Awards Support Scholars of American Art with Fellowships to Advance Dissertation Research and Writing
NEW YORK, March 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce the 2026 Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellows in American Art. Supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, these awards are designed to promote emerging leaders and fund scholarship that advances and expands the field of art history.
Since 1992, the Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art have supported more than 300 scholars in conducting research and writing dissertations on the history of the visual arts of the United States, including all facets of Native American art. These historians of American art are now some of the nation’s most distinguished college and university faculty, museum curators, and leaders in the cultural sector.
This year’s projects elevate voices, narratives, and subjects that have been historically underrepresented in the academy. They explore timely and engaging topics, including research into Asian diasporic photography and film produced in the Mississippi Delta; the relationship between portraiture and Jewish identity in the 18th and early 19th centuries; and an eco-critical look at the history of American landscape art and its relationship with the petrochemical industry. Each fellow receives $43,500 to support one year of research and writing as well as fellowship-related travel between July 2026 and May 2027.
“ACLS is proud to support this exceptional group of scholars whose research on visual art broadens the field in new and exciting ways,” said ACLS Senior Program Officer Alison Chang. “Their work reflects the fellowship’s ongoing commitment to advancing rigorous, field-shaping scholarship in American art history.”
The 2026 Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellows in American Art are:
- Kiki M. Barnes, City University of New York, The Graduate Center
The Hiawatha Effect: The Cultural Imagination of the Great Lakes, 1855–1955 - Emily Rose Beeber, University of Delaware
Visualizing Jewishness in the Atlantic World, 1715-1830 - Morgan J. Brittain, College of William & Mary
Pipelines: American Landscape Art and Petro-colonial Rupture (ca. 1859, 1943, 2016) - Ashley Cope, University of Maryland, College Park
Beyond Binaries: Experiments in Gender and Form in Interwar US Art - Kale Serrato Doyen, University of Pittsburgh
Mapping the Teenie Harris Archive: Photography, Community, and Pittsburgh’s Black Geography
Ellen Holtzman Fellow - Delaney Chieyen Holton, Stanford University
The Optics of Empire: Lens-Based Media and the US South’s Transpacific Entanglements - Gabrielle Tillenburg, University of Maryland, College Park
Island Bodies Under and Against US Occupation (1985-2025)
Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 81 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member organizations, ACLS expands the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship.
The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to deepen knowledge and understanding in pursuit of a more democratic and just world. Established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., the Luce Foundation advances its mission by nurturing knowledge communities and institutions, fostering dialogue across divides, enriching public discourse, amplifying diverse voices, and investing in leadership development.
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SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies
