Faculty Grants & Fellowships Blog

NEW ALPHABETIC INSCRIPTION FROM ZINCIRLI

On July 21, 2008, the Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli, directed by Prof. David Schloen of the University of Chicago and by associate director Amir Fink, found an inscribed basalt stele at the site of Zincirli (pronounced “Zin-jeer-lee”) in Gaziantep province in southeastern Turkey. The remarkably well-preserved stele, 70 centimeters wide and 95

centimeters tall, was found intact in its original location. It was set into a stone wall with its protruding tenon still inserted into the stone-paved floor. The alphabetic inscription on the stele is written in Sam’alian, the language spoken in the region of Zincirli (ancient Sam’al) during the Iron Age. It commemorates the life of “Kattammuwa servant of Panamuwa,” probably a high official of King Panamuwa, who reigned during the eighth century B.C.E. A bearded figure is depicted on the stele, seated in a chair in front of a table laden with food. Beside him is a thirteen-line inscription, elegantly carved in raised relief and preserved in almost pristine condition nearly three millennia after it was inscribed. It describes the establishment of the memorial stele and associated mortuary rites. This stele is unique in its combination of pictorial and textual features and thus is an important addition to

our knowledge of ancient language and culture. An analysis and translation of the inscription will be presented by Prof. Dennis Pardee of the University of Chicago at the November 2008 meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature in Boston and will be published soon thereafter.

Zincirli is the site of the ancient walled city of Sam’al, capital of an Iron Age kingdom that inherited both West Semitic and Neo-Hittite (Luwian) cultural traditions. The 40-hectare (100-acre) site was first excavated more than a hundred years ago and produced a number of royal inscriptions and other fascinating finds that are on display in various

museums. Since 2006, Zincirli has been excavated annually by a team fromthe Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago-the Neubauer Expedition, a large-scale and long-term project of archaeological research at this important site.

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The University of Chicago Humanities Faculty have received a wide range of awards in 2007 - from research grants and fellowships to awards recognizing excellence in research, teaching, and contributions to their fields.

The Faculty Awards 2007-08 page will be updated periodically to include notices of newly received fellowships, grants, and awards. Please let us know if you have received an award so that we may include you in the listing.

Recent Award Highlights:

David Wellbery elected to Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Mar 3rd, 2008 by Jane Charney Edit |

David Wellbery, the LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor of Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature and the College, has been elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Wellbery’s work focuses on classical German literature and its significance for contemporary theoretical questions. He is a well-known literary critic and has taught at the University of Chicago since 2001. His most recent publications include the 1,000-page A New History of German Literature (Belknap Press: 2005), for which he served as editor-in-chief; Seiltänzer des Paradoxalen (2006).

Established in 1759, the Academy celebrates the achievements of researchers in their respective fields. The Academy has counted among its members such prominent figures as Goethe, Albert Einstein, Max Weber, and others.

Professor Wu Hung honored by College Art Association

Posted in Art History, Faculty News on Feb 29th, 2008

Wu Hung, Harrie H. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the College and Director of the Center on the Art of East Asia, was honored with the Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award at the 2008 Annual Conference of the College Art Association, February 21 at the Association’s […]

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Request for Proposals from Dan Bertsche, Assistant Director, France Chicago Center:

Funding Opportunity for Faculty Members in the Humanities

The France Chicago Center invites faculty in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Harris School, and the Divinity School to submit proposals for 2008/09 projects (conferences, colloquia, exchanges, etc.) that foster stronger ties between the University of Chicago and France, while increasing awareness within the UofC community of French culture, art, and thought.

Up to $5000 may be requested for projects taking place in FY 2008/09. More modest sums may be available for projects taking place during the current academic year. The deadline for applications for 2008/09 projects is January 15, 2008.

For more information or to apply, please go to http://fcc.uchicago.edu/proposals/uchicago.html. Or contact Dan Bertsche at 702-3662 or at fcc@uchicago.edu.

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Provost’s Announcement

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Office of the Provost

MEMORANDUM

From: Keith Moffat, Deputy Provost for Research

Date: October 11, 2007

Re: 2008 Mellon Foundation/Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Career Enhancement Fellowships for Junior Faculty Program

I am writing to inform you of a new fellowship program funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation called the Career Enhancement Fellowships for Junior Faculty Application Program. This program seeks to increase the presence of minority junior faculty and other junior faculty members committed to eradicating racial disparities, breaking down stereotypes, and promoting cross-racial understanding in their university communities.

The objective of the fellowship program is to aid the scholarly research and intellectual growth of junior faculty and improve their chances for success as tenured university scholars by offering support for twelve months of research and writing. The award includes a maximum $30,000 stipend, a $1500 research, travel, or publication stipend, and funding to attend the Fall Retreat in October 2008. Application and program guidelines are attached.

Eligible applicants should:

1) be in the third year of the tenure-track teaching appointment at the time of application

2) teach in eligible academic fields (see below)

3) be able to accept the award for the 2008-2009 academic year

4) be U.S. citizens.

Eligible departments are:

Humanities: American and English Literature, Foreign Languages and Literatures (including Area Studies), Art History, Classics, Musicology, Philosophy, Religion

Social Sciences: History, Anthropology, Demography, Sociology

Physical Sciences: Earth Sciences, Ecology, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science.

The application deadline for the 2008 Career Enhancement Fellowships is November 30, 2007.

Interested faculty may obtain copies of the program brochure and application form from their department chairs/administrators or they may contact Sylvia Sheridan, Assistant Director, at careerenhance@woodrow.org. Jennie Myers of the Office of Foundation Relations (jmyers1@uchicago.edu, 4-8437) is available to assist with proposal writing as needed. Please contact Jennie Myers with any questions regarding this program.

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Website

Deadline: December 15, 2008 (postmark)Submission Method: Mail

Current Fellows: Not available

Recent Chicago Fellows: Not available

Competition Level: Over 100 long- and short-term fellowships are awarded annually; the number of applications submitted is not available

Eligibility:
Short-term: PhD or equivalent, or doctoral candidate at dissertation stage
Long-term: PhD or equivalent; for Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowships only, candidate must be untenured

The Huntington is an independent research center with holdings in British and American history, literature, art history, and the history of science and medicine. The Library collections range chronologically from the eleventh century to the present and include a half-million rare books, nearly six million manuscripts, 600,000 photographs, and a large ephemera collection, supported by a half-million reference works. Within the general fields listed above there are many areas of special strength, including: Middle Ages, Renaissance, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Literature, History of Science, British Drama, Colonial America, American Civil War, Western America, and California.

The Huntington will award to scholars over one hundred fellowships for the academic year 2008/09. These fellowships derive from a variety of funding sources and have different terms. Recipients of all fellowships are expected to be in continuous residence at The Huntington and to participate in and make a contribution to its intellectual life.

Short-term Fellowships
Huntington Fellowships

Tenure: 1-5 months

Amount of award: $2,500 per month.

Within this category, The Huntington awards a number of specialized fellowships, including:

• Francis Bacon Foundation Fellowships in Renaissance England
• Haynes Foundation Fellowships in Los Angeles History
• Reese Fellowship in American Bibliography and the History of the Book in the Americas
• Trent R. Dames Civil Engineering History Fellowship
• Christopher Isherwood Foundation Fellowship

Huntington-British Academy Fellowships for Study in Great Britain

Tenure: 1 month

In cooperation with the British Academy, The Huntington offers a limited number of exchange fellowships in any of the fields in which the Huntington collections are strong.

Long-term Fellowships
Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowships

Tenure: 9-12 months

Amount of award: $45,000

This is designed to support non-tenured faculty members who are revising a manuscript for publication. Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections and must have received the PhD between 2004 and 2006.

Mellon Fellowships

Tenure: 9-12 months

Amount of award: $45,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections and have received their PhD by June 2008.

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships

Tenure: 4-12 months

Amount of award: Up to $50,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections and have received their PhD by June 2008.

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Website

Deadline: November 1, 2008 and May 1, 2009

Submission Method: Electronic and mail

Current Fellows: http://www.wennergren.org/grantees/

Recent Chicago Fellows: None

Competition Level: A maximum of 8 fellowships are awarded annually; the number of applications submitted is not available

Eligibility: Applicants must have received a Ph.D. or equivalent within ten years of the application deadline; preference is given to untenured junior faculty; if a prior Hunt Fellowship was received, all requirements of that fellowship must be completed. There is no citizenship requirement.

Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships support the writing-up of completed research. The fellowship is awarded to scholars in the earlier stages of their careers, when they frequently lack the time and resources to develop their research for publication. The fellowships support research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas. There is no preference for any methodology, research location, or subfield.

A maximum of $40,000 is available. Applicants requesting shorter time periods would receive a pro-rated award as appropriate (e.g., a six-month project would be awarded $20,000).

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Website

Deadline: November 15, 2008

Submission Method: Electronic

Current Fellows

Recent Chicago Fellows: Kelly Austin, Romance (07/08)

Competition Level: 20 fellowships were awarded in 2008/09; the number of applications submitted is not available

Eligibility: Must be a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States

American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships provide a stipend of $30,000 to support a year of sabbatical. The primary purpose of the fellowship is to increase the number of women in tenure-track faculty positions and to promote equity for women in higher education. This fellowship is designed to assist the candidate in obtaining tenure and further promotions by enabling her to spend a year pursuing independent research.

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UChicago Arts Awards

Curriculum Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards

Course Arts Resource Fund

Deadline:

• UChicago Arts Awards and Curriculum Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards: early November, early February, and late April; check Website for specific dates
• Course Arts Resource Fund: None

Submission Method (All): Electronic

Current Grantees:

• UChicagoArts Awards
• Curriculum Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards
• Current Course Arts Resource Fund Grantees are not available

Competition Level: 16 grants were made in the 2005/06 competition for UChicagoArts Awards; the number of applications submitted is not available. The number of grants made in a single year through Curriculum Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards is not available; the number of applications submitted also is not available. The number of grants made in a single year through the Course Arts Resource Fund is not available; the number of applications submitted also is not available.

Eligibility:

• UChicago Arts Awards: All faculty, departments or centers, registered student organizations, campus cultural institutions, and other organizations involved in campus life are eligible.
• Curriculum Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards: All individual or groups of faculty and full-time lecturers who wish to develop new undergraduate or graduate courses in the arts and/or to revise and renew existing arts courses are eligible.
• Course Arts Resource Fund: All instructors are eligible

To encourage arts activities on campus and the enrichment of the University community’s cultural life, the Arts Planning Council sponsors three grant programs for faculty:

• UChicagoArts Grants, which range from $1,500 to $10,000 and support the creation and presentation of arts in all genres;
• Curricular Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards, which range from $2,000 to $5,000 and are intended for the development, enhancement, or renewal of arts courses; and
• Course Arts Resource Fund Grants, which provide up to $500 for the integration of arts into courses.

Preference for UChicago Arts Grants is given to projects that demonstrate: innovation; a critical or historical understanding of the project in terms of related work; collaboration, whether with groups on or off campus; student participation; and partial support from other sources.

Curricular Innovation and Renewal in the Arts Awards seek to encourage: creation of cross–divisional and cross-departmental courses; intra-departmental courses that stretch the usual boundaries; and projects that combine rigorous scholarly and theoretical approaches with creative and performative practice and study. These grants can be used to support a variety of activities, such as:

• hiring a research assistant to help prepare the course
• funding a workshop to design a new course (or revise an old one)
• creating a course web site
• hiring performers/artists
• purchasing materials related to the course (software, slides, recordings, videos, and other arts-related materials and equipment)

Course Arts Resource Fund Grants help to defray costs related to arts activities such as: inviting a visiting artist to class; organizing a class visit to a performance or exhibition; or providing arts materials for classroom use (recordings, videos, web page designs for arts materials, etc.). In an effort to extend the reach of the arts on campus, the Council particularly encourages requests from instructors who may not routinely integrate the arts into their courses.

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Website

Deadline: Multiple

Submission Method: Electronic

Current Grantees: Not available

Competition Level: Not available

Eligibility: Humanities faculty

The Franke Institute entertains proposals for conferences, colloquia, visiting scholars, and similar kinds of events that focus on interdisciplinary topics and that therefore reach a range of audiences. Normally, it funds proposals that involve multiple departments and programs. In addition to public events, the Institute can sometimes provide modest support for faculty groups working together on research topics or on curriculum planning or for faculty projects that involve collaboration with colleagues from other institutions. Grants range typically from $1,000 to $3,000.

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Website

Deadline: Early April

Submission Method: Electronic

Current Grantees

Competition Level: 4 grants were made in the 2007/08 competition; 11 applications had been submitted

Eligibility: All faculty and senior lecturers are eligible

The Provost’s Program for Academic Technology Innovation provides one-time seed grants of up to $50,000 for projects that focus on new and innovative uses of information technology in undergraduate learning, extend the instructional use of technology in graduate research and education, or involve extensive cross-departmental collaboration in the use of technology in an academic context.

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