The American Graduate Fellowships (AGF) program—launched in spring 2006 to promote doctoral study in the humanities by talented graduates of smaller, private liberal arts colleges and universities—celebrated its successes this winter as it moves into its final stage.
Over the past five years, with support from the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation, CIC awarded Fellowships worth up to $50,000 and renewable for a second year of study to eight humanities students. All eight students are still in graduate school, progressing in a timely fashion, and doing well academically.
CIC President Richard Ekman said, “The initiative has accomplished much more than supporting eight stellar graduates of small colleges in their quest for PhDs of some of the top research universities in the United States and Great Britain. The Fellowships have made the statement to leading graduate schools that small colleges are a rich source of current and future doctoral students.”
The first two American Graduate Fellows were
Daniel Berntson, who graduated summa cum laude from
Northwestern College (IA) in 2006 with a double major in philosophy and English literature, and
Adam Spry, who graduated magna cum laude from
Pacific Lutheran University (WA) in 2007 with a double major in English and art.
Berntson completed his MA in philosophy at Brown University in 2008 and, with support from AGF, spent a year at Princeton University as a visiting scholar. During that time, he applied to and was accepted into the doctoral program in Princeton’s philosophy department for the 2010–2011 academic year. Berntson has presented the results of his research at graduate student conferences at St. Andrews University in Scotland, Harvard University, New York University, and Oxford University in the UK. With interests in issues at the boundary of metaphysics, epistemology, and mathematical knowledge, Berntson hopes to complete his dissertation by 2013 or 2014.
Spry is in his fifth year of a PhD program in Columbia University’s English and comparative literature department. He has successfully completed his qualifying examinations, earned his MPhil, completed his dissertation prospectus, and is well into his research. Spry’s dissertation, “Our Backbone for the Bow: Transnational Approaches to Anishinaabe Literature,” examines the long history of Anishinaabe literary production from the earliest years of the 19th century to today. A Native American, Spry reports that he is “both excited and humbled by my ability to bring critical attention to the history and artistic accomplishments of my people….”
Jennifer Tate Becker graduated from
Hendrix College (AR) with an English major and the Hendrix College President’s Medal in 2008 and is studying English literature at Washington University (MO). In her first year of graduate school, she was awarded second place for the Cornelison Prize for an outstanding essay by a graduate student. Becker earned an MA degree in December 2009 and completed coursework for a doctorate in 2010. She is currently formulating a dissertation project on pawn shops in the Victorian era. She sees the pawn shop “as a site for the display and exchange of personal possessions for selfless and selfish ends alike, and as a meeting place that serves as an arena for competing Victorian values and anxieties regarding money, class, and identity.”
Jacob Swenson earned a BA from
Willamette University (OR) in 2007 with a major in philosophy and a minor in chemistry. Now a fourth-year student in the PhD program in philosophy at the University of Chicago, he has completed a preliminary essay that is a transitional phase in his program between completion of coursework and independent research. That essay, “Voluntary Action and Moral Responsibility in Aristotle,” attempts to account for and resolve an apparent source of tension in Aristotle’s writings—whether children and non-human animals can be held morally responsible for their actions. Swenson’s dissertation will explore Aristotle’s conception of moral character.
Robert Hoffman graduated from
Rollins College (FL) in 2009 with majors in philosophy and English. Since beginning a PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania in fall 2009, he has been working primarily on 17th and 18th century moral and political philosophy. As a third-year doctoral student, Hoffman is beginning his dissertation in earnest and will conduct research this summer at the Kant Research Center at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in Germany. The topic he has proposed for his dissertation is a study of Immanuel Kant’s theory of punishment. Hoffman was nominated for a student teaching award and a teaching fellowship by the Penn Center for Teaching and Learning, and he reports that he has discovered a great love of and talent for teaching.
A summa cum laude graduate of
Washington and Lee University (VA) in 2007,
Matthew Loar is pursuing a PhD in classics at Stanford University. He completed post-baccalaureate studies in Greek and Latin at the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in women’s studies at the University of Oxford in 2009. Loar might enroll in two intensive language programs this summer: a German-language program through the Goethe Institut in Berlin and an Italian program through the Dante Aligheri Language School in Siena. He expects to complete coursework this year and begin work on his dissertation next year.
The newest American Graduate Fellows are
Melissa Pankake, who graduated from
Ursinus College (PA) in 2011 with a BA in English and classics, and
Natasha Roule, who graduated from Wellesley College (MA) in 2011 with a major in medieval and Renaissance studies and a minor in music. Pankake is pursuing a PhD in English with a medieval concentration at Princeton University, and Roule is a PhD student in historical musicology at Harvard University.
CIC recently awarded the first six Fellows an additional $5,000 each to help ease their financial burdens as they complete their doctoral degrees. The summer stipends will free the scholars from the need to teach summer classes; reimburse them for dissertationrelated travel to museums, libraries, and archives; and help purchase books.