Yesterday, the 2021 Guggenheim fellowships were announced, and several Columbia Faculty and Alumni are among the recipients. They are: Associate Professor and Director of Sound Art Miya Masaoka, Adjunct Professor Kate Zambreno, as well as Visual Arts alumna Josephine Halvorson ’07, and Writing alumni Mark Wunderlich ’94 and Craig Morgan Teicher ’05.
In 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was established by US Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife in honor of their son. According to its website, the Foundation “offers Fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color, or creed.” Approximately 3,000 applications compete for 184 Fellowships each year.
Masaoka is a composer based in New York City. She received the fellowship in Music Composition.
Zambreno, a writer based in Brooklyn, New York, was awarded the fellowship in the General Non-Fiction category. She is the Strachan Donnelly Chair in Environmental Writing at Sarah Lawrence College.
Halvorson, an artist based in New Marlborough, Massachusetts, received the fellowship for Fine Arts. She is a Professor of Art and Chair of Graduate Studies in Painting at Boston University.
Wunderlich is a poet based in Catskill, New York. He was awarded the fellowship in Poetry. He is the Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College.
Teicher, a poet based in New Jersey, also received the fellowship in Poetry. He is the Digital Director of The Paris Review and serves as a poetry editor for The Literary Review.
Several other Columbia University faculty also received fellowships this year. They include Department Chair and Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies Farah Jasmine Griffin in General Non-Fiction; Professor of Computer Science Jason Nieh in Computer Science; Professor and Chair of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry Sidney R. Hemming in Earth Science; Lecturer in Discipline, Department of Music Ashkan Behzadi in Music Composition; and Francis Goelet Assistant Professor of Music, Composition Zosha Di Castri in Music Composition.
