jewish Americans," a six-hour documentary following 350 years of Jewish-American history. Beth S. Wenger F'06 wrote the companion volume to this series.

The 2007 Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lecture was delivered by Linda Nochlin, Lila Acheson Wallace Professor of Modern Art, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, on May 11 during the ACLS Annual Meeting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The Society for Ethnomusicology has announced the appointment of Stephen Stuempfle as the first full-time Executive Director for SEM.

The American Council of Learned Societies mourns the passing of Professor John A. Garraty, who died in Sag Harbor, New York on December 20th at the age of 87.

In 2007, the American Musicological Society, an ACLS constituent society, presented the Lewis Lockwood Award to Susan Boynton F’07 for her work Shaping a Monastic Identity Liturgy and History at the Imperial Abbey of Farfa, 1000-1125 (Cornell University Press, 2006).

In December 2007, Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellows in American Art Dorothy Moss F'06, Jennifer Greenhill F'06, and Jason LaFountain F'07 organized a two-day colloquium titled “Practicing American Art History” at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

In 2006, the Social Science History Association presented its President’s Book Award to The Averaged American Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public (Harvard University Press, 2007) by Sarah E. Igo F’04.

In 2006, the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture awarded Hilaire Kallendorf F’04 the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, which recognizes an individual scholar “who has not yet reached his or her full potential, but whose work in the humanities shows extraordinary...

Kristen Ghodsee F’05 continues research and publication on gender issues in the Muslim world, the subject of her 2005 ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowship in East European Studies.

The American Council of Learned Societies mourns the passing of its President Emeritus Frederick Henry Burkhardt, who died in Bennington, Vermont on September 23, 2007, at the age of 95.