African American Studies faculty members Simon Balto, Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies, and Richard Brent Turner, Professor of Religious Studies and African American Studies, have been named 2020 fellows of the American Council of Learned Societies. ACLS Fellowships are among the most prestigious research honors in the humanities. They offer scholars the opportunity to devote six to twelve continuous months to full-time research and writing for a specific project. The awards are portable and are tenable at the fellow's home institution, abroad, or at another appropriate site for research.