In the first half of 2021, faculty at Barnard College have racked up numerous fellowships, honors, and awards. Read on to learn more about their many achievements.
Professor Elizabeth Ananat — Andrew Carnegie Fellow
On April 28, Elizabeth Ananat, Mallya Professor of Women and Economics, was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow as part of its 2021 class. Ananat will receive philanthropic support for a research sabbatical in the humanities and social sciences to address an important and enduring issue of her choice that confronts our society. From more than 300 nominations, just 26 distinguished scholars and writers were selected for this prestigious honor by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic foundation that has supported the advancement of education and knowledge for more than a century.
Each of the winners is awarded a scholarship of up to $200,000 after a panel of jurors, which includes the nation’s most distinguished scholars and intellectual leaders, selects proposals from a pool of top applications that underwent a preliminary, anonymous evaluation by subject-matter experts.
Professor Karen Fairbanks — American Institute of Architects College of Fellows
On February 26, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the elevation of 102 member-architects to its College of Fellows, including chair of the Department of Architecture Karen Fairbanks, who is a member of the AIA’s New York chapter. The institute carefully selected the 2021 College of Fellows based on members’ long-standing and quality contributions to the architectural community, whether through design, education and research, or public service.
Fairbanks, who won the AIA’s Educator Award in 2015, will join the ranks of distinguished architects that make up only 3% of the AIA. This fellowship program was developed to elevate architects who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession and made a significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.
Professors Kaiama L. Glover and Nara Milanich — New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center Fellows
On April 5, the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers announced its class of 2021-2022 fellows from a pool of 506 applicants. The class of 15 talented academics, literary artists, and independent scholars includes Barnard professors Kaiama L. Glover and Nara Milanich. All Cullman Center fellows will have access to research collections, curatorial and reference staff, a stipend, and the use of a private office.
Kaiama L. Glover, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of French and Africana Studies, is primarily interested in Francophone literature of Haiti and the French Antilles and sub-Saharan Francophone African cinema. As a fellow, she will work on a book project, For the Love of Revolution: René Depestre and the Poetics of a Radical Life, that analyzes the complexities of radical Black subjecthood through a lens of 20th-century leftist politics and poetics.
History professor Nara Milanich’s scholarship focuses on the history of kinship, childhood, reproduction, and gender. She was selected as the John and Constance Birkelund Fellow to work on The “Little Moor of Pisa”: A Transatlantic Family History, detailing the story of a child born to an Italian woman and an African American soldier in postwar Italy.
Professor Saskia Hamilton — The American Academy of Arts and Letters
On May 19, the American Academy of Arts and Letters will present 18 recipients with prestigious literature awards and prizes to recognize established and emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. Saskia Hamilton, Vice Provost, professor of English, and director of Women Poets at Barnard, is among just eight winners in the category of Arts and Letters Awards in Literature, which honors exceptional accomplishments in any genre.
Hamilton’s latest books include Corridor, a volume of poetry, and The Dolphin Letters, 1970–1979: Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Lowell, and Their Circle, which results from a decade of recontextualizing letters between poet Robert Lowell and critic and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick during their highly publicized divorce. In it, Hamilton crafts a full narrative honoring the intimate complexities of one of literary history’s most famous scandals.
Professor María de la Paz Fernández — Society for Research on Biological Rhythms
On April 13, María de la Paz Fernández, assistant professor of neuroscience, was selected as Public Outreach Committee Chair for the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR). One of four prominent chronobiology research societies and publisher of the Journal of Biological Rhythms, the SRBR was established in 1986 to promote the advancement and dissemination of basic and applied research in all aspects of biological rhythms; enhance the education and training of students and researchers in the field; and foster interdisciplinary communication and an international exchange of ideas.
As Public Outreach Committee Chair, Professor de la Paz Fernández will “create, curate, and distribute content about biological rhythms to increase its visibility and impact, and to position SRBR as a source of accurate and useful chronobiological information, especially in social media and on the web.”
Professor Paige West — Guggenheim Fellow
On April 8, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation selected Paige West, the Claire Tow Professor of Anthropology at Barnard College, to be a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. The honor recognizes “exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.” This year, the foundation presented fellowships to 184 of the nearly 3,000 applicants, which included American and Canadian scientists, scholars in the social sciences and humanities, and writers and artists of all kinds.
To date, the foundation has granted nearly $400 million in fellowship support to more than 18,000 individuals. Past recipients include more than 125 Nobel laureates, members of all the national academies, and winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Fields Medal, Turing Award, Bancroft Prize, National Book Award, and other internationally recognized honors. Last year, five fellows won Pulitzer Prizes and four won Nobel Prizes.
Professor West will use the fellowship support to continue her scholarship in anthropology and cultural studies.
Congratulations to our distinguished faculty members on receiving these impressive accolades!