Two Dartmouth alumni and one former professor were among the 25 individuals awarded the 2006 MacArthur Fellowships on Tuesday. John Rich '80, Anna Schuleit MALS '05 and professor Jennifer Richeson all received a surprise phone call last week notifying them of their selection.
Fellows receive a grant of $500,000 in quarterly installments over five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation so to pursue their research unencumbered by reporting constraints or pressure to publish.
Fellowships are awarded on the basis of nominations from a pool of invited external nominators rather than a more traditional application process. These nominators are typically individuals who are recognized leaders in their fields and are familiar with creative people.
This emphasis on creativity has led many in the media to refer to the MacArthur Fellowship as the "Genius Grant," although the MacArthur Foundation insists that the award recognizes more than just genius.
The award's selection committee says it looks for exceptionally creative individuals with a substantial record of accomplishment and the promise of future advances in the uninhibited environment of a MacArthur Fellowship.
Rich, who is now a physician and chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University in Philadelphia, was an English major at the College. He said that he knew he wanted to go into medicine and saw his time at Dartmouth as his last opportunity to study something other than science.
In 1987, Rich founded Boston's Young Men's Health Clinic, which provides primary health care to its typically poor community and refers troubled and high-risk patients to the appropriate caregivers. Most of the clinic's patients are victims of urban violence.
"For many of these men, that may be the only helping institution available," Rich said.
The MacArthur Foundation praised Rich's creative accomplishments in its fellowship announcement.
"By linking economic health, mental health and educational and employment opportunities to physical well-being, Rich's work on black men's health is influencing policy discussions and health practice throughout the United States," it said. "He has created clinical programs that promote health by addressing overall wellness, recognizing that young, urban men of color face especially difficult challenges in accessing health care."
Schuleit, a commemorative artist, said she was initially attracted to Dartmouth because of the MALS program's emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. As someone who says her art is frequently inspired by her research, Schuleit pursued the Creative Writing track at Dartmouth in order to develop her skill.
She began writing extensively after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998 and saw creative writing as a way of giving that aspect of her vision new prominence.
"I can truly say that [Dartmouth] changed the course of my work," Schuleit said. "I hope that my art has benefited from that kind of expansion of focus."
Schuleit said that receiving the award came as a complete surprise to her, coming little more than a year after graduating from the College.
"This is the craziest, most mysterious process," she said. "I would have never dreamt of winning."
Richeson, who now works as a psychology professor at Northwestern University, researches the cognitive underpinnings of prejudice and racial stereotyping examines the costs associated with intergroup interactions.
"Nearly all of the research for which I am being recognized was conducted while I was on the faculty at Dartmouth," she said. "The conversations I had with colleagues and friends there definitely helped to shape the research."
Tuesday's announcement marked the first time since 2002 that a person connected with the College has received a MacArthur FeIlowship. Daniela Rus, a former computer science professor who now teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won the grant that year.
