The Illinois Global Institute has selected seven faculty members to receive research funding to advance international research.
Faculty Research Awards
Illinois Global Institute’s grants provide up to $5,000 to College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty whose research supports both new and ongoing international research.
Recipients, their departmental affiliation, proposal titles, research location if applicable and information on their subject is as follows:
Eric Calderwood, Department of Comparative & World Literature. “Spanish translation of "On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus"”
Calderwood’s award winning book, “On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus,” explores how the memory of al-Andalus has shaped culture and politics around the world. With the funding received from the IGI faculty grant, Calderwood will work with Spanish translator and university affiliate Andrea Villar del Valle on a translation and publication proposal. Once complete, Calderwood plans to submit the translation for publication in the summer of 2027.
Amanda Cortez, Department of Anthropology, Cusco, Peru. “The Politics of Multispecies Relating: Indigeneity, Gender and Photography Tourism in the Peruvian Andes”
Cortez’s ethnographic anthropological book project focuses on the lives of Quechua women and their llamas, alpacas, and sheep. With the funding received from this grant she will travel to Cusco, Peru, where she will work closely with five focus groups to ensure that her project aligns with the established research goals, and that her inclusion of quotes and photography are accurate depictions within the context of the writing.
Charles Fogelman, LAS Global Studies, Lesotho, South Africa. “Developing the Mountain Kingdom”
“Developing the Mountain Kingdom,” is an ongoing irrigation project in Lesotho, South Africa, which was previously funded by a Fullbright-Hays grant. With federal policy changes the funding sources have since shifted, raising important questions about who will benefit from the project's success and how it is actively affecting the surrounding communities. Fogelman’s research hopes to answer these questions and provide a lens with which we might view the large-scale developmental projects taking place here in the United States.
Brett Kaplan, Department of Comparative & World Literature, France. “Seneca”
With the funds received from the IGI Faculty Research Grant, Kaplan will travel to France where she will study the archives of Rose Valland, an important and understudied historical figure. Kaplan’s forthcoming novel, “Seneca,” will feature a fictionalized version of Valland that honors her as a queer hero in the disruption and resistance of the Nazi art-looting machine. This research is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2027 within four Parisian archives.
Carlos Molina-Vital, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Peru. “Expanding Quechua Language Education: Collaborative Content Development and Digital Pedagogy for Anyi, a Beginner Southern Quechua Open-Access Textbook”
The Quechua Innovation and Teaching Initiative (QINTI), housed within the Center for Latin American &Caribbean Studies, has been working on the development of “Ayni,” an open-access digital textbook. Collaborators across the university and Quechua-speaking communities hope to preserve and revitalize the language through the development of this collection of text and audio-visual materials. Through workshops in Quechua-speaking regions of Peru, Carlos Molina-Vital will work with participants to co-create and record audio-visual content for integration into “Ayni.”
Francois Proulx, Department of French & Italian. “Corr-Proust Digital Edition of the Letters of Marcel Proust: 2026-2027 Phase”
The University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds the largest collection of French novelist Marcel Proust's letters and documents. With the funding received from this grant, the university can continue its collaboration with international partners to expand the “Corr-Proust project,” further digitizing, annotating, and publishing previously censored, or unpublished letters that have recently resurfaced. This project will result in an open-access, digital, scholarly resource for 20th-century literary studies.
Rebecca Stumpf, Department of Anthropology, Bigodi Uganda and Cape Town South Africa. “Disease Transmission Dynamics among Wildlife and Human Settlements in Rural Uganda”
This ongoing project is concerned with the risks of cross-species transmission, more specifically Adenovirus (AdV). Due to federal policy changes, the project has been halted, placing thousands of collected samples at risk of degradation. With the funding received from the IGI faculty grant, Stumpf will travel to the research site and meet with key stakeholders and government agencies to ensure ongoing engagement and stability of the study until funding is reestablished.