The College of Arts and Sciences is proud to announce that Dr. William Cavert from the Department of History and Dr. Vanessa Cornett-Murtada in the Department of Music have received Fulbright awards.
Cavert will be in residence at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. from January to July of 2023. He will conduct research there on vermin hunting and agricultural development in 17th-18th century Britain while also working with colleagues at their Centre for Early Modern Studies, Animal Studies Research Centre, and the Institute for Sustainable Food. “Sheffield is one of the U.K.'s top 10 universities, and these three institutes make it the best possible place for me to spend time next year,” he said.
Cavert is a historian of Britain during the early modern period, c. 1500-1800, with research interests in urban and environmental history. He regularly teaches classes on the modern world since 1550 and early modern Britain and Europe, as well as courses on the history of science, climate history, the history of environmentalism, and natural disasters.
Cornett-Murtada will teach music performance and conduct research on performance anxiety management and mental skills training for musicians at the Ankara Müzik ve Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi (Ankara University of Music and Fine Arts) in Turkey during the 2022-23 academic year as part of her sabbatical.
Cornett-Murtada is the director of keyboard studies and professor of piano and piano pedagogy. Her areas of expertise include performance anxiety management for musicians, the psychology of peak performance, and the mental health and well-being of musicians. A certified meditation instructor, she is especially interested in contemplative practices in higher education, trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices, and the link between mindfulness and music performance.
Fulbright alumni include 61 Nobel Prize laureates, 88 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 40 who have served as a head of state or government.
