College faculty received six of the nine IU-wide Fellowships awarded by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Six members of the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington have been selected as 2024 IU Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows; across IU, the Office of the Vice President for Research awarded nine Fellowships in total.
Each of the six College professors will receive $50,000 of flexible funding that will support their work as they pursue innovative research and creative projects. The Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows Program was established by IU President Pamela Whitten to support the work of IU faculty who are improving society through their research and creative activities, and who are, or are poised to become, national and international leaders in their fields.
Professors Catherine Bowman, Andrew Goldman, Raiford Guins, Lisa Lenoir, Linda Pisano, and Spencer Steenblik are the recipients of the Fellowship from the College. In addition to funding, these professors will gain access to professional development programming and advanced training through their Fellowships.
“These Fellowships recognize the leading-edge work of the College’s arts and humanities faculty, who through their teaching and research prepare students for fulfilling careers in myriad fields, while providing a deeper understanding of the complexities of the human experience and the world around us,” said Rick Van Kooten, Executive Dean of the College and Professor of Physics. “With the majority of Fellowships awarded to our faculty, these awards further recognize that the College is the beating heart of IU.”
More on each of the College’s Professors Selected for the Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellowship:
Catherine Bowman
Catherine Bowman, a professor of English in the College, is an award-winning poet, author of several collections of poetry and the editor of “Word of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered.’”
Bowman plans on using the fellowship funding for travel and for archival research to make progress on her sixth poetry collection tentatively titled “Volver, Volver: An Underworld Intergenre Pilgrimage.” The collection will be about visualizing and retelling the underworld encounters through several generations of women.
Andrew Goldman
Andrew Goldman is an assistant professor in both the Jacobs School of Music and the College’s cognitive science department. He directs the IU Music and Mind Lab, which is a group that does research that investigates music perception and condition and the role that music plays in the human condition.
Goldman will use his fellowship funding to explore the challenges that come with incorporating cognitive sciences into music studies. His research will tackle how music cognition researchers’ historical and cultural situations have affected their scientific work and findings.
Raiford Guins
Raiford Guins is a professor and the director of Cinema and Media Studies at the Media School. Additionally, he has written many books about gaming and is the co-editor of the MIT Press Game Histories Book Series with Henry Lowood.
Guins plans to use the funds to support travel that will be vital to the development of his book, tentatively titled “Museum Games.” The book will explore the emerging areas of gaming in museums, libraries and archives worldwide.
Lisa Lenoir
Lisa Lenoir is an assistant professor who teaches in the Media School’s Fashion Media Program. Her research investigates contemporary cultural phenomena in media discourses in journalism studies, activism and identity, and consumer culture.
Lenoir will use funds to further her work of exploring the life and career of journalist Mattie Smith Colin. Colin was a reporter for the Chicago Defender from 1950 to 2002. Most notably, she covered the return of Emmett Till’s body to Chicago in 1955.
Linda Pisano
Linda Pisano is the chair and a professor in the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance. Her fellowship is sponsored by the Big Ten Academic Alliance and the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.
She will use the funding to continue her research to find methods to pursue new audiences and donors for the arts and humanities. Pisano hopes her research will show that universities are communicating the value of the arts and humanities.
Spencer Steenblik
Spencer Steenblik is an assistant professor of comprehensive design at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design.
He will use the fellowship funding to develop several projects he is working on such as pursuing a patent. One of the main goals of Steenblik’s research is to help prove how valuable hands-on opportunities are for young practitioners in this field.
Launched in 2022, the Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows Program is supported by the IU Office of the President and IU Research and is administered by the university’s assistant vice president for research.
About the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington
The College of Arts and Sciences is the beating heart of Indiana University Bloomington and traces its roots to IU’s founding in 1820. Part of a leading R1 (Research 1) university, the College has more than 70 academic departments offering undergraduate and graduate degrees within and across the natural and mathematical sciences, the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. In addition, the College is home to the Media School, the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
College faculty are groundbreaking researchers and dedicated teachers and mentors to students. With an array of options, opportunities, and experiences to choose from, students are able to prepare for fulfilling work as well as a meaningful life. More than 90 percent of our undergraduates report a successful career outcome six months after graduation. Learn more at college.indiana.edu.