Humanities

Percival Everett, Distinguished Professor of English, was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for his novel James. Awarded by the American Library Association, the medal and accompanying $5,000 prize honors the best books for adult readers published in the United States. James has already received the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize, was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and is a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award.

Peyman Nojoumian, professor (teaching) of Persian, has been elected president of the American Association of Teachers of Persian (AATP) for a two-year term beginning February. The AATP is a nonprofit professional organization focused on advancing and improving the study and teaching of Persian language and culture. It promotes research in Persian language, linguistics and literature while fostering communication and professional collaboration among its members. USC Dornsife is the association’s eighth institutional member.

Sarah Gualtieri, professor of American studies and ethnicity, history and Middle East studies, has received the Mary C. Turpie Prize from the American Studies Association. The award recognizes her exceptional contributions to teaching, advising and program development in American studies at the local and regional levels. The association honored Gualtieri for her impactful work on U.S. imperial interests in Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) and their domestic consequences, particularly the rise of anti-Arab racism in the U.S. domestic sphere.

Viet Nguyen, Aerol Arnold Chair of English and professor of English, American studies and ethnicity, and comparative literature, has been honored with an ACLU Foundation of Southern California Bill of Rights Award. The annual award, this year bestowed during a Nov. 10 ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, celebrates those whose seminal work has challenged the status quo and fostered a more just and inclusive world.

Joan Flores-Villalobos, assistant professor of history, was awarded the Wesley-Logan Prize in African Diaspora History for her book, The Silver Women: How Black Women’s Labor Made the Panama Canal (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). The annual award is jointly sponsored by the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, recognizing outstanding work in African diaspora history. Flores-Villalobos’ book explores the role of Black West Indian women in constructing the Panama Canal, revealing their critical role in U.S. imperial expansion and migration networks.

Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies, professor of history and director of the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research, has received the 2024 Grimme Online Award from the Grimme Institute, which honors high-quality, online journalism. Gruner was honored for his work on the #LastSeen Image Atlas, which collects and contextualizes photographs of individuals deported from Nazi Germany.

Percival Everett, Distinguished Professor of English, has been awarded the 2024 Kirkus Prize for Fiction for his novel James. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize recognizes exceptional works in literature, with winners in each category receiving $50,000. With James, Everett reimagines Mark Twain’s classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the character Jim’s perspective.