Norman & Irma Mann Stearns ’67 Distinguished Faculty Award: 2023-24 Recipients
The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award: Writing, Literature and Publishing associate professor Adele Lee and Communication Sciences and Disorders associate professor Rihannon Luyster.
Adele Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on “Global Shakespeare,” Renaissance travel writing and the “transnational turn” in literary studies. She is the author of numerous books and journal articles. One of her current research projects is a study of Shakespeare through the lens of Critical Mixed Race Studies. With the Mann Stearns funding, she plans to travel to the Folger Shakespeare Library to complete research on her chapter contribution to the “Mixed Race Shakespeares” issue of Routledge’s Shakespearean International Yearbook.
An Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Dr. Luyster is a developmental psychologist whose program of research focuses on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She has a longstanding interest in early social communication and language in ASD, and she is an author on the Toddler Module of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2nd edition (ADOS-2). She will use the Mann Stearns Award to meet with scholars and researchers in South Korea and Japan in order to enrich her understanding of autism cross-culturally and outside of Western traditions.
About the Mann Stearns Award: Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Emerson alumna Irma Mann Stearns ’67 established a distinguished faculty award to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.