Two Department of History faculty win EXCEL Research Grant competition

The College of Liberal Arts announced the recipients of the inaugural EXCEL Research Grant, marking the launch of a new funding initiative designed to accelerate high-impact, interdisciplinary scholarship across the liberal arts.

Continuing the tradition of incentive competitions in CLA, the EXCEL Grant program was created by Interim Dean Joel Ebarb and Associate Dean of Research Sorin Adam Matei to support early-stage, exploratory, or boundary-pushing research that positions faculty for future external funding and national visibility. The 2025 competition drew strong proposals from across the college, demonstrating both the need for this new mechanism and the extraordinary creativity of CLA researchers.

Two Department of History faculty were selected as winners of the Renewed EXCEL Research Grant. Associate Professor Silvia Mitchell (left) and Assistant Professor Andrew Bellisari (right) will receive funding to accelerate high-impact, interdisciplinary scholarship.

Associate Professor Silvia Mitchell
Project: "The Spanish Habsburgs (1500–1700): The Men and the Women who Transformed European Geopolitics, Built a Global Empire, and Developed the Foundation of Spain’s Cultural Patrimony"

Assistant Professor Andrew H. Bellisari
Project: "Advancing Interdisciplinary Research through the Missing-In-Action Accounting and Recovery Coalition (MARC) at Purdue"

Read the College of Liberal Arts news release at this link.