LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 2, 2007) − Two members of the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences faculty are among the recipients of the 2007 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowships. Peter Little, professor and chair, Department of Anthropology, and Lisa Zunshine, associate professor, Department of English, will each receive grants from the Guggenheim Foundation to further their academic research.

Little, an African Studies scholar, will use his Guggenheim funding to complete research for his upcoming book tentatively titled "The Anthropology of Neoliberalism in Africa."  The book will cover the impact of global environmentalism in the east African countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique and Gambia, following the loss of biodiversity and the impact of global political democratization on a local level. Little's work will serve as the capstone of 15 years of research on the impact of global political movements on Africa. He will travel to Kenya for field work and the United Kingdom to review records, as well as visiting the Library of Congress and working with several non-governmental organizations in Washington, D.C. Little received the only Guggenheim Fellowship awarded in African Studies for 2007.

Zunshine, who received one of only four Fellowships awarded in the area of literary criticism, will spend a year at Yale University as a visiting scholar working with psychologist Paul Bloom as she researches the application of theory of mind, a concept borrowed from cognitive psychology, to fiction. Zunshine's recent book, "Why We Read Fiction: Theory of Mind and the Novel," extends the application of theory of mind to literary studies as it explores how readers apply the same conventions to fictional characters that they apply unconsciously to real people they interact with on a daily basis, making certain assumptions about the mental processes of others and their implications. Zunshine is working on her next book titled "Fictions of Transparency: Cognitive Science and Literary Interpretations." It will explore the application of psychological principles beyond literature and into movies, television and other narrative formats.

"It is a wonderful achievement for the College of Arts and Sciences to have two faculty members named as Guggenheim fellows in the same year," said Steven Hoch, dean of the college. "Lisa Zunshine and Peter Little are an outstanding part of our faculty and this recognition moves the college and the university even closer to attaining Top 20 status."

Guggenheim Fellowships are grants to selected individuals made for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months. The average amount of the fellowship grant in 2003 was approximately $35,747. Since the purpose of the Guggenheim Fellowship program is to help provide Fellows with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible, grants are made freely. No special conditions attach to them, and Fellows may spend their grant funds in any manner they deem necessary to their work.

The 2007 United States and Canada Guggenheim competition winners include 189 artists, scholars, and scientists selected from almost 2,800 applicants for awards totaling $7.6 million. Fellows are chosen based on recommendations from hundreds of expert advisers and are approved by the foundation’s Board of Trustees, which includes six members who are themselves past Fellows of the foundation: Joel Conarroe, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard A. Rifkind, Charles Ryskamp, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Edward Hirsch. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. Since 1925 the foundation has granted over $256 million in fellowships to more than 16,250 individuals.

"Going beyond the measures listed in the UK Business Plan, enhancing the reputation of an institution is a matter of what company it keeps.  For instance, the Burroughs Wellcome clinician award toJayakrishna Ambati of the UK College of Medicine went mostly to the 'usual suspects' among research universities. The highest faculty awards in any discipline go disproportionately to the traditional powerhouses among universities.  The Guggenheim Foundation Fellowships are, arguably, the most important recognition outside of the sciences.  Our benchmarks routinely receive 2-3 Guggenheims each year. UK's two awards this year, along with Dr. Ambati's recognition by Burroughs Wellcome, underscore the fact that UK has the 'horses' to make a Run for the Roses among Top 20 public universities," said Kumble R. Subbaswamy, UK provost.