UI faculty members use Guggenheim fellowships to advance research

Research in the arts and humanities has become more challenging than ever over the last decade as funding sources nationwide have dwindled. For the grants and fellowships that do remain, including for prestigious awards such as the Guggenheim Fellowship, competition is fiercer than ever.

Having two University of Iowa faculty members among the Guggenheim Foundation’s 175 recipients this year is a testament to the exceptional work being done by UI faculty, says longtime UI Professor of History H. Glenn Penny.

The Guggenheim Foundation this year received nearly 3,000 proposals for its prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships, an exclusive award bestowed on scholars, artists, and scientists who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.Penny and David Gompper, professor of composition in the UI School of Music, received awards this year.

“I’m grateful that fellowships like the Guggenheim still exist and allow us to do these things,” Penny says. “They get tons of excellent proposals, and there is a low acceptance rate. When you add the Guggenheim Fellowships with other prestigious grants from the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) and ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) that faculty from the university get, it’s impressive.”