Terry Belanger, a history and engineering professor and honorary curator of the Special Collections Library, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship yesterday.
The award grants five-year fellowships to those who exhibit "exceptional merit and promise of continued and enhanced creative work" and includes a $500,000 stipend, according to the MacArthur Foundation.
Belanger's MacArthur Fellowship is the first to be awarded to a University Professor since 2002. He plans to use the money to fund the University's Rare Book School, which he founded.
"I don't see [the award] as personal money," Belanger said. "These programs are expensive, so it will help a lot with keeping the place going."
Belanger, a book historian, collector and preservationist, has been at the University since 1992. In 1983, Belanger founded the Rare Book School at Columbia University before shifting the program to the University in 1992.
The Rare Book School, which focuses on the history of written and electronic text, attracts a variety of historians, librarians, collectors and others each year, according to the MacArthur Foundation.
"He has opened up the book as an art form," University President John T. Casteen, III said. "At the same time, he has led a generation of learners to appreciate and understand the rare book, the unique book, the artistically produced book as an artifact of that aspect of popular culture that best charts the progress of human learning."
In addition to his work with the Rare Book School, Belanger also is an undergraduate professor, teaching both history and engineering courses in the fall.
Third-year College student Allison Murphy said Belanger is a "fantastic professor" who is "very devoted to his subject."
Despite his personal achievements, however, Belanger said his love for books is something that is shared by many.
"I think that all of us have a sentimental attachment to books," Belanger said.
He said he uses a demonstration in his undergraduate classes in which he rips a book in half to see how his students react. He said the fact that his students get upset is an indication of a book's sentimental value.
"You see, that's the sentimentality of the book coming out," he said. "What interests me about books? It's the bookness of books."
Belanger's programs have had an international impact, with offshoots of his programs active in countries such as France, Australia and New Zealand, according to the MacArthur Foundation.
University spokesperson Carol Wood said the award recognizes Belanger's work and the University.
"It's a great honor for Terry Belanger, but it's also an honor for the University," Wood, said. "It shows the caliber of the faculty of the University."
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