U.Va. French Professor Deborah McGrady Named National Humanities Center Fellow

June 18, 2010 — Deborah McGrady, associate professor of French at the University of Virginia whose research centers on Medieval 16th- and 17th-century literature, has been selected to be a fellow at the National Humanities Center for the 2010-11 academic year. During her appointment, which runs Sept. 1 through May 30, McGrady will complete a book, "Beyond Patronage: Reinventing Literary Dynamics During the Hundred Years War."

"I'm thrilled to have been selected as an NHC fellow because it means that I can dedicate the entire academic year solely to writing – a real luxury for a scholar," McGrady said. "But I'm especially pleased to participate as a member at the center where a real emphasis is placed on discussing and sharing one's research with the other fellows. I always find that my own work benefits immensely from this type of interaction."

McGrady will be joined by 35 other fellows from 19 colleges and universities in 17 states and from seven institutions in six other nations – Brazil, Canada, Germany, Greece, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The scholars represent more than 20 fields of humanities scholarship, including history, literature, philosophy, anthropology, art history, Asian studies, classics, Islamic studies, Judaic studies and musicology.

Fellows work on individual research projects and share ideas in interdisciplinary seminars, lectures and conferences at the center.

The National Humanities Center, located in the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina, opened in 1978 as an independent institute for advanced research in the humanities. McGrady is the 13th scholar from U.Va. to win a fellowship there. The center boasts its own library and fellows have privileges at Duke University, North Carolina State University and University of Carolina at Chapel Hill libraries.

Since its inception, fellows' work at the center has resulted in the publication of more than 1,200 books in all fields of humanistic study. The center also sponsors programs to strengthen the teaching of the humanities in secondary and higher education.

— By Jane Ford

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