Humanities

Percival Everett, Distinguished Professor of English, has been named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2025, and award that, according to Time, focuses “on the individuals who are transforming the world.” Of Everett’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James, writer and director Cord Jefferson wrote for Time: “Many writers are afraid to insert levity in stories of tragedy, particularly stories of violent prejudice. But James, which won the National Book Award, shows that to omit joy is to do a disservice to the people who endured those tragedies.” (Jefferson won the Academy Award for his screenplay of American Fiction, which he adapted from Everett’s book Erasure.)

Suzanne Hudson, professor of art history and fine arts, has been named a 2025–26 Getty Scholar by the Getty Research Institute. She will join an international cohort of scholars in residence at the Getty Center and Getty Villa in Los Angeles, exploring the theme of “Repair.” Her project, Better for the Making: Art, Therapy, Process, examines the history, theory, and conventions of painting as they developed within pedagogical spaces shaped by care work and medical or psychological services.

Luke Fidler, assistant professor of art history, has been named a 2025–2026 Fellow of the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University. Centered on the theme of “Scale,” the residential fellowship brings together scholars and artists for a year of collaborative research, writing and teaching. Each fellow receives $62,000 and teaches one seminar for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Fidler specializes in the art of early- and high-medieval Europe, with an emphasis on the German-speaking lands, Scandinavia and the British Isles.

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.