April 2006 Newsletter
Mary Ball Washington Chair in American History, at UCD
Carmel Coyle
The Mary Ball Washington Chair in American History was established as a full-time professorship in the School of History and Archives, University College Dublin in 1979. It is an endowed Chair for which funding was initially provided by the Alfred I Du Pont Foundation, the American Ireland Foundation and by American and Irish business interests through the good offices of the then American Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Ambassador John Moore.
The creation of the Chair has enabled UCD to bring distinguished professors in the field of American History to the college each year, thereby firmly establishing the field as a core academic discipline in the School of History and in the wider academic life of the college.
Since 1986 the chair has been filled each year by a US academic under the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Programme. This makes the MBW Chair one of the oldest Chairs in the international Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Programme. Over the years the post has been filled by very eminent scholars of American History and Foreign Policy from a wide range of US states and colleges, many of whom have retained on-going links with UCD.
This award has previously been advertised under the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program. Going forward it has been decided to fill the position through the Fulbright Traditional Scholars Program. The main reason for this change is to open the award up to a wider pool of applicants. The School of History in UCD is particularly interested in received applications from scholars in the field of US foreign policy. The recipient of the award will continue to retain the title of Mary Ball Washington Chair in American Studies. However, applications are welcomed from mid-careeer faculty members as well as distinguished senior scholars.
The award is for a full academic year and the stipend will be €50,000, inclusive of travel and accommodation. This is a higher level of grant that for other US scholar awards (€37,000) to reflect the fact that the recipient will hold a Chair position in UCD. The Chair will teach three courses at advanced undergraduate and/or postgraduate level, supervise postgraduate research students and assist with tutorials.
The School of History & Archives in UCD is a long-established and very dynamic center of excellence in teaching and research. With almost 30 full-time academic staff, the School offers a wide range of undergraduate modules — in Irish and European history from the fifth century to the present day, and in American, Australian and Asian history from the eighteenth century onward. There are 1,000 students enrolled in undergraduate programmes. Teaching is carried out in an environment that encourages discussion and debate in small tutorial and seminar groups, and that involves regular contact with staff. At postgraduate level the School has over 130 diploma, masters and doctoral students, and offer the only professional education of archivists in Ireland.
Further information on the School, and the research interests of staff, is available at http://www.ucd.ie/historyarchives/. The contract person for the Mary Ball Washington Chair is the Head of School, Professor Michael Laffan, email [email protected]
The Irish-US Fulbright Commission will be happy to assist potential applicants with any enquiries about the award, or about any aspect of living in Ireland. Please contact [email protected]. The Commission’s website is www.fulbright.ie
Holders of the Mary Ball Washington Chair in American History at University College Dublin which have been appointed through the Fulbright Programme
Glenda Riley l986/87
Department of History
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls , IA 506l4
Lawrence E. Gelfand 1987/88
Department of History
University of Iowa
Iowa City , IA 52242
Merrill Peterson 1988/89
Department of History
University of Virginia
Charlottesville , VA 22903
Peter S. Onuf 1989/90
Department of History
Southern Methodist University
Dallas , TX 75275
Stephen G. Rabe 1990/91
Department of Arts and Humanities
University of Texas‑‑Dallas
Richardson , TX 75083
Walter Nugent 1991/92
Department of History
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Joan Hoff 1992/93
Department of History
Indiana University
Bloomington , IN 47405
Thomas McCormick 1993/94
Department of History
University of Wisconsin‑‑
Madison
Madison , WI 53706
Ingrid Winther Scobie 1994/95
Department of History and Government
Texas Woman's University
Denton , TX 76204
Theodore A. Wilson 1995/96
Department of History
University of Kansas
Lawrence , KS 66045‑2130
Elaine Tyler May 1996/97
Program in American Studies
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis , MN 55455‑0225
Kevin G. Boyle 1997/98
Department of History
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003‑3930
Harvard I. Sitkoff 1998/99
Department of History
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH 03824
Robert J. McMahon 1999/00
Department of History
University of Florida
Gainesville , FL 32611
Mark Hamilton Lytle 2000/01
Department of History
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson , NY 12504
Terry Anderson 2001/02
Department of History
Texas A&M University
College Station , TX 77843-4236
Not filled through the Fulbright Programme 2002/03
Department of History
San Diego State University
San Diego , CA 92182-8147
Not filled through the Fulbright Programme 2004/05
Mitch Lerner 2004/05
Department of History
Ohio State University
Newark , OH 43055
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