Assistant Professor of History Rebecca Gruskin was recently awarded a 2026 ACLS Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). According to a press release announcing the award, the ACLS Fellowship Program is the organization’s longest running program and supports outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Selected from more than 2,000 applicants, Ruskin is one of 63 scholars chosen for the award in a multi-stage peer review process.
Gruskin’s research project, “Extracting Tunisia: Phosphate Mining and the Making of Modern Agriculture,” tells the story of how modern agriculture was forged in rural Tunisia’s Gafsa region. It focuses on the Tunisian phosphate mines that fed Europe’s greedy fertilizer consumption throughout the 20th century, showing how a French colonial company’s system of nutrient extraction developed not to feed the world but to nourish the interests of capital and empire.
ACLS Fellowships provide up to $60,000 to support scholars for six to 12 months of full-time research and writing. Awardees who are independent scholars, adjunct faculty, or have teaching-intensive roles receive an additional stipend between $3,000 and $6,000.
Posted April 30, 2026
