Study leaves for tenured instructional faculty, funded by the Office of the Provost, are intended to provide paid temporary leave for the support of advancing scholarly research, teaching, and/or creative activity, including the development of innovative teaching approaches and methods. Study leaves are awarded on the basis of quality of the proposal and proposed work and a collective record of high-quality past performance.
The quality of proposals received this year were excellent and we congratulate our awarded AY2026-27 Study Leave for Tenured Instructional Faculty:
Department of Communication
Xiaoquan Zhao, Department of Communication, Evidence-Based Campaign Message Development: Finding the Missing Piece of the Puzzle
Department of Economics
Jonathan Beauchamp, Department of Economics, Economic and health implications of improved genetic prediction of health conditions
Department of English
Keith Clark, Department of English, Omni-Southern: James Alan McPherson and the Storyteller’s Craft
Robert Matz, Department of English, Thinking Through Lectures: A History
Michelle LaFrance, Department of English, How to Read a Cemetery: A Rhetoric of Community
Department of History & Art History
Alison Landsberg, Department of History & Art History, Impossible Histories
Samuel Huneke, Department of History & Art History, Queer: A History of the World
Matt Karush, Department of History & Art History, Tropical Nation: Dance Music and the Remaking of Argentina in the 1990s
Michele Greet, Department of History & Art History, Abstraction in the Andes, 1950-1971
Brian Platt, Department of History & Art History, Wind, Worms and Weeds: Rescuing the Past in Early Modern Japan
Department of Modern and Classical Languages
Esperanza Roman-Mendoza, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Artificial Intelligence and the Aging Multilingual Society: Designing Inclusive Services for a Changing Population
Jennifer Leeman, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Language, society and power: Critical perspectives on Spanish
Department of Psychology
Deborah Rupp, Department of Psychology, A Bipartisan Theory of Employment Discrimination
Olga Kornienko, Department of of Psychology, Digital Life and Adolescent Mental Health: Understanding the Role of Peers Across Contexts
Todd Kashdan, Department of Psychology, Shaping Personality with Micro-Interventions: Using Curiosity as an Example
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Huwymin Liu, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Decolonizing Formosan Black Bears: The Rise of Bear Conservation and A National Totem in Taiwan
Global Affairs Program
Ivar Niklas Hultin, Global Affairs Program, From Humanitarianism to Arsenalization: 0rthern European Security Culture since 2026
School of Integrative Studies
Julie Owen, School of Integrative Studies, We are the Leaders We've Been Waiting For: Women and Leadership Development in College
January 13, 2026