Boston University Arts & Sciences

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation honored two CAS professors this month with coveted fellowships for their outstanding achievements. Professor of History James McCann, the director ad interim of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Term Future, will use the fellowship to complete a book-length work on malaria from both a human and scientific point of view (read more about his project here). Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Humanities James Winn will use his Guggenheim fellowship to complete his study of politics and culture in the life and reign of Queen Anne (read more about his project here).

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the School of Theatre at Boston University are proud to announce a new Master of Fine Arts Degree in Playwriting. Now housed in the English Department of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, but in cooperation with the College of Fine Arts, the MFA program will incorporate its playwrights into a vibrant community of artists and ready them for lives in both the professional theatre and in academia. Read more.

For many years it was believed that humans didn’t use fire until about 800,000 years ago. But two CAS archaeologists have found evidence in South Africa of a man-made fire dating back 1 million years, the earliest such discovery. The finding by Francesco Berna and Paul Goldberg substantially pushes back the date that humans laid the first kindling. Berna and Goldberg’s research was published earlier this month in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more.

The first in a series of homegrown videos produced by CAS Communications interns Allyson Galle and Jessica Owen features Assistant Professor of Sociology Ashley Mears as she discusses “Why Is Modeling a Bad Job?” Dubbed CAS Presents, the video series will be promoted through social media, the CAS website, and other outlets.

Three GRS graduate students have been awarded fellowships under the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellows Program. These prestigious national fellowships provide generous support for three years of study, which the fellows can use in any of the next five years. The new fellows are Allison Gill (Biology), who works with Adrien Finzi; Alissa Rickborn (Biology), who works with Pete Buston; and Elyas Bakhtiari (Sociology), who works with Sigrun Olafsdottir.

A CAS sophomore sheds cyber-light on a Cold War document.

Faculty Actions deadlines:

April 27: Mid-Tenure Reviews

April 27: Merit assessments of department faculty. More details.

May 4: Full-time Faculty Reappointments

Course evaluations: Process now handled by Lorraine Dooley (ldooley@bu.edu).

Tenure reviews: Initial notifications regarding the 2012/13 tenure review year have been sent to departments with candidates for tenure/promotion.

For full information on Faculty Actions deadlines, click here.
Please contact Gareth McFeely (garethmc@bu.edu, 3-2405) with any questions about these deadlines.

CAS Faculty Meetings:
4/25
4–5:30 p.m., STO B50

Council of Chairs and Directors (CCD) meetings:
5/7
3:30 p.m., CAS 326

Academic Policy Committee meetings:
May 9 (if needed)
4-5:30 p.m., CAS 200

Social Sciences Curriculum Committee meetings:
Apr 23
12-1 p.m., CAS 132

Natural Sciences Curriculum Committee meetings:
Apr 23
2-3 p.m., CAS 132

Humanities Curriculum Committee meetings:
Apr 18, May 2
12-1 p.m., CAS 200

Faculty Accolades

Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, recently published an article by Professor of Astronomy John Clarke and Laurent Lamy of the Observatoire de Meudon in France (first author) on the first detection of aurora on Uranus since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1986. Read more

Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences Wally Fulweiler has been awarded a 2012 Sloan Research Fellowship—one of this year’s 126 recipients. The two-year fellowships are given to young academic scholars who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their respective fields of science, mathematics, economics, and computer science. This year, the fellowships were expanded to include ocean sciences, with each winner receiving $50,000.

Associate Professor of Archaeology Christopher Roosevelt and Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program Christina Luke have been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation (based in the Classics Department at Harvard University). The grant will support their research into the cultural and environmental dynamics of the ancient kingdom of Central Lydia in Turkey.

Professor of Geography & Environment Alan Strahler was awarded the 2011 William T. Pecora Award, presented annually to individuals or groups that make outstanding contributions toward understanding the Earth by means of remote sensing. The award is sponsored jointly by the Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Professor and Chair of Political Science Graham Wilson, who has been serving on the University of Warwick’s Warwick Commission, was in London on Monday to attend the launch of the commission’s summary report, “What is the Role of Elected Mayors in Providing Strategic Leadership to Cities?” The report comes out in advance of the May 3 referenda on instituting elected mayors in ten English cities.