The Vermont Academy of Arts & Sciences is excited to welcome our slate of 2020 Fellows!
Our Fellows luncheon, typically held in September, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We plan to combine our 2020 and 2021 celebrations for our September 2021 luncheon.
Please see the biographies of our 2020 Fellows below:
Michael Sherman, Historian and Editor
Montpelier
Michael Sherman, historian, editor, and former director of the Vermont Historical Society, is one of the leading scholars of Vermont, its history, and its people. Sherman was appointed director of the VHS in 1985 after serving as associate director of the Wisconsin Humanities Committee, and as a faculty member at Lawrence University and the University of Chicago in the 1970s. After stepping down as VHS director in 1995, he became editor of Vermont History journal, in which role he continues to this day. Playing a crucial role in the shaping of scholarship on Vermont, he has himself edited seven monographs, co-written another, and published dozens of scholarly articles on Vermont history and other topics.
Giovanna Peebles, Archaeologist
Montpelier
Giovanna Peebles is an archaeologist who devoted her long professional career in Vermont to public education and engagement, while establishing a solid foundation for archaeological research. As the first Vermont State Archaeologist, Peebles built a program to identify, investigate, and document archaeological sites throughout the state. She helped establish the Vermont Archaeology Museum, which serves not only as a storage center for artifacts but as an educational center for school children and the curious of all ages. Giovanna Peebles has inspired generations of students at all levels, as well as the general public, to investigate and interpret the archaeological record.
Dr. Mary Cushman, Professor of Medicine and of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Burlington
Dr. Cushman is an international expert on the epidemiology of coagulation, inflammation, and other vascular-related domains in relation to the etiology and pathogenesis of stroke, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular diseases, and other diseases of aging. She is the medical director of the thrombosis and hemostasis program at the UVM Medical Center, is editor-in-chief of the newest journal of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis – Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis – and is on the board of directors of UVM’s Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI). Dr. Cushman has been a recipient of continuous National Institutes of Health research funding for more than 20 years. Her research has been highly influential, and she was named to a list of the world’s most impactful researchers in 2018, based on the number of times her published studies have been cited by other researchers over the past decade.
Madeleine May Kunin, Stateswoman, Writer, and Poet
Burlington
Madeleine May Kunin, is a former three-term governor of Vermont and a renowned and revered author, poet, scholar, legislator, and diplomat. Elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1972, she served as lieutenant governor from 1978 to 1982, and as governor from 1985 to 1991. She served as U.S. deputy secretary of education and as ambassador to Switzerland and Lichtenstein during the Clinton administration. Throughout her career, Gov. Kunin has sought to foster the role of women in government service, and has been an influential advocate for gender equality, child welfare, education, and the environment. She helped to found two influential non-governmental organizations: the Institute for Sustainable Communities (1991) and EmergeVermont (2013), the latter supportive of women going into politics. She is the author or co-author of seven important books, four non-fiction, two memoirs in prose and poetry, and a recently released volume of poetry.
D. Gregory Sanford, Historian and Former Vermont State Archivist
Plainfield
D. Gregory Sanford is a historian and ground-breaking former Vermont state archivist. As a History graduate student at the University of Vermont in the mid-1970s, Sanford worked with the newly accessioned George D. Aiken Papers under the tutelage of Professor Samuel B. Hand. His growing expertise with primary sources led to his appointment as Vermont State Archivist in 1982. Sanford’s diligent efforts to improve access to the archives, and to provide expert reference service to all enquirers, profoundly reshaped the role of the state archives. His decades-long effort to move the Archives to a spacious building in Middlesex, along with its merging with the State Public Records office, put the archives program on a sound footing for the future. He also mentored numerous budding archivists whose achievements testify to Sanford’s quiet but powerful influence in the archival profession.