University faculty members snared seven of the 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards this year, tying the University with Harvard University for second-highest number of recipients of the prestigious awards.
Guggenheim fellows represent more than 90 colleges and universities nationwide, and the University of Chicago is home to the top number of recipients with seven.
"I see myself as a devoted scholar, writer and teacher. The chance to make a bigger contribution and pursue this work is an honor," said English Prof. Alan Wald, one of the award recipients. The other fellows are history Profs. Sabine MacCormack and Laura Downs, philosophy Prof. Peter Railton and electrical engineering and computer science Prof. Duncan Steel.
The Guggenheim Fellowship Awards were created to acknowledge those individuals who possess both past distinguished achievement and the potential of future accomplishment.
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"Having the time off enables the professors to perform research without the restrictions of their teaching obligations," Gurl said. "The research then bounces back to benefit the professor and students during the following year of teaching."
Downs said she will be taking the coming academic year off to continue her research and finish the writing of a book. For the past two years, she has been studying the role of summer camps for working-class children in France. Downs will be spending her fellowship time to continue research and finish a book on the working-class movements of the 1880 to 1960 period.
"When I am talking about the second World War, I will not only be able to teach from the textbook, but I will be able to teach my students about the children being evacuated into the countryside during this period," Downs said.
The University's high number of recipients - increased from only three last year - is no surprise to Steel. He said the University is incredibly strong intellectually and has been advancing in the area of research.
Downs said she was convinced by MacCormack to submit an application of her own while reviewing MacCormack's fellowship application.
In March, both professors received individual notification that they had been selected as two of the 179 winners of the 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards.
"Because of (MacCormack's) generosity, I was led to this award. It's a wonderful thing. I am incredibly lucky. It's always a matter of luck," Downs said.
Wald said the time he will have to devote to research will have a positive impact on the University community. His area of concentration is radical, left-wing writers in the United States, focusing on the time period between 1940 and 1950.
"I am interested in exploring the roles of individuals such as working people and dissidents," Wald said. "I want to bring that culture in to the life of the University. I want to illustrate that our own lives can be related to these activist models."
This year's 75th annual competition included artists, scholars and scientists selected from a pool of nearly 2,800 applicants. The total amount of grants given are worth $6,062,000.
Since its inception in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has granted more than $185 million in fellowships to nearly 15,000 individuals. The foundation was created by former U.S. Sen. Simon Guggenheim and his wife in memory of their son who died before he was able to attend college.
The foundation's Website states that the Guggenheim family established the foundation to "add to the educational, literary, artistic and scientific power of this country, and also to provide for the cause of better international understanding."
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04-15-99
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