College of Liberal Arts and Sciences awards Bach Fellowships to four graduate students

Supporting dissertations in the humanities
Thursday, February 28, 2019

Four College of Liberal Arts and Sciences graduate students have received 2019-20 Marcus Bach Fellowships for Graduate Students in the Humanities, awarded by CLAS to support the completion of an MFA project or doctoral dissertation. The fellowship’s goal is to foster intercultural communication and/or the understanding of diverse philosophies and religious perspectives.

"Graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences contribute significant original research across a wide range of disciplines," said Professor Christine Getz, CLAS Associate Dean for Graduate Education. "These four outstanding projects in the humanities fulfill the vision of the Bach Fellowship program in methodologically innovative and diverse ways, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is delighted to support them.”

The Marcus Bach Fellowships are made possible by a bequest from the estate of Dr. Marcus Bach. Dr. Bach received a doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1942 in Speech and Dramatic Arts.

The award recipients are:

  • Chris Henderson, American Studies; Dissertation: "Pleasurable Labors: Fandom, Community, and the Contested Performance of Place"
  • Troy Mills, Religious Studies; Dissertation: "The Rastafari and the Nation of Islam: From Black Internationalism to Globalization, 1960s-1980s"
  • Juana New, Cinematic Arts; Dissertation: "The Cartographic Impulse and the Emergence of Other Americas in Contemporary Latin American Documentary Cinema"
  • Caitlin Simmons, English; Dissertation: "Dispossession and Survivance in the Literature of Atrocity"

Bach Fellowships provide a single semester of support, which includes:

  • $9,000 Salary
  • Associated Fringe Benefits
  • Tuition Scholarship for 2 s.h. credit
  • 50% of Mandatory fees

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.