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# LSU professors chosen as Guggenheim Fellows
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/lsu-professors-chosen-as-guggenheim-fellows/
- Published: 2026-06-17T00:55:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-17T00:55:46.000Z
- Description: The Guggenheim Foundation handed fellowships to Jeremiah Ariaz and Maurice Carlos Ruffin—money, time, and a title that never expires.
- Author: Mukul Verma
- Tags: News

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded fellowships to two LSU professors: Jeremiah Ariaz, a professor of art and photography, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin, an associate professor of English.

**Why it matters:** Established in 1925, the Guggenheim is among the most prestigious honors in American arts and letters. Grants typically range from $40,000 to $55,000, giving recipients something very valuable: time and freedom to pursue ambitious work.

**The projects:** 

- Ariaz will use the fellowship for *The Fourth Estate in the Heart of America*, a photographic and editorial project documenting newspaper offices. It is part tribute to local journalism’s civic role and part lament for its decline.
- Ruffin will work on his forthcoming novel, *Liar’s Bouquet*, a contemporary satire set in New Orleans. It follows a family of activists who discover they may have been fighting on the wrong side of a hidden conflict all along.

**Quick history:** Guggenheim fellowships have gone to [13 LSU faculty members](https://www.lsu.edu/academicaffairs/externalawards%5Frecognition/highly-prestigious.php?ref=redeyebr.com), beginning with Lewis Simpson in 1954\. This is the first time two LSU professors have won in the same year.

**The bottom line:** Guggenheim Fellows often go on to win Pulitzers, Nobels and other major honors. LSU now has two more of them—a welcome distinction for a university trying to rise into the nation’s top 50 research institutions.