July/August 2009
Around the Quads
In Lumine Tuo
Lenfest
Seven scholar-teachers have been selected as recipients of this year’s Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences gives this honor annually to junior and senior faculty members who have shown exceptional merit in scholarship and dedication to teaching. The awards, established in 2005 by University Trustee Gerry Lenfest ’58L, each come with a stipend of $25,000 per year for three consecutive years.
This year’ recipients are Francesco de Angelis, associate professor, art history and archaeology; Christopher Brown, professor, history; Brent Edwards, professor, English and comparative literature; Darcy Kelley, professor, biological sciences; Philip Kitcher, the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy; Kevin Ochsner, assistant professor, psychology; and Nadia Urbinati, the Nell and Herbert M. Singer Professor of Contemporary Civilization and professor, political science.
Awarded
Valentina Izmirlieva, associate professor, Slavic languages, was awarded a Howard Fellowship for her ongoing research project, “Christian Hajjis: The Forgotten Pilgrims to Ottoman Jerusalem.” Howard Fellowships provide $25,000 stipends to support awardees’ writing projects.
Mark Mazower, the Ira D. Wallach Professor of World Order Studies, received the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History for his recent book, Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe.
Eileen Gillooly, associate director of the Heyman Center for the Humanities and associate adjunct professor of English, has been named a 2009–10 fellow at the National Humanities Center. Newly appointed fellows will have the opportunity to work on an individual research assignment as well as to share ideas in seminars and lectures. Gillooly will work on her project, “Anxious Affection: Parental Feeling in Nineteenth-Century Middle-Class Britain,” at the center.
Mark Strand, professor of poetry and modern fiction, has been awarded the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for distinguished achievement in poetry. The medal is given every six years for a poet’s entire body of work.
Richard Bulliet, professor of history, and George Saliba, professor of Middle East and Asian languages and culture, have been named 2009 Carnegie Scholars by the Carnegie Corp. of New York. The scholarships offer two-year grants of up to $100,000 for research on today’s critical questions. Bulliet will explore ancient and contemporary discourses between Islam and modern military institutions, while Saliba’s project involves science’s trajectory in the Islamic world and its application to modern times.
Arts & Sciences
Five Columbia professors have been named 2009 Fellows of the Academy of Arts and Sciences: Patrick Bolton, the Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of Business and a professor of economics at the Business School; Dorian Goldfeld, professor of mathematics; Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Literature and director, Middle East Institute; Aron Pinczuk, professor of applied physics and applied mathematics; and Ross Posnock, professor of English and comparative literature. Academy fellows are honored for exemplary leadership and dedication to the sciences, the arts and humanities, business, public affairs, and nonprofit work.
Sciences
Three Columbia professors have been named members of the National Academy of Sciences: Marian Carlson, professor of genetics and development and microbiology; John Morgan, professor of mathematics; and Frank Sciulli, the Pupin Professor Emeritus of Physics. One of the highest honors for a scientist or an engineer, election to the National Academy of Sciences recognizes innovative research and achievement.