UTSA professor Catherine Clinton receives prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship

Catherine Clinton

Catherine Clinton

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(April 14, 2016) -- Catherine Clinton, the Gilbert M. Denman Endowed Professor in American History at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Clinton, a highly acclaimed, pioneering historian of the American South and the Civil War is UTSA’s first Guggenheim Fellow.

“I’m thrilled and astonished by this honor from the Guggenheim Foundation,” Clinton said. “My work has been very challenging for me, and to have it endorsed this way has been wonderful.”

Clinton was chosen from a group of over 3,000 applicants by fellow artists and scholars and appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise. She joins a group of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, Turing Award winners and poet laureates honored by the Foundation since its establishment in 1925.

Clinton’s current research focuses on how mental illness was diagnosed and treated for Union soldiers during the Civil War. She first delved into the topic after discovering in 2008 that the suicide rate among American soldiers serving in the Iraqi War was higher than the combat death rate. Her work will touch on the debate among historians concerning the military death toll of the Civil War and other important controversies.

“The Civil War remains an enthralling topic in the United States because we perhaps haven’t confronted the trauma of the war in a way I think it deserves,” Clinton said. “This is something that is hard to ignore while living in San Antonio, which is a city of veterans. Many of my students are veterans who are fascinated by these questions because they have first-hand experience. It’s a real privilege to have these students in the classroom. They teach me as much as I teach them.”

Clinton is the author of 25 books, including Divided Houses: Gender and Civil War and Mrs. Lincoln: A Life. Her biography, Harriet Tubman: Road to Freedom, was named one of the year’s best non-fiction books in 2004 by the Chicago Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor. She also served as a historical consultant to Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and serves on the advisory board of Ford’s Theatre.

“It is a remarkable achievement for Catherine Clinton to be recognized by the Guggenheim Foundation, a prestigious organization that has Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and poet laureates among its ranks,” said Mauli Agrawal, UTSA vice president for research. “We are indeed very fortunate to have Catherine as a faculty member at UTSA, doing research that brings fresh perspectives on American history, making it accessible to newer, wider audiences who haven’t discovered the richness of our country’s past.”

Clinton has been featured as an expert on CSPAN, BBC and PBS, and also serves as the current president of the Southern Historical Association. She has also written several history books for children and has presented at numerous academic conferences.

“Dr. Clinton’s research has given the world a deeper understanding of American history in possibly its most contentious period,” said Daniel J. Gelo, dean of the UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Stumberg Distinguished University Chair. “She is a shining example of UTSA’s top-tier research efforts.”

Clinton earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology and Afro-American studies from Harvard University, her master’s degree from the University of Sussex and her Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. Before coming to UTSA in 2014, Clinton taught at the Citadel, Wesleyan University, Brandeis University, Harvard University, and Queens University Belfast, in Northern Ireland.

By Joanna Carver
Public Affairs Specialist

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