Bowling Green, Ky. - Two Western Kentucky University faculty members have received $40,000 research awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dr. Richard Keyser, assistant professor of history, and Dr. Jeffrey Samuels, assistant professor of religious studies, received yearlong NEH Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars.

“These are very competitive awards -- the success rate is about one in nine -- and it’s a real achievement to land one. For one university to have two recipients at the assistant professor level is especially remarkable and is a real point of pride for our University,” said Dr. David Lee, dean of WKU’s Potter College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “Their achievement is a dramatic illustration of how strong the WKU faculty is.”

Dr. Keyser’s project is “From Gift to Contract: The Transformation of Medieval Property Dealings, Champagne, 1100-1350.” He plans to use the funding to complete a draft of his book on how formal property rights emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Dr. Samuels’ project is “Attracting the Heart: Monastic Recruitment, Training, and Monastic-Lay Relations in Contemporary Sri Lanka.” He plans to use the funding to continue work on his book about the Buddhist monastic culture in Sri Lanka.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federal agency created to support research and programming in the humanities disciplines. Dr. Keyser and Dr. Samuels are among 346 successful applicants who will receive a total of $12 million in grants or offers of matching funds for NEH projects.

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