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Release: April 5, 1999

Kerber wins Radcliffe Award for Distinguished Academic Scholarship

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Linda Kerber, a University of Iowa professor of history, is the first recipient of the new Radcliffe Award for Distinguished Academic Scholarship, given by the Radcliffe College Board of Trustees. She will be honored at a ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., on Sunday, April 11.

The Radcliffe Award for Distinguished Academic Scholarship in the broad areas of knowledge related to Women, Gender and Society was established this year to recognize outstanding scholarship in an intellectual domain where, historically, Radcliffe has made significant advances. Radcliffe College officials said the award "reflects the values embodied in Radcliffe's mission and its commitment to support and enhance the variety of ways in which women contribute to society."

Linda Maxson, dean of the UI College of Liberal Arts, said it is fitting for Kerber to be the inaugural recipient of this award. "Linda Kerber is known nationally and internationally for her pioneering scholarship in the area of women's history," Maxson said. "She has set a high standard for scholars who will come after her. I am proud of her scholarly accomplishments and the recognition she has brought the University of Iowa, the College of Liberal Arts, and the department of history."

Kerber is a historian of women's rights and women's roles in American history, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the Society of American Historians.

As former president of the Organization of American Historians, Kerber has played an important role in gaining recognition for women historians and women's history within the discipline. A former Guggenheim fellow and National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, she has written several books, including "Toward an Intellectual History of Women," (1997) and "No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship," (1998).

Kerber is a distinguished international lecturer having spoken in Tokyo, Stockholm, Berlin, Milan, and Florence and has also lectured widely in the United States.