Appel Fellowship for Humanists and Social Scientists

Eligible Titles:

Professorial faculty in the humanities and social sciences

Criteria: 

Recently tenured associate professors or, in exceptional cases, assistant professors who have been recommended for a second three-year appointment. Faculty must have an appointment in a humanities or social sciences department; the award is based on demonstrated excellence in teaching, as well as scholarly promise.

Available Awards:

One award. The Appel Fellowship will provide one semester of leave at full salary and fringe.

All nomination packages must be submitted to the dean by department chairs. The 2024 nomination submission deadline is Monday, March 11th.

Required nomination materials:

1. Chair’s nomination letter (may be derived from the promotion dossier or faculty performance appraisal)
2. Candidate’s CV
3. Evidence of distinction, including a substantive statement from nominee and teaching materials such as syllabi, etc. (may be derived from promotion dossier)
4. Letters of support from students (may be derived from promotion dossier)
5. Testimony from faculty colleagues that are based on actual observation or collaboration in teaching or on sustained exchanges about teaching (may be derived from the promotion dossier)

Email submission as a pdf attachment to: Appel_F.51y6708yemnfwdgi@u.box.com

Bob and Helen Appel have been among Cornell University’s most influential leaders and generous benefactors.

An economics major in the College of Arts & Sciences with an MBA from Wharton, Bob had retired in 2002 from a 33-year career at Neuberger Berman, a global investment and securities brokerage firm, but continued with his own investment business until his death in 2022. At Cornell, he was a longtime active trustee, an emeritus trustee and presidential councillor, vice chair of the Weill Cornell Medical College Board of Fellowes, Campaign Co-chair, and member of the Principal Gifts Committee; he served on the advisory council for the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and chaired the Class of 1953 Major Gifts Committee. During his tenure as a trustee, Bob served on the Executive Committee and chaired the Investment Committee. Outside of Cornell, Bob was the chair of the board of Jazz at Lincoln Center and a trustee at NY Presbyterian Hospital and Lincoln Center, and provided leadership for the Cancer Research Institute and the 92nd Street Y.

Helen, who met Bob while they were undergraduate students,  was a history major in the College of Arts & Sciences and received her masters degree in history from Long Island University. She taught social studies in the Great Neck school system for 30 years and has taught world and American history in the district’s adult program. She has also taught history in the Continuing Education Program at Hunter College. At Cornell, Helen is a presidential councillor and an emeritus member of the advisory council for the College of Arts & Sciences. She was a member of the advisory council for the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, and with Bob, she was the national co-chair of the Tower Club. Helen remains an active and engaged Cornell leader, still teaches a very popular history course at Hunter College, and is on the board of trustees for the Hunter College Foundation and the New York Historical Society. 

2023-24

• Liliana Colanzi, Romance studies

2022-23

• Emily Fridlund, literatures in English

2021-22

• Jeffrey Palmer, performing and media arts
• Malte Ziewitz, science and technology studies

2020-21

• Samantha Sheppard, performing and media arts

2019-20

• Naminata Diabate, comparative literature

2018-19

• Erin York Cornwell, sociology

2017-18

• Benjamin Anderson, history of art and visual studies
• Saida Hodžić, anthropology

2016-17

• Roger Moseley, music
• Lori Khatchadourian, Near Eastern studies

2015-16

• Sarah Murray, linguistics

2014-15

• Pedro Erber, Romance studies
• Sarah Kreps, government

2013-14

• Jenny C. Mann, English

2012-13

• Thomas Pepinsky, government

2011-12

• Lawrence McCrea, Asian studies
• Nick Salvato, performing and media arts
• Alison Van Dyke, performing and media arts
• Dagmawi Woubshet, English

2010-11

• Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, English
• John Hale, linguistics

2009-10

• Jason Frank, government
• Aaron Sachs, history

2008-09

• Andrew Chignell, philosophy
• Francesca Molinari, economics
• Samantha Zacher, English

2007-08

• Karen Bennett, philosophy
• Laurent Dubreuil, Romance studies
• Durba Ghosh, history
• Masha Raskolnikov, English

2006-07

• Eric Rebillard, classics and history
• T. Robert Travers, history

2005-06

• Tracy McNulty, comparative literature
• Cynthia Robinson, history of art

2004-05

• Xak Bjerken, music
• Bruno Bosteels, Romance studies
• Kim Weeden, sociology

2003-04

• Mary Pat Brady, English
• José Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Romance studies

2002-03

• Charles Brittain, classics
• Ted O'Donoghue, economics
• Amy Villarejo, performing and media arts
• David Yearsley, music

2001-02

• Michael Spivey, psychology

2000-01

• Stephen Hilgartner, science & technology studies
• Viranjini Munasinghe, anthropology

1999-00

• Ellis Hanson, English
• Natalie Melas, comparative literature

1997-98

• Jane Fajans, anthropology
• Andrew Galloway, English

1996-97

• Abigail Cohn, linguistics
• Molly Diesing, linguistics

1995-96

• Maureen McCoy, English