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Ariel Ron, a historian at Southern Methodist University, was awarded a 2026 MacArthur “genius grant” in recognition of his exceptional creativity and his research on agriculture and economic development in the 19th century.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Courtesy \/ John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation<\/p>\n
A historian at Southern Methodist University has been named a MacArthur Fellow in recognition of his exceptional creativity and his research on agriculture and economic development in the 19th century, the group announced Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n Ariel Ron<\/a>, a history professor and director of SMU\u2019s Clements Center for Southwest Studies, is one of 20 recipients of this year\u2019s prize, often called a \u201cgenius\u201d grant, from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The award recognizes \u201cextraordinarily creative individuals,\u201d their record of excellence in their field or practice and their ability to impact society in significant ways. Winners receive $800,000 over the next five years that they can spend however they choose.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fellows do not apply for the award and are not aware that they are being considered. The recipients are nominated by an invited external group and are selected by leaders in the arts, sciences and humanities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ron, who was in his office at SMU\u2019s campus a month ago when he received the call from the foundation, remembers being told to close the door for privacy. But the walls are thin, so he went outside into the blazing heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe news was good enough that I didn\u2019t notice,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ron, 48, researches how Northern agriculture affected U.S. economic growth and the expansion of federal power in the 19th century.\u00a0<\/p>\n His book, Grassroots Leviathan: Agricultural Reform and the Rural North in the Slaveholding Republic, sheds new light on divisions between Northern and Southern farmers before the Civil War and how Northern farmers\u2019 interest in agrarian reform contributed to the creation of government institutions, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThrough his attention to largely overlooked aspects of nineteenth-century America, Ron is reevaluating the economy of the period and uncovering the historical roots of the U.S. government taking an active role in shaping economic and technological development,\u201d the MacArthur Foundation website says<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement, Rachel Mersey, executive vice president and provost at SMU, said Ron’s scholarship “is a wonderful example of what ambitious research can do: take something we think we understand and help us see it in an entirely new way.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Ron, who describes himself as \u201cthe kid who liked to listen to my grandparents\u2019 stories,\u201d said he is drawn to the Civil War period for its reverberations in present-day U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of aspects of that period in that society that we actually don\u2019t know very much about or don\u2019t understand very well, or that maybe were once known but have been lost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Unlike other grants, the MacArthur fellowship does not require recipients to complete a project with the money. Ron said the foundation\u2019s support will give him \u201ctime to sit down\u201d and conduct research for his next book about the fundamental role of hay in U.S. economy and society in the 19th century.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a gift from heaven,\u201d he said. \u201cIt drops down on you one day and it\u2019s pretty strange.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ron joined SMU\u2019s history department in 2016. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n 2026 MacArthur genius grant winners<\/p>\n Ron is one of three MacArthur recipients this year from Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n