Claire Seiler Awarded National Humanities Center Fellowship
Professor of English Claire Seiler and Becca Brown '24 share a celebratory moment during Commencement 2024. Photo by Dan Loh.
Dickinson's professor of English was the only liberal-arts college faculty member in this year’s cohort
Adding to recent honors, Professor of English Claire Seiler has been awarded a prestigious 2025–26 fellowship by the National Humanities Center (NHC). This fellowship, which Seiler received alongside 31 other scholars from across the nation, will support her project The Narrative Lives of Polio, a book in which she will explore the cultural and literary histories surrounding the disease, its representations and its lasting impact.
“It’s my scholarly dream come true!” Seiler says.” “I cannot believe my luck—and such a coup for our liberal-arts college." As a fellow academic, her husband, Professor of American Studies Cotten Seiler, will join her in Durham, North Carolina, for the fellowship as a resident associate, gaining access to the NHC’s extensive fellowship amenities.
The only liberal-arts college faculty member in this year’s NHC cohort, Seiler was also recently named the first Kalaris Chair in the History of Science, a newly established, renewable appointment created through the generosity of alumnus Tom Kalaris '76 and his wife, Karen Welty Kalaris ’77. The chair honors faculty who demonstrate exceptional scholarship at the intersections of science and history.
And at Commencement 2024, Seiler was the recipient of the Dickinson Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest honor the college bestows on a member of the faculty for excellence in teaching.
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Published June 24, 2025