I’m catching up with some older news. Here one from the Chronicle of Higher Education: 8 Professors Are Among 24 New MacArthur Fellows

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named eight professors today among the 24 MacArthur Fellows for 2007.

The fellowships, or “genius awards,” as they are commonly called, recognize people in a variety of fields for their creativity and promise. Each new fellow receives an award of $500,000, which is meant to encourage future exploration and comes with no strings attached.

Among the academic winners for 2007 are a medieval historian, biologists who study bees and spider silk, and several other professors working in the sciences.

The MacArthur Foundation does not accept applications for the awards. Instead, it invites approximately 100 professionals from nearly every academic discipline to submit anonymous nominations to the foundation’s 12-person selection committee. The committee, whose members also serve anonymously, reviews all nominations and then forwards its recommendations to the foundation’s Board of Directors for approval. Winners are then notified via telephone.

This year’s class of 24 brings the total number of MacArthur Fellows since the program began, in 1981, to 756.

…

Stuart Dybek, writer in residence at Northwestern University. His short stories pay tribute to the literature and iconography of the Old World while exploring the imaginations of contemporary American communities.

Here is Mr. Dybek’s profile from Western Michigan University where he is a professor of English.