The Guggenheim Foundation selected Professor Pascal Boyer from among 3,000 nominees to be one of its fellows for 2011.
Boyer, PhD, the Henry Luce Professor of Collective and Individual Memory, professor of sociocultural anthropology and professor of psychology, all in Arts & Sciences, was one of only 180 scholars selected for the highly esteemed honor.
“I didn’t believe it at all,” Boyer says. “When I received the letter, it was written in legalese, and I thought that it must be the rejection letter. I was very happy but still surprised.”
Boyer’s selection is a testament to his cross-disciplinary work in anthropology and psychology, according to T.R. Kidder, PhD, professor and chair of the anthropology department. Boyer focuses on cognitive processes, cultural transmission, cognitive development, evolutionary psychology, cross-cultural psychology and religion.
“The Guggenheim Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards any academic can get,” Kidder says. “It is really recognizing Pascal’s interstitial scholarship at the boundaries of anthropology and psychology.”