Five APSA Members Among the 2021 Class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows

On April 28, 2021, the Carnegie Corporation of New York announced $5.2 million in philanthropic support for significant scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities. Among the 26 scholars awarded the prestigious fellowship were five political scientists and APSA members.

Tanisha M. Fazal is professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. Her project, “Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War,” investigates how dramatic improvements in military medicine, alongside expansion of veterans’ benefits, have increased the long-term costs of war for the US today.

Shana Kushner Gadarian is associate professor and department chair in the Department of Political Science at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. Her project “Pandemic Politics: How COVID-19 Revealed the Depths of Partisan Polarization,” investigates how the public perceived the crisis, and how those perceptions continue to matter more than a year after the initial outbreak.

Dean Knox is faculty fellow of analytics and assistant professor of operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His project, “Eliminating Statistical Barriers to Evidence-Based Policing Reforms,” aims to improve the study of policing by: (1) developing statistical methods for reconciling disparate, agency-specific datasets, and (2) developing video-analysis methods for extracting information from body-worn camera footage.

Susan Stokes is the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago and director of the Chicago Center on Democracy. Her multicountry study project, “How Would-Be Autocrats Attack Democratic Culture — And How to Rebuild It,” aims to defend democracy by illuminating how would-be autocrats attack not just democratic institutions, but democratic culture.

Caroline Tolbert is professor of political science at the University of Iowa. Her project, “Nationalizing Accessible Elections: What Happens When the Mailbox Becomes the Ballot Box?,” uses data-driven scientific analysis to determine how to update and modernize the US election system, posing the question: Should the US adopt a National Accessible Election law, including mail voting, in-person early voting, same-day registration, AVR (automatic voter registration), and quality election administration?

The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program provides philanthropic support for scholarship in the humanities and social sciences that addresses important and enduring issues confronting our society. The award is for a period of up to two years and its anticipated result is a book or major study. The criteria prioritize the originality and promise of the research, its potential impact on the field, and the scholar’s plans for communicating the findings to a broad audience. This year's fellows will advance research across a wide range of topics, from voting access and climate change to pandemic recovery and racial justice. Learn more at https://www.carnegie.org.

Havens Wright Center for Social Justice Announces Inaugural Erik Olin Wright Prize

Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019) was an inspiring teacher, devoted colleague, astute critic and brilliant scholar in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison for 42 years. His intellectual preoccupations ranged from the analysis of class to the study of real utopias. He engaged theories of the state, economic sociology, and social inequality, always motivated by an explicit commitment to social justice. In all these areas he made substantial contributions to the Marxist tradition as well as to sociology.

The Erik Olin Wright prize ($1,000) is awarded annually by the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice for a paper by a graduate or professional student that best exemplifies the concerns that animated Wright's work. Its inaugural award will be made in 2022.

Eligible submissions can come from any of the social sciences, history, or philosophy, and any professional discipline. Two documents are required.

1. 1. The student work to be considered. This can be no more than 15,000 words (excluding references but including footnotes).

2. 2. A nominating letter from a faculty member familiar with the student’s work.

Whether its parts are sent separately or together, the deadline for completed submissions is April 15, 2022. Submissions should be sent to wrightprize@wisc.edu. The winner will be announced at the American Sociology Association annual meeting that same year. ■