When Sara Ritchey arrived on campus a few years ago, she received an email from Alan Rutenberg, research development manager in UT’s Office of Research and Engagement.
“Tell me about your research,” he asked, “and how I can help.”
At the time, Ritchey, associate professor of history, was trying to finish writing a book exploring gender and medical epistemology in the Middle Ages, and Rutenberg suggested that she apply for writing fellowships.
“Alan helped me identify the fellowships for which I was qualified,” said Ritchey. “He also assembled a panel of readers, faculty members from UT who had previously won these fellowships, who were able to read my application and offer suggestions and feedback.” Continue reading
Tore Olsson, assistant professor of history, will study the interaction between U.S. and Mexican efforts to modernize agriculture in the 1930s and 1940s, alongside the cross-pollination of the U.S. New Deal and the Mexican Revolution. The project, which reveals rarely acknowledged similarities between the histories of the U.S. and Mexico, will culminate in a book to be published in 2017 or 2018.
Tina Shepardson, professor of religious studies, will study religious violence and persecution in the Middle East in the fifth through seventh centuries, with a focus on the development of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Her resulting book will shed new light on this historical example of Christian conflict, radicalization and schism, and should help us understand and respond to religious conflicts today.