By Mark Schwartz, communications and marketing officer, University Libraries
Mark Koyama, assistant professor in the Economics Department and Mercatus Center Senior Scholar, is the University Libraries’ Fenwick Fellow for the 2013-2014 academic year, John Zenelis, university librarian, has announced.
Koyama’s research project, The Rise and Fall of the Persecuting State, willexamine Western Europe as the birthplace of modern ideas of political freedom and religious toleration. His project sets out to investigate minority group persecution in medieval and early modern Europe, what economic and political changes faced rulers of the period, and how the idea of religious toleration emerged during the 17th century. The study will explore these questions using a combination of new historical data and approaches from modern political economy.
Koyama’s research project is part of a larger endeavor, in collaboration with Dr. Noel Johnson, also a Mason faculty member, which will result in the publication of a monograph likely of the same title.
“The University Libraries is looking forward to supporting such an important study in the field of religious and related politico-economic tolerance, and sponsoring a public lecture during the Spring semester 2015 when Professor Koyama will present the results of his research,” says Zenelis.
The annual Fenwick Fellow program assists research by Mason faculty members and enhances the University Libraries. The fellowship provides a $5,000 award for research materials and assistance, along with a fully equipped office in the Fenwick Library, to support a research project. Conducted each spring, the competition is open to all tenured and tenure-track faculty members at Mason.
September 26, 2013