Two professors, two undergraduate alumni awarded Rome Prize in arts and humanities

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The Rome Prize: A gold coin with the double head of Janis surrounded by latin words

Princeton faculty members Anna Arabindan-Kesson and Michael Meredith, and undergraduate alumni Tung-Hui Hu and Parker Sutton, have been awarded the 2022-23 Rome Prize, which supports advanced independent work in the arts and humanities. Recipients are invited to pursue their work at the American Academy in Rome, a global hub for artists and scholars. 

Headshot of Anna Arabindan-Kesson Anna Arabindan-Kesson

The Rome Prize is awarded annually to a group of artists, designers and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. Prize recipients are invited to the American Academy in Rome — a hybrid center for the arts and humanities originally founded in 1894 — where they are provided the time and space to think and pursue their individual work as part of a unique and dynamic international community for six months to two years.

This year, 38 American and four Italian artists and scholars received the fellowship.

Anna Arabindan-Kesson

Arabindan-Kesson is an assistant professor of art and archaeology and African American studies. Her research and teaching focus on Black diasporic art, with an emphasis on histories of race, empire and medicine in the 19th century. The American Academy in Rome named Arabindan-Kesson a Terra Foundation Fellow for her project “A Dream of Italy: Black Geographies and the Grand Tour.”

Tung-Hui Hu headshot Tung-Hui Hu

Tung-Hui Hu

Hu, a 1998 graduate in comparative literature, is an associate professor in English at the University of Michigan. He is the author of three books of poetry, “The Book of Motion,” “Mine” and “Greenhouses, Lighthouses,” as well as a study of digital culture, “A Prehistory of the Cloud.” He earned an MFA in creative writing at University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in film studies at the University of California-Berkeley. He was awarded the Rome Prize in Literature for “Punishment, an Index.”

Michael Meredith looking at an architectural model Michael Meradith

Michael Meredith

Meredith is associate dean and professor of the School of Architecture. Along with his co-recipient, Hilary Sample, he is a principal and founder of MOS, an internationally recognized architecture practice based in New York. Meredith and Sample were awarded the Arnold W. Brunner/Katherine Edwards Gordon Rome Prize in architecture for their project “Corviale: One-Kilometer-Long Social Housing.”

Headshot of Parker Sutton Parker Sutton

Parker Sutton

Sutton, a 2007 graduate in economics, is an assistant professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University and cofounder of the interdisciplinary design-research group Present Practice. He earned a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia. The Academy awarded Sutton and his Present Practice co-principal Katherine Jenkins the Gilmore D. Clark and Michael I. Rapuano/Kate Lancaster Brewster Rome Prize for “Roman Aesthetics of Care.”

Three Princeton faculty members served as jurors. Emily Greenwood, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Classics and the University Center for Human Values, served as jury chair in the category of ancient studies. Yiyun Li, professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts, served as a juror in the category of literature. Barbara White, professor of music, served as a juror in the category of musical composition.

The winners were presented during an in-person ceremony April 25 at Cooper Union in New York City.