Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Washington College Professor Awarded Gilder Lehrman Fellowship

New York, NY, November 8, 2005 — Ted Widmer, Director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Associate Professor of History at Washington College, has been awarded a research fellowship by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Widmer conducted his research at the main branch of the New York Public Library. His project title is "Ark of the Liberties: America and the World."

To support outstanding scholarship, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History awards short-term fellowships in several categories: Research Fellowships for post-doctoral scholars at every faculty rank, Dissertation Fellowships for doctoral candidates who have completed exams and begun dissertation reading and writing, and Research Fellowships for journalists and independent scholars. The Gilder Lehrman Fellowships support work in one of five archives in New York City.

Widmer received a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University. Among his many distinctions, he is the author of three books including the biography Martin Van Buren (Times Books, 2005); he created the first American Studies Institute, held at Washington College in the summer of 2003, to teach U.S. history to Muslim students from foreign universities; he co-launched the $50,000 George Washington Book Prize with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington's Mount Vernon; he worked as Special Assistant and Senior Advisor to President Clinton; he is a consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; he is on the Board of Trustees of the Harvard Lampoon; he is on the Advisory Board of the Lincoln Prize; and he was elected to the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History promotes the study and love of American history. Increasingly national and international in scope, the Institute targets audiences ranging from students to scholars to the general public. It creates history-centered schools and academic research centers, organizes seminars and enrichment programs for educators, partners with school districts to implement Teaching American History grants, produces print and electronic publications and traveling exhibitions, and sponsors lectures by eminent historians. The Institute also funds awards including the Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and George Washington Book Prizes. For more information, visit www.gilderlehrman.org.

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