Columbia Faculty Recognized with Ivy+ Mellon Praxis Fellowship and Ivy+ FAN Provost Leadership Fellowship

Julie Stone Peters Nominated for the 2026-29 Ivy+ Mellon Praxis Fellowship

Julie Stone Peters, the H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, has been selected for a three-year Mellon Fellowship, in which she will explore opportunities for advancing the humanities at Columbia and beyond. 

At Columbia, Peters is an affiliated professor at Columbia Law School and Director of Academic Careers Advising, and she recently concluded 16 years of service as Co-Chair of the PhD Program in Theatre and Performance. Her scholarship spans law and the humanities, human rights, media history, theatre and performance, and cultural and intellectual history. She has also played an active role in interdisciplinary programs across the University, including work with the Center for Comparative Media and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.

Peters is the author of several books, including Law as Performance, Staging Witchcraft Before the Law, and Theatre of the Book, and has previously received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Humboldt Foundation.

During the Mellon Fellowship, Peters plans to build on insights and takeaways from Columbia’s Humanities Working Group as she develops her fellowship project. Additional details about the project will take shape over the course of the fellowship, with an emphasis on carrying forward conversations and ideas emerging from the group’s work.

Columbia Faculty Selected for Ivy+ FAN Provost Leadership Fellowship

Five Columbia faculty members have been selected as Ivy+ Faculty Advancement Network (FAN) Institute Provost Leadership Fellows. The Fellowship is a yearlong program that brings together faculty from leading research universities to explore faculty leadership, institutional decision-making, communication, and collaborative approaches to strengthening academic communities. The Institute combines in-person and virtual programming and is designed to support faculty already serving in leadership roles as chairs, committee leaders, and other academic leaders. This year’s fellows join a long list of Columbia faculty members who have participated in the past.

Miriam Laugesen, PhD, is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Her research focuses on physician reimbursement, primary care, healthcare pricing, and private investment in healthcare. She has also served as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and has contributed to policy discussions surrounding physician payment and health system reform.

Ana F. Abraído-Lanza, PhD, is Vice Dean and Professor of Social Work at the Columbia School of Social Work. Her research examines the cultural, psychological, social, and structural factors influencing health and mortality among Latinos, including health disparities, immigrant health, and acculturation. She previously served on the faculty of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health before returning to Columbia as a professor and vice dean at the School of Social Work.

Agostino Capponi, PhD, is Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia Engineering and Director of the Center for Digital Finance and Technologies. His research focuses on systemic risk, economic networks, financial technology, tokenomics, and market microstructure, and he is also a member of Columbia’s Data Science Institute.

Qin Gao, PhD, is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice and Associate Dean for Doctoral Education at the Columbia School of Social Work. She is also the founding director of Columbia’s China Center for Social Policy. Her research examines poverty, inequality, social policy, and population well-being in China and among Asian Americans.

Scott Banta, PhD, is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Columbia Engineering. A member of the Columbia faculty since 2004, Banta works at the intersection of protein engineering, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology, with applications ranging from biotechnology and bioenergy to biomedical and environmental engineering.

Together, these fellowship opportunities reflect Columbia faculty members’ continued engagement in conversations about academic leadership, faculty development, institutional collaboration, and the future of higher education.