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Emeritus professors have been given a fresh way to strengthen their ties
with the University through a new fellowship program making its debut
this year.
The Heilbrun Fellowships, named for Distinguished Research Professor of
Psychology Emeritus Alfred Heilbrun, have been funded through a grant
to Emory College by Heilbrun’s daughter, Lynn Stahl, and her husband,
Jack. The yearlong fellowships will support emeritus professors who remain
active in their research.
The initial recipients of the $10,000 fellowships are Herbert Benario,
professor of classics emeritus, and Heilbrun himself. In addition to the
cash grant, Heilbrun Fellows will be given workspace in Woodruff Library.
This is the first time funding has been provided specifically to retired
professors.
“Not all emeritis disappear,” Benario said. “I was very
excited when I heard about the fellowships; I eagerly applied and am very
pleased I received one. This is an enormous advance on the University’s
part, having these funds available.”
The recipients will be honored at a reception sponsored by the Emeritus
College, Nov. 15 in Cox Hall. But recognizing Heilbrun and Benario is
just one goal of that event.
“We also want to invite all the retired [Emory] faculty in the Atlanta
area to join us for a social occasion,” said John Bugge, professor
of English. Bugge chaired the three-person committee that selected the
fellows. He also sits on the advisory board of Emeritus College.
“Part of this is to build a sense of solidarity,” Bugge continued.
“We want to make it known that Emeritus College is up and running,
and we would like [retired faculty] to participate.”
Around 250 retired Emory professors make their homes in the Atlanta area,
and all will be invited to the reception.
“This is a program that can be increased, insofar as it provides
a bridge between working as an active faculty member and retaining a commitment
to research and scholarship as a retired person,” Heilbrun said.
“Those are often separate stages.”
Heilbrun will use his fellowship to complete a book on behavior disorders.
It will be the third book he has written since his retirement from Emory
in 1991.
Since Benario retired from the Emory faculty in 1987, he has published
five books and many more articles.
Benario is continuing a survey of scholarly work written on the Roman
historian Tacitus. Much of the best research on Tacitus is in Europe,
he said—specifically Munich, Germany, which has five of the finest
all within walking distance of each other.
“It will be good to go to Europe, which I do every year, without
having to dip into my own pocket,” Benario said.
“Too often when professors retire, they wake up and find they have
no connection whatsoever to the University,” Bugge said. “So
we’re trying to reestablish that connection on several fronts. But
in terms of research interests, the fellowship is invaluable. It provides
an exemplary case of the University showing that it wants its faculty
to continue to publish with an Emory affiliation.”
An addition to Bugge, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy Tom
Flynn and art history Associate Professor Judith Rohrer sat on the fellowship
selection committee, which began receiving applications last fall and
chose the two fellows this spring. Applications for the 2002–03 fellowships
can be submitted beginning this month.
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