Welcome to the second issue of _LFP Update_, an e-publication from the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts to keep LFP representatives and others informed about the activities of 1) LFP National Network institutions, 2) present and former Lilly Fellows and, 3) the LFP office at Valparaiso University.  

______ Announcing the 2006-2008 Lilly Fellows ______

This year the Program received 110 applications from prospective candidates in Humanities and Arts disciplines vying for one of the three Postdoctoral Fellowships the Program awards each year.  A selection committee of seven Valparaiso University faculty, with Project Director Mark Schwehn and Assistant Program Director Margaret Franson serving ex officio, winnowed the number of candidates to 28 semi-finalists and then to six finalists who visited the Valparaiso University campus on February 3-5.

 I am extremely pleased to announce that the committee’s first three choices have each accepted the Lilly Fellowship offer. The 2006-2008 Lilly Fellows are:

Andrew S. Finstuen earned his B.A. from Pacific Lutheran University in history and his M.A. and anticipated Ph.D. in American history at Boston College. His primary interests are the works of modern American intellectual and cultural history; American religion; Cold War America. His dissertation, “Hearts of Darkness: American Protestants and the Doctrine of Original Sin, 1945-1965,” specifically,  addresseses the lay believers of the period and their engagement with the sin-centered thought of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and Billy Graham.

Stephanie L. Johnson earned her B.A. in English and religion from St. Olaf College and her M.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She recently completely her Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington, Seattle. Her primary interests are in Victorian literature, early twentieth-century British literature, literature by women, and narrative ethics. Her dissertation, “Interrogating Time: The Ethics of Epiphany in Wordsworth, Tennyson, Barrett Browning, and Woolf,” resists the standard identification of one genealogy of literary epiphany by identifying two distinct strains in the works of four British writers: the typical self-centered instant of illumination, and the kind, she says, “that reaches for eternity with the flux of time and moves the self away from its ontological primacy.”

James R. Skillen earned his B.S. from Wheaton College in environmental science and his M.A. in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His Ph.D. is expected this May in Natural Resource Policy from Cornell University. His primary interests are in environmental law and policy, and environmental history of the American West. He is also interested in environmental ethics, both philosophical and theological. His dissertation, “The Bureau of Land Management, 1946-2001: From Livestock and Mines to Landscapes and Monuments,” traces the evolution of public lands management by the BLM from an exclusive focus on resource development to a more recent emphasis on ecosystem protection. He argues that this evolution has been driven not only by the rise of environmental interests, but also by changes in the agency’s culture, organization, and decision making processes.

_____ On-line Directory of Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship Applicants _____

Each year, the Program receive scores more applications from highly qualified post-doctoral students than can possibly move to the on-campus interview stage.  When the committee composes a cohort of Fellows they apply a complicated calculus of factors that includes discipline, Christian denomination, and gender. It is inevitable that highly qualified candidates who have indicated their desire to teach in church-related institutions will not be interviewed. In order to provide Lilly Fellows National Network representatives with access to this rich pool of post-doctoral scholar-teachers we have created an on-line directory of applicants categorized by discipline. 

One more word on the Fellows selection process....  The number of applications received from scholars in the disciplines of art, music, theatre and foreign languages and literatures continues to be relatively low.  I would welcome your wisdom about why this is and how the LFP staff might work to increase those numbers.

_____ Changing of the Guard _____    

Margaret Franson, Associate Dean of Christ College, the honors college of Valparaiso University, has served as the Assistant Program Director of the Lilly Fellows Program since its inception in 1991. On June 30, 2006, Margaret will be leaving her LFP position in order to devote more time and energy to her work for Christ College.  There is much to say about Margaret’s contributions to the LFP and formal thank-you’s are forthcoming.  Suffice to say for now that we all owe Margaret a great debt of thanks for her efforts with the  LFP National Conferences and National Network Board meetings, her expertise applied to LFP publications and communications, and the style and class she has contributed to every aspect of the Program.

Dr. Joseph Creech, Jr., lecturer in history and humanities at Valparaiso University, has been named to replace Dean Franson as the Assistant Program Director.  Dr. Creech received a BA with honors in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA in theology from Duke University, and an MA and PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame.  He specializes in American cultural, political, and religious history and previously taught in the history department at the University of Notre Dame.  Dr. Creech’s work has appeared in Church History, and he has been appointed as one of the notable “Young Scholars in American Religion” by the Center for the Study of American Religion and Culture. His book Righteous Indignation: Religion and the Populist Revolution in North Carolina will be published in 2006. He will assume the post July 1 and will also continue to teach in Christ College.

_____ Announcing the Inaugural LFP Book Award Prize _____

We are very excited about the nominations we have already received for the Inaugural Lilly Fellows Program Book Award.  The nomination deadline is May 31, 2006, and the prize of $3000 will be awarded the National Conference in October. 

This award honors an original and imaginative work from any academic discipline that best exemplifies the central ideas and principles animating the Lilly Fellows Program. These include faith and learning in the Christian intellectual tradition, the vocation of teaching and scholarship, and the history, theory or practice of the university as the site of religious inquiry and culture.

Please note that, unlike the Arlin G. Meyer Prize, the author of a book nominated for the LFP Book Award, need not be from a National Network Institution.

_____ Status of 2006 Applications to host an LFP project or Initiative _____

The deadline to host a National Research Conference for the 2007-08 academic year and a Summer Seminars for College Teachers during the summer of 2007 recently passed.  We received a number of strong proposals and the National Network Board will make the difficult decisions of which to fund at its April meeting. And, LFP Representatives, please note that proposals for the next round of Mentoring Programs, Network Exchange Programs, and Regional Conferences are due September 15, 2006. Tempus fugit.

  
_____ From The Lilly Fellows Colloquium _____

This semester, the weekly Colloquium has been considering particular teachers from Augustine and Thomas Aquinas to James Agee and the contemporary American painter Ed Paschke.  Lest we limit ourselves to too narrow a definition of the “teacher,” it is important to keep the following Hasidic story in mind:

They asked Rabbi Mikhal: “In the sayings of the Fathers we read: ‘Who is wise?’ He who learns from all men, as it is said, ‘From all my teachers I have gotten understanding’ Then why does it not say: ‘He who learns from every teacher’?”

Rabbi Mikhal explained: “The master who pronounced these words, is intent on having it clear that we   can learn not only from those whose occupation is to teach, but from every man.  Even from the one who is ignorant, or from one who is wicked, you gain understanding as to how to conduct your life.”  (from Martin Buber’s “Tales Of The Hasidim: The Early Masters,” in Everyone A Teacher, ed. Mark Schwehn, Notre Dame University Press, 2000)

I wish you many teachers on your Lenten journey and an open heart and mind to learn from every one of them.—JSP