Thanks to Ithaca's Emerson Collaborative Award for the Humanities, student Gene Schlack will spend time honing his skills in historical research. Schlack, a senior majoring in history and politics, will use the award to help assistant professor of history Vivian Bruce Conger in researching her upcoming book on gender roles in the early American frontier. As scholars of American social and political development, both are interested in the topic. The Emerson award provides funding to make their collaborative research a reality.

For Schlack and Conger, research in the lightly explored topic could yield important new information on concepts of gender in modern America. Along with a book, the research is likely to lay the groundwork for a new course in the history department focused on the evolution of American gender roles.

The Emerson Collaborative Award provides stipends and other support for students to conduct collaborative work with faculty in the humanities. For more information contact associate dean Janet Reohr.