Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Distinguished Achievement Award
Benjamin Elman, the Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies and professor of East Asian studies and history at Princeton, has been selected by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as one of three winners of its Distinguished Achievement Awards. The awards are intended to honor scholars who have made significant contributions to humanistic inquiry.
Benjamin Elman, Department Chair and Professor of East Asian Studies and History.
Changjiang Professor, Fudan University
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Distinguished Achievement Awards were established with two objectives: to enable notable scholars in the humanities to work under especially favorable conditions and to underscore the decisive contributions the humanities make to the nation's intellectual life. Amounting to as much as $1.5 million each, the awards are intended for individuals whose past scholarship has had a creative effect in their disciplines and on their own students, has affected the thinking of scholars in other fields, and whose current work promises to make significant new contributions through both teaching and research. Candidates should also have standing and influence in their fields and in the humanities at large.
Recipients 2010
§ Benjamin A. Elman, Professor of East Asian Studies and History, and Chair of the East Asian Studies Department, Princeton University. Elman is a historian of Chinese culture and society, specializing in the development of the sciences and intellectual life more broadly.
§ John McDowell, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh. McDowell is a philosopher of language and mind who has defined central issues in analytic philosophy, and made significant contributions to the history of philosophy.
§ Kaja Silverman, Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Chair of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Silverman is a visual theorist whose studies encompass film, photography, art, psychoanalysis, literature, and feminist theory.