STS Professor Robin Scheffler is featured in an article by MIT News on the first cohort of SHASS Faculty Fellows.
“A new initiative will offer faculty in the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) the opportunity to participate in a semester-long internal fellows program.
The SHASS Faculty Fellows program, administered by the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC), will provide faculty with time to focus on their research, writing, or artistic production, and to receive collegial support for the same; to foster social and intellectual community within SHASS, including between faculty and students beyond the classroom; and provide informal opportunities to develop intergenerational professional mentorships.
The creation of the program was one of the recommendations included in a May 2024 SHASS Programming Initiative Report, an effort led by Keeril Makan, SHASS associate dean for strategic initiatives, and the Michael (1949) and Sonja Koerner Music Composition Professor.
The inaugural group of fellows for Spring 2026 includes:
- Héctor Beltrán, Class of 1957 Career Development Associate Professor, MIT Anthropology
- Volha Charnysh, Ford Career Development Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
- Kevin Dorst, assistant professor, MIT Philosophy
- Richard Nielsen, associate professor, Department of Political Science
- Emily Richmond Pollock, associate professor, MIT Music
- Jessica Ruffin, assistant professor, MIT Literature
- Robin Scheffler, associate professor, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Tenure-line faculty are eligible to apply, with a maximum of 12 members selected per year, or roughly six participants per term.”
The full article can be accessed here: https://news.mit.edu/2025/mit-human-insight-collaborative-shass-faculty-fellows-program-0219
More information on MITHC can be found here: https://shass.mit.edu/human-insight-collaborative/