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Amy Erica Smith, associate professor of political science, was named as a 2019 Luce/ACLS Fellow, selected on the merits of her project Religion and Climate Change in Brazil: The Deluge and the Desert.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) announced the 2019 Luce/ACLS Fellows in Religion, Journalism and International Affairs on March 5, 2019. The fellowships support scholars who are pursuing research on global religions and who seek to engage the public in partnership with journalists. The program, which aims to increase public understanding of the role of religion in international affairs, is made possible by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

“This year’s Luce/ACLS fellows are exploring fascinating connections between religion and environmental conservation, media consumption, and political mobilization,” said John Paul Christy, director of public programs at ACLS. “Their penetrating, innovative research and commitment to media engagement will broaden public awareness of the diverse and sometimes unexpected ways religion informs political and social practice around the world.”

A panel of senior scholars in the humanities and social sciences selected the fellows based on the quality of their scholarly research and their plans to connect their work to journalism and the media. The fellowship carries a stipend of $55,000, as well as $5,000 to support media engagement activities and $3,000 for research costs.

In addition to providing fellows with a year’s leave to pursue their research and outreach efforts, the program offers a media training workshop in the fall and hosts a spring symposium that brings journalists into dialogue with scholars to discuss key issues in religion and international affairs.