Newswise — STONY BROOK, N.Y., June 14, 2011 – In a coincidental and ironic twist, two 2011 ACLS fellows will effectively “switch places” between Stony Brook University in New York and Brown University in Rhode Island. Gillian Frank, recently awarded a Ph.D. from Brown University, will join SBU as New Faculty Fellow in History, and R. Tyson Smith, recently awarded a Ph.D. from SBU, will join Brown University as New Faculty Fellow in Sociology.
The ACLS New Faculty Fellow program was created in response to the increasingly “jobless market” that confronts recent Ph.D.s in the humanities and related social sciences. The Fellows will take up two-year positions at universities and colleges across the United states where their particular research and teaching expertise augment departmental offerings.
“This is a great tribute to Stony Brook University on several levels,” notes Stony Brook University Provost Eric Kaler. “R. Tyson Smith, who received his Ph.D. from SBU, has been honored with this fellowship, which is a great reflection on our Sociology department. Additionally, Gillian Frank, who received his Ph.D. from Brown University, has chosen SBU for his award tenure, which in turn reflects well on our History department.”
Dr. Smith, who received his Ph.D. in Sociology from SBU in 2009, will begin his two-year fellowship as an ACLS “New Faculty Fellow” at Brown University in the fall. Presently, he is conducting research on the mental health of returning American veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars, focusing primarily on how men and women adjust outside of formal care institutions like the Veterans Administration Health system. His forthcoming book, “Fighting for Recognition: Identity and the Performance of Violence in Professional Wrestling,” is based on an ethnographic study of professional wrestling . It will be published by Duke University Press in 2012. Dr. Smith has also published research on gender, law, media, and teaching. His publications have appeared in “The American Sociologist,” “Social Psychology Quarterly,” and “Qualitative Sociology.”
“Brown University is a very supportive and inspired intellectual community, and the Sociology department offers many great opportunities for research in health and gender,” said Dr. Smith. “The faculty was very enthusiastic about me joining the department as an ACLS fellow, which I’m confidant, will translate into a mutually beneficial relationship.”
Dr. Frank received his Ph.D. from the Department of American Civilization at Brown University in 2009 and will begin his two-year term as ACLS “New Faculty Fellow” in the department of History at Stony Brook University in the fall. Frank’s publications have appeared in “The Journal of the History of Sexuality” and “The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.” His book manuscript “Save Our Children: Sexual Politics and Cultural Conservatism in the United States, 1965-1990” explores how social and political movements redefined the meaning of citizenship and civil rights between 1965 and 1990 by deeming certain political and cultural transformations harmful to children. It concentrates on five interrelated episodes: the 1970 Hard Hat riots and Nixon-era cultural and political constructions of the “permissive society” and “the Silent Majority”; the racial politics of anti-abortion struggles in Michigan in the early-1970s; Anita Bryant’s anti-gay movement, Save Our Children; the anti-pornography feminist organization, Women Against Pornography; and Tipper Gore’s anti-obscenity movement, Parents’ Music Resource Center. “Stony Brook University offered me the unparalleled opportunity of working in a top tier History Department that encourages strong research and teaching portfolios from its faculty,” said Dr. Frank. “Choosing to come to SBU meant working among an engaged and dynamic group of Historians who value innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to the field. The Department is very supportive of their junior faculty and I will greatly benefit from the mentorship I receive over the next two years.” ACLS, a private, nonprofit federation of 71 national scholarly organizations, is the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences. Founded in 1919, its mission is "the advancement of humanistic studies in all fields of learning in the humanities and the social sciences and the maintenance and strengthening of relations among the national societies devoted to such studies." Awarding peer-reviewed fellowships is central to its work. Since 1957, more than 9,200 scholars have held ACLS fellowships and grants. In 2011, awards totaling nearly $15 million were made to more than 350 scholars based in the U.S. and abroad. ###
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