{"id":130007,"date":"2026-04-24T09:25:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=130007"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:25:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:25:30","slug":"harvey-young-awarded-prestigious-guggenheim-fellowship","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2026\/harvey-young-awarded-prestigious-guggenheim-fellowship\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Young Awarded Prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Photo by Doug Levy<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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CFA dean will step down from the role July 1 and take a yearlong sabbatical to work on a book project supported by the fellowship, then return to the CFA faculty<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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April 24, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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This article was originally published in BU Today<\/a><\/em> on April 23, 2026. By Molly Glass<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EXCERPT<\/h4>

What do the early 20th-century World\u2019s Fairs have in common with the concerts that studded Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Renaissance World Tour 100 years later? Both were big, popular entertainment events that drew enormous, diverse crowds. And both offered windows into the exploration of culture and race for people with an intrinsic curiosity about others, says\u00a0Harvey Young<\/a>, dean of the College of Fine Arts (CFA).\u00a0<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an inherent curiosity and fascination and sincere interest in other people, other groups, other cultures,\u201d says Young, who holds appointments as professor of English, theatre arts, American studies, and African American and Black diaspora studies at Boston University. Young announced earlier this year that he would step down as dean at the end of the spring semester, but will return to the faculty at CFA after a sabbatical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in exploring the curiosity, fascination, and desire for individuals to learn about and experience race through select live and mediated performances,\u201d Young says. His thesis, which is the subject of a forthcoming book 13 years in the making, \u201cargues that Blackness, as an idea, and Black folk, as individuals, proved sufficiently alluring, attractive, and inspiring across the 20th century that ideas of community and interpersonal relationships were premised on them,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s exploration of this subject is also, in part, what earned him a\u00a0Guggenheim Fellowship<\/a>, a prestigious grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building an Arts-Rich BU, in a New Role<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s research, supported by the Guggenheim Fellowship, will run concurrently with a sabbatical he had already planned to take at the end of the academic year. He announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down as dean at the end of the spring semester, with plans to return to CFA as a faculty member after his yearlong sabbatical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Young, who was appointed inaugural and interim vice president for the arts in the fall, will continue on in that role throughout his sabbatical and until a permanent vice president is named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Serving as dean of the College of Fine Arts has been a privilege, and I am deeply grateful to the faculty, staff, students, and alumni whose creativity and commitment define this college.<\/div>