Declan Kiberd
Two faculty from the University of Notre Dame鈥檚 College of Arts and Letters 鈥� and 鈥� have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation鈥檚 oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers.
They are among more than 200 members of the 239th AAAS class, which includes former first lady Michelle Obama, author Jonathan Franzen, gender theorist Judith Butler, former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, NPR host Michel Martin聽and neuro-oncologist Robert B. Darnell.
Kiberd, the Donald and Marilyn Keough Professor of Irish 91视频 and professor of at Notre Dame, is a major figure in the field of Irish studies. Pinderhughes, chair of the and a professor in the ,聽analyzes racial, ethnic and gender issues associated with political participation in the American political system, and in comparative perspective.聽
Since its founding during the American Revolution by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock聽and other scholar-patriots, the academy has elected leading 鈥渢hinkers and doers鈥� from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th.
Dianne Pinderhughes
Kiberd and Pinderhughes join , 23 of whom are also affiliated with the College of Arts and Letters. Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.; Karl Ameriks, the McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy Emeritus; R. Scott Appleby, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough 91视频 of Global Affairs; Robert Audi, the John A. O鈥橞rien Professor of Philosophy; Scott Mainwaring, the Eugene and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science; George Marsden, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus; Jean Porter, the John A. O鈥橞rien Professor of Theology; and Peter van Inwagen, the John Cardinal O鈥橦ara Professor of Philosophy.
Kiberd, a Dublin native who counted the novelist John McGahern among his earliest schoolteachers, studied at Trinity College Dublin before earning a doctoral degree at Oxford, under the direction of Richard Ellmann, the biographer of James Joyce, William Butler Yeats and Oscar Wilde. He taught at the University of Kent, Trinity College聽and University College Dublin.
A faculty fellow in the who came to Notre Dame in 2011, Kiberd is an Irish language speaker and a scholar of ancient Celtic culture and Irish literature and history. He has lectured in some 30 countries worldwide and contributes essays and reviews to the Irish Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books and the New York Times.
鈥淚t is a wonderful thing to have one鈥檚 work generously recognized by colleagues,鈥� Kiberd said, 鈥渂ut I am sure that the academy is also marking the contribution of so many other Irish studies scholars at Notre Dame. The whole thing has lifted my heart.鈥�
His study of Irish literature, "Inventing Ireland," was praised by the late Edward Said as 鈥渁 highly readable, joyfully contentious book.鈥� Kiberd鈥檚 most recent book, "," was published by Harvard University Press in 2018 and has just been released in paperback. He is currently finishing a book called聽"Beckett Unknown: Mysticism without God" and a short book about cricket, "England and Eternity."
Pinderhughes, a native of Washington, D.C., earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, then taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, before joining Notre Dame in 2006.
鈥淚 am honored to have been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd look forward to engaging in the work of this extraordinary organization.鈥�
She has served as president of the American Political Science Association, first vice president of the International Political Science Association聽and president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, and has had an undergraduate mentorship award named for her by that organization.聽
The author of several books, more than 30 book chapters聽and numerous articles and reports, Pinderhughes has completed the second edition of a textbook she co-authored, "Introduction to US Racial And Ethnic Politics."聽She is now completing "Black Politics After the Civil Rights Revolution," a book on the American political landscape after the civil rights movement and after Barack Obama鈥檚 presidency. In her most recent book, "" (Cambridge, 2016), co-authored with Carol Hardy-Fanta, Pei-te Lien and Christine Sierra, Pinderhughes explored the intersection of gender and race among elected officials across the nation.
Originally published by at on April 18.