Texas Tech’s Linda Gosner was awarded a trio of fellowships to work on a book project.
Linda Gosner, an assistant professor of classical archaeology in Texas Tech University's Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures, has been awarded three fellowships that will give her time to focus on completing a book project.
Gosner received an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) fellowship, which is considered highly prestigious, as well as a Mellon Fellowship for Assistant Professors and a Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship.
“In the humanities, if you want to take research leave, you apply for every fellowship you are qualified for and feel lucky if you get one,” Gosner said. “Things just worked out in my favor. My goal was to have research leave for my book project, and I was fortunate to end up getting several fellowships.”
Gosner was able to accept both the ACLS and Mellon Fellowships for consecutive periods and declined the Loeb.
The awards are a testament to Gosner's diligence and hard work since joining the Texas Tech faculty almost three years ago.
“I am delighted to recognize the scholarly accomplishments and growing national reputation of Professor Gosner and congratulate her,” said Vice President for Research & Innovation Joseph A. Heppert. “The support of her peers and prestigious national foundations represent high praise for the excellence and significance of her scholarly activity.”
The fellowships also underscore the important research Gosner is doing in her field, said Tosha Dupras, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
“Dr. Gosner's remarkable achievement in receiving three highly competitive fellowships is commendable, particularly the very prestigious ACLS Fellowship,” she said. “Receiving three such fellowships simultaneously is almost unheard of, particularly as an assistant professor, and these opportunities will allow Dr. Gosner to propel her research to the next level.”
Gosner, a Roman archaeologist, will be on research leave during the 2023-24 academic year as well as the fall of 2024 to focus on her book, which is titled “Mining Matters: Industry, Community and Empire in Roman Iberia.” Her primary research area is the western Mediterranean, and she has worked in Spain and Portugal with a currently conducts fieldwork in Sardinia.
“The book is about the impact of the Roman conquest on mining in the Iberian Peninsula,” she said. “Many of the materials that were essential to Roman economic success were the gold, silver, copper, tin and other metals that were mined there. The metals were used in Roman coinage and other types of utilitarian objects that they needed to build their cities.”
Her book will look at sweeping social changes that came about as a result of the conquest and ensuing depletion of raw materials from Iberia.
“The mining industry had to change and adapt after the Roman conquest,” she said. “Mining had been going on for thousands of years, carried out by local communities, and then the Romans specifically targeted certain areas to expand the way the industry worked by sometimes bringing in new laborers, bringing in a lot of slaves and then also redirecting local people to work in local mining. The book will examine the social and technological shifts that had to change to make it possible.”
For the upcoming academic year, Gosner's work will take her to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where she will have access resources that will help her book project move forward.
“I will have office space there and access to a fantastic library as well as the ability to meet with people who are working on adjacent topics,” she said. “Most likely, I will need to take a trip to Spain and Portugal somewhere toward the end when I realize what other sources I might need like extra pictures from museums.”
Gosner said she was appreciative of the support she received from the university community.
“Texas Tech has been really incredible,” she said. “The fellowships have qualified me for different incentives in terms of additional funding that makes it more feasible to do this research. I am grateful for the extra funds. The department has been great to allow me to take three semesters, and they have hired a fantastic replacement to teach my courses while I'm gone, so I am confident everything will run smoothly in my absence.”
Her first priority is completing an initial manuscript to give prospective publishers an idea of the book's material and receive feedback. The project is an extension of Gosner's dissertation and post-doctoral work.
“It has roots in my dissertation that I finished in 2016, so it is nice to have these fellowships that will give me time to sit down and finish a full manuscript,” she said.
The fellowships are one more indication of the quality of faculty across the Texas Tech campus.
“It's wonderful and important that Texas Tech faculty are receiving fellowships at this level,” she said. “It is another sign that we have excellent faculty engaging in research that qualifies us for these nationally competitive grants. That's the goal of an R1 (Carnegie Tier One Research) institution – continue building research programs like this. I am happy to be part of that.”
