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News Release

Last modified: Thursday, February 5, 2009

Arts and humanities grants awarded to 28 faculty at IU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 5, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Twenty-eight faculty from various Indiana University campuses have been awarded New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities grants. With the intent of encouraging faculty to expand their work into new disciplinary or interdisciplinary areas, the awards will provide funding for this year's winners to explore topics such as:

• "Divine Healing and Deliverance in America, 1860-2010," a book manuscript by Candy Gunther Brown, associate professor of religious studies at IU Bloomington.
• "All in the Family: Identifying Kinship in Prehistory Using Ancient DNA," a project looking at kinship patterns in the Midwest over the past 2,000 years by Frederika Kaestle, assistant professor of anthropology at IU Bloomington.
• "Requiem for the Innocent," a vocal and orchestral remembrance of victims of terrorism by Jorge Muñiz, assistant professor of music at IU South Bend.
• "Mothers' L.A.N.D. (League Against Nuclear Dangers): History, Heroines, Housewives and Homeland," an exhibition examining an organization formed in 1973 in opposition to the construction of a nuclear generating facility, by Matthew Groshek, assistant professor of civic engagement, exhibition planning and design at IUPUI.

This is the fifth and final year for the original New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities program, which was funded by the Lilly Endowment for five years with $5 million. However, the university will continue to support the program after this year.

"In the last four years, more than 300 awards have been made to faculty members on all eight campuses, resulting in many dozens of books, art exhibitions and performances," said Sarita Soni, IU vice provost for research, whose office oversees the program. "Equally impressive is the fact that many of these awardees have successfully competed for external funds to continue their work. President McRobbie's commitment to continuing funds for this program for the next five years is a recognition of the work faculty are accomplishing in the arts and humanities at IU."

The New Frontiers program offers support to faculty in a number of ways. New Frontiers grants assist in the development of innovative works of scholarship and creative activities, while New Perspectives grants target workshops and conferences on the arts and humanities. Visiting Visionary scholar grants support extended visits to IU by scholars and performers, and Exploration Traveling Fellowship grants support national and international travel for scholars and researchers in the initial stages of new projects.

"The value the New Frontiers Visiting Visionary grant is immeasurable for my research and for the SoFA Gallery," said Betsy Stirratt, director of the School of Fine Arts Gallery at IU Bloomington. She will orchestrate "Re(Actions) Visualizing Climate Change," a series of programs and exhibits. "This funding has made it possible to present the topic of global warming in a completely new way. Through interdisciplinary activities, collaborations and the display of contemporary art, I hope that we will provide a forum to examine and understand, through visual means, climate change."

The deadline for 2009 New Frontiers grant proposals occurs in October. For more information about the program and the application process, see www.research.iu.edu/funding/newfron/index.html.

2009 New Frontier grants were awarded to:

• Candy Brown, IU Bloomington, Religious Studies, "Divine Healing and Deliverance in America, 1860-2010
• David Craig, IUPUI, Religious Studies, "Debating Desire: Ritual Performance and the Politics of Man
• Denise Cruz, IU Bloomington, English, "Transpacific Femininities: Literature and the Making of the Modern Filipina"
• Margaret Dolinsky, IU Bloomington, Fine Arts, "Annunciation + Visitation: Operatic Projections of Her Sexual Insight"
• Matthew Groshek, IUPUI, Fine Arts, "Mothers' L.A.N.D. (League Against Nuclear Dangers): History, Heroines, Housewives and Homeland"
• Jeffrey Hass, IU Bloomington, Music, "Third Symphony for Orchestra with Electronics and Video Projection: Together and Apart"
• Frederika Kaestle, IU Bloomington, Anthropology, "All in the Family: Identifying Kinship in Prehistory Using Ancient DNA"
• Stacie King, IU Bloomington, Anthropology, "Archaeology of/as Political Action in Southern Mexico"
• Brigitte Le Normand, IU Southeast, History, "Gastarbajteri: The Influence of Labor Migration on Yugoslav Society and Culture, 1960-1980"
• Murray McGibbon, IU Bloomington, Theatre and Drama, "The African Tempest Revisited"
• Elliott McKinley, IU East, Music, "Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra"
• Jorge Muniz, IU South Bend, "Requiem for the Innocent"
• Kathleen O'Connell, IUPUI, Fine Arts, "Watercolor Groundscapes Inspired by Ecosystems of the Desert"
• Rakesh Solomon, IU Bloomington, Theatre and Drama, "Islamic Fundamentalists, Hindu Militants, and Globalization: Locating Traditional Theatre within Contemporary India's Political Economy"
• Rachel Wheeler, IUPUI, Religious Studies, "Revolutions in Faith: Five Generations of a Mohican-Moravian Family, 1740-1815"

New Perspectives grants were awarded to:

• Colin Allen, IU Bloomington, Poynter Center, "Neuroethics: Ethical and Social Implications of Neuroscience"
• Hakki Cipa, IU Bloomington, Central Eurasian Studies, "Editing the Past, Fashioning the Future: Historiography of the Ottoman Empire"
• William Deal, IUPUI, Music, "Intermedia Festival Project"
• Adelheid Gealt, IU Bloomington, Fine Arts, "Merged Symmetries: Exploring the Geometric Sculptures of Morton C. Bradley Jr."
• Philip Goff, IUPUI, Religious Studies, "The Religion and American Culture Conference"
• Bessie House-Soremekun, IUPUI, Political Science, "Rethinking Economic Development in the Context of Globalization"
• Paula Katz, IUPUI, Fine Arts, "Collaborate: Projects for the 21st Century"
• Michael Martin, IU Bloomington, African American and African Diaspora Studies, "Cinematic Representations of Racial Conflict in 'Real Time'"
• Portia Maultsby, IU Bloomington, African American and African Diaspora Studies, "Black Rock Music and Audio Visual Archives: The Conference as a Solution to Filling the Documentation Gap"
• David Ransel, IU Bloomington, History, "Everyday Life in Russia: Strategies, Subjectivities and Perspectives"
• Jutta Schickore, IU Bloomington, History and the Philosophy of Science, "Integrated History and Philosophy of Science Conference"
• Samrat Upadhyay, IU Bloomington, English, "The Writer in the World: The Personal and the Political"

Visiting Visionary Scholars grant was awarded to:

• Elizabeth Stirratt, IU Bloomington, Fine Arts, "ReActions: Visualizing Climate Change"

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