Divinity School faculty recognized for scholarship, teaching

Several members of the faculty at Harvard Divinity School have recently received research grants or won awards for teaching or academic scholarship.

Mayra Rivera Rivera, assistant professor of theology and Latina/o studies, has received a Lilly Theological Research Grant for 2011-12. The Lilly Theological Research Grants program is designed to enhance the skill and capacity of faculty in the Association of Theological Schools as theological researchers and scholars. The grant supports research efforts of faculty in order to nurture the development of their scholarship.

Aisha Beliso-De Jesús, assistant professor of African American religions, has been selected as an awardee in the Ford Foundation Fellowship 2011 postdoctoral competition. This fellowship is sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by the National Research Council of the National Academies. The selection reflects the review panelists’ judgment of professional and scholarly competence as well as the likelihood that the recipient’s career will be enhanced by the postdoctoral fellowship experience.

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity, has received the 2011 Jerome Award from the Catholic Library Association—”awarded in recognition of outstanding contribution and commitment to excellence in scholarship which embody the ideals of the Catholic Library Association.”

Ahmed Ragab, who will be joining the HDS faculty on July 1 as the Richard T. Watson Assistant Professor of Science and Religion, has been selected as a winner of the 2010-11 Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize, Harvard’s highest award for excellence in undergraduate teaching. The prize, given by the Undergraduate Council, recognizes a senior faculty member, a junior faculty member, and a teaching fellow each year, for outstanding pedagogy and mentorship.

Andrew Teeter, assistant professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, has been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship beginning in May. He is currently in a research position as Hugo-Greßmann-Fellow at the Theological Faculty of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Also, Charles Stang, assistant professor of early Christian thought, has been chosen by the HDS student body as Outstanding Teacher of the Year for 2010-11. He also received a Lady Davis Fellowship Trust postdoctoral research fellowship at Hebrew University in Jerusalem for the 2011-12 academic year.