Ashley Howard, University of Iowa assistant professor of history, has been named a 2026 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader. The recognition comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s leading funder of the arts, culture, and humanities.

The $20,000 award will support Howard’s work on her second book, More Than a Snapshot: Will Brown and the Violence of History. The book builds on archival research supported by the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the university to examine how difficult histories are remembered. Howard plans to interview quilters, playwrights, curriculum designers, and local organizers. Read the rest of the story here.