Weinberg professors Héctor Carrillo and John Alba Cutler named ACLS Fellows

• Link to: Northwestern Now Story

Héctor Carrillo and John Alba Cutler, both professors in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, were named recipients of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship. 

The largest and longest running program in the organization’s portfolio, the ACLS Fellowship program honors scholarship in the humanities and humanistic social sciences with the potential to make significant contributions to knowledge in their fields, supporting six to 12 months of full-time research and writing.

This year, ACLS fellowships totaling $4.3 million will be distributed among 81 awardees selected from nearly 1,200 applicants through a multi-stage peer review process.

Héctor Carrillo 

Héctor Carrillo

Carrillo, professor of sociology and gender & sexuality studies, is co-director of the Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN) and a faculty associate with the University’s Institute for Policy Research. His research interests include sexualities, migration, race/ethnicity, transnationalism, health promotion and HIV/AIDS, and he has begun a new research project on the “sociology of genealogy.” 

“It reinvigorates me and strengthens my resolve to continue my research, even during the difficult time that we are living through,” said Carrillo, whose project is entitled ‘The Afterlife of Documents: Identity, Mobility, and the Genealogical Imagination.' “The fact that I’m studying the sociotechnical aspects of amateur genealogy and the interactions of genealogists with the documents and records that they access seems especially significant right now, when so many people are thinking about life, death and the meaning of family ties.”

John Alba Cutler

John Alba Cutler

Cutler, associate professor of English and Latina/o Studies and interim director, Latina and Latino Studies Program, specializes in U.S. Latino/a literatures, multiethnic American poetry, contemporary American literature and print culture studies. 

“I’m thrilled and grateful to have received the ACLS fellowship, which will give me time to work on my current book, ‘Latinx Modernism and the Spirit of Latinoamericanismo,’” Cutler said. “The book builds on my research into literature published in early 20th-century Spanish-language newspapers in the United States. It advances a new story of Latinx literary history and a new account of American modernity rooted in the legacies of conquest and colonization in the Western hemisphere.”

Said ACLS President Joy Connolly: “As we continue to navigate the unpredictable world created by the COVID-19 pandemic, ACLS remains committed to supporting humanistic scholarship that contributes important perspectives to the conversations shaping our world and helps us better understand the human experiences of the past and those that will influence the years to come.

"We are working closely with new and current fellows to ensure they have the full support needed to pursue and share the valuable knowledge they seek.”