Albany State University (ASU) faculty member, Dr. Alisha Marie Cromwell has been honored with the prestigious 2024 Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Faculty Fellowship Award from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). This fellowship and grant program is designed to offer flexible support to HBCUs’ faculty, considering their research, teaching, and service commitments. 

This year, the program has chosen 20 HBCU faculty scholars, including Dr. Cromwell, to support their outstanding research projects in humanities and interpretive social sciences. Dr. Cromwell was selected from a competitive pool of over 150 applicants and will receive up to $50,000 to aid in her extensive research endeavors. Additionally, she will benefit from networking opportunities and scholarly programming tailored to her academic aspirations and institutional background. Furthermore, ASU will receive a grant of $2,500 to bolster humanities programming and infrastructure.

Dr. Cromwell’s research titled “The Garden Nexus: Reciprocity, Redistribution, and Exchange in the Nineteenth-Century American Lowcountry” explores how the gendered dynamic of the nineteenth-century Atlantic World marketplaces in the American Lowcountry, where African and European cultures converged, shaped a novel methodology for understanding American slavery.  

The ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship and Grant Program was developed in close collaboration with HBCU faculty and academic leaders, reflecting a commitment to inclusivity and excellence.