Junior Faculty Win Awards in Support of Their Research

Joseph W. Gordon, acting dean of Yale College, has announced the 2008 recipients of three annual awards for outstanding junior faculty: the Arthur Greer Memorial Prize, the Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Prize, and the Poorvu Family Award.

Each prize carries an award of funding to support further research. The recipients also will be honored at a dinner in New Haven in November to celebrate their scholarly achievements.

Greer Prize

The Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication or Research is awarded to a junior faculty member in the natural or social sciences. This year’s recipient is:

Laurie Santos, associate professor of psychology, who received the prize for her pioneering research in the field of primate cognition. She is widely recognized as an emerging leader in the field for her work exploring the evolution and origins of the human mind by comparing cognitive functions in human and non-human primates.

Heyman Prize

The Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication or Research is conferred upon deserving junior faculty members in the humanities. This year’s recipients are:

Christopher L. Hill, associate professor of East Asian languages and literatures, who received the prize for his new book, “National History and the World of Nations: Capital, State and the Rhetoric of History in Japan, France and the United States,” forthcoming from Duke University Press.

Colleen Manassa, director of undergraduate studies in Near Eastern languages and civilizations, who was recognized for her monographs “The Late Egyptian Underworld” and “The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the 13th Century B.C.”

Marci Shore, assistant professor of history, who was awarded the prize for her book “Caviar and Ashes: A Warsaw Generation’s Life and Death in Marxism, 1918-1968,” published by Yale University Press in 2006.

Poorvu Award

The Poorvu Family Award for Interdisciplinary Teaching was established to recognize and enhance Yale’s strength in interdisciplinary teaching. It provides the means for deserving junior faculty to conduct essential summer research. This year’s recipients are:

Bryan Garsten, associate professor of political science, who received the award in recognition of his teaching in the “History and Politics” division of the interdisciplinary Directed Studies program as well as his courses “Political Judgment” and “Democratic Rhetoric,” which draw upon the methods of both humanities and social sciences.

Justin Fox, assistant professor of political science, who was honored for his outstanding contributions to the Ethics, Politics and Economics program, including his course “Elections and Representation,” which provides students direct experience in the application of interdisciplinary work.

Alondra Nelson, assistant professor of African-American studies, sociology and American studies, who was nominated for the award by the faculty of the Department of African-American Studies. She was cited for her exemplary teaching in such interdisciplinary courses as “Genealogy and the Politics of Family”; “Health Social Movements”; and “Technology, Identity and Culture.”