English Professor Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship

Nicole R. Rice, Ph.D., a Professor of English at St. John’s University, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship to complete a book-length study on the ways that medieval hospitals contributed to early English literature and culture.

Dr. Rice is one of only 74 university educators and independent scholars nationwide to receive one of the NEH fellowships. The awards, totaling $3.5 million, were announced in December. An independent federal agency established in 1965, the NEH is one of the nation’s leading supporters of research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.

The $50,400 fellowship supports Dr. Rice’s additional research for her project, entitled Hospitals and Literary Production in England, 1350–1550. “Historians have offered rich accounts of individual hospitals, tracing the histories of poor relief and medical care at those institutions,” she writes. “But the story of how they participated in England’s literary and civic histories is not yet written.”

“We in St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are delighted that the NEH has recognized Dr. Rice’s outstanding scholarship by awarding her this fellowship,” said Jeffrey W. Fagen, Ph.D., Dean. “It will provide her with extended time for in-depth research and writing, including at least one more trip to Great Britain to consult original materials in hospital and municipal archives, the British Library, and the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.”

Faculty research ultimately shapes students’ classroom experiences, observed Dr. Rice. “My scholarship relates closely to my teaching, in practice as well as subject matter,” she said. “I always urge my students to think about literary texts—medieval or contemporary—in relation to social roles, religious practices, and community identities.”

Recognizing this, St. John’s encourages scholarly work, Dr. Rice noted. “I’m grateful for the consistent support the University and St. John’s College have shown,” she said. “Along with a year-long professional leave of absence for the fellowship, I have received a reduced teaching schedule, summer research funding in 2015, and research leave in fall 2016.”

The fellowship was among $12.8 million in support the NEH awarded for 253 humanities projects over the coming year. The grants will supplement public and private funding for projects including a virtual exhibition of more than 90 pieces of New Deal art from Gallup, NM; the conservation of delicate books from author C.S. Lewis’s personal library; and archival research for a book on the Nazi looting of musical instruments and manuscripts.

“The humanities,” said NEH Acting Chairman Jon Parrish Peede, “offer us a path toward understanding ourselves, our neighbors, our nation.”