SMU professors Elaine Heath and Dr. Mark Chancey received the prestigious Sam Taylor Fellowship on Nov. 15. The United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry sponsors the Sam Taylor Fellowship Award each year.
The fellowships were established for the continuing education and development of faculty members of United Methodist colleges and universities in Texas.
Grants may be used for graduate study or post-graduate research. Recipients of the fellowships are expected to submit programs that will contribute to the improvement of the quality of intellectual, community or religious life of the state of Texas and the nation.
Chancey received the fellowship for travel to archeological sites in Galilee and the Golan Heights. He attended the University of Georgia and entered Duke University’s Graduate program in religion in 1993. While at Duke, he participated in excavations in Israel at Sepphoris, an important ancient city three miles from Nazareth. He earned his Ph.D. from Duke in 1999 and joined the faculty of SMU as a religious studies professor in 2000.
He is the author of two books with Cambridge University Press, “The Myth of a Gentile Galilee,” and “Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus,” which investigates the relationship between Greco-Roman and local culture in the region. He is currently at work on a book-length overview of the archaeology of Palestine from Alexander the Great to Constantine. Chancey is also a recipient of the Golden Mustang Award in 2002.
Elaine Heath from the Perkins School of Theology received the award in support of her research on emerging neo-monastic communities in the United States. Heath attended Oakland University and went on to receive a doctorate in systematic theology from Duquesne University. She focuses her studies on Evangelism and spirituality.
She has already published three works and plans two more publications that will be released in 2008. Also, Heath plans to publish a book over her fellowship research within the next year.
The United Methodist Church selected six Southwestern University professors as recipients of research grants of $1,000 to $2,000.
The United Methodist institutions of higher education in Texas are Huston-Tillotson College, Lon Morris College, McMurry University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern University, Texas Wesleyan University and Wiley College. The Division of Higher Education of the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry administers the endowment.
