In April, Assistant Professor of Political Science Desireé Melonas was named a 2020 Career Enhancement Fellow by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

The Career Enhancement Fellowship seeks to increase the presence of underrepresented junior and other faculty members in the arts and humanities by creating career development opportunities for selected Fellows with promising research projects. Melonas is one of ten junior faculty members from across the country to receive a 12-month fellowship and sabbatical stipend.

“I plan to use this fellowship to help prepare my book manuscript, A Political Theory of Place, for publication,” Melonas said. “What’s most exciting about this year is that, while I’ll miss my students and teaching a great deal, this fellowship provides the time and intellectual space to get really intimate with my work. I think it’s an intimacy with and excitement for our scholarship that enables us to be better, more inspired teachers; we bring that energy – that enthusiasm for discovery and learning – with us and inject it into the classroom.”

The 2020 Career Enhancement Fellows represent top institutions from across the country and work in such disciplines as African American and diaspora studies, English, LGBTQ studies, political science, sociology, and musicology.

“The fellowship is an excellent opportunity for Desireé and we’re proud of her achievement,” said BSC Provost Dr. Brad Caskey. “Prestigious awards such as this provide our faculty the chance to spend time on scholarly work and that ultimately benefits our students in the classroom.”

Since joining the faculty in 2017, Melonas has become an active and beloved member of the BSC community. She is involved with the Black Women’s Union, the Mortar Board, Students Demand Action, and the Diversity Committee. She also received the 2018 Bob Whetstone Faculty Development Award, given annually to a non-tenured faculty member to recognize their excellence in teaching, and created a political theory focus in the political science department.

Among these other achievements in her few years at BSC, Melonas has most notably established the Distinction in Black Studies. The program introduces students to the political, social, economic, and historical dimensions animating the lives of Black people in Africa and the African diaspora. Melonas came together with other political science faculty as well as history and media and film studies faculty to develop course ideas and a transdisciplinary direction.

“Taking into account that BSC is situated in Birmingham, we need to have curriculum that reflects a broad set of interests as we make active efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive environment,” Melonas said.