Five Professors Win Coveted Award

Five Harvard professors have been named recipients of the Guggenheim Award, a grant given to about 200 scholars each year to fund a six to 12 month leave of absence for scholarly research.

Harvard recipients--whose names were announced in early April--are Professor of Psychology Daniel T. Gilbert, Professor of Anthropology Michael Herzfeld, Professor of Government Lisa L. Martin, Zemurray Professor of the History of Science Katharine Park and Professor of German Maria M. Tatar.

The awards are funded by the Guggenheim Foundation, an organization established in 1925 that grants fellowships to promising scholars. Last year, the foundation granted 202 recipients an average of $31,683, for a total of about $6,400,000.

Grant winners are free to spend their fellowships as they choose, although the Internal Revenue Service requires an expenditure report following the leave of absence, according to the foundation's Web site.

Applicants for the award must provide several references and outline a specific project.

Gilbert said he plans to take off an entire academic year researching for a book about forecasting emotional responses. Gilbert, who teaches Psychology 1551, "Themes and Controversies in Social Cognition," has already investigated the topic with students.

According to the foundation's Web site, Tatar, who teaches Literature and Arts A-18, "Fairy Tales, Children's Literature, and the Culture of Childhood," plans to analyze the Bluebeard figure "in folklore, fiction and film noir." Herzfeld will analyze "past and present in modern Rome," and Martin will study "institutional affects on state behavior."

Park said she would spend the first semester of her leave travelling in the U.S. and Italy, and a second semester at Villa I Tatti, Harvard's center for Renaissance study in Florence, Italy.

The award is especially beneficial to professors at Harvard because the University infrequently funds sabbaticals, Park said.

"Harvard has a rather restrictive sabbatical policy," she said. "Normally, you can only get one paid semester every seven years. Now I will be able to take an entire year at full pay. The University has been great about it."