Faculty Excellence
Faculty Book Awards
Books by USF College of Arts & Sciences faculty have earned recognition from leading national literary organizations, scholarly associations, and disciplinary award programs.
These distinctions reflect the reach, originality, and impact of scholarship and creative work across the humanities, social sciences, and arts.
DISTINGUISHED NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
New Yorker Best Book of 2024 selection
Raymond Arsenault · Professor Emeritus of Southern History
John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community
~ Published by Yale University Press (2024), John Lewis was a New Yorker Best Book of 2024 selection and won gold in the Florida Book Awards’ General Nonfiction category.
Publisher's page
Philip K. Dick Award
Brenda Peynado · English
Time’s Agent
~ Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award (2025), recognizing distinguished science fiction published in paperback in the United States.
Publisher page — Macmillan
AWARD-WINNING SCHOLARLY BOOKS
Anthropology
Joan Gero Book Award
Kathryn Weedman Arthur · Anthropology
The Lives of Stone Tools: Crafting the Status, Skill, and Identity of Flintknappers
~ Winner of the Joan Gero Book Award, World Archaeological Congress.
Publishers page — University of Arizona Press
Human Biology Association Book Award & W. W. Howells Book Award
Elizabeth M. Miller · Anthropology
Thicker Than Water: A Social and Evolutionary Study of Iron Deficiency in Women
~ Winner of the Human Biology Association Book Award (2026) and the W. W. Howells Book Award (2025) from the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association.
Publisher page — Oxford Academic
History
Oxford University Press First Prize
Elizabeth Hines · History
War in the Time of Anglo-Dutch Empire, 1595–1652
~ Winner of Oxford University Press Early Career Researcher First Book Prize (2026)
Oxford University Press announcement
Wiley-Silver Book Prize
Erin Stewart Mauldin · History
Unredeemed Land: An Environmental History of Civil War and Emancipation in the Cotton
South
~ Winner of the 2019 Wiley-Silver Book Prize.
Publisher page — Oxford University Press
James Deetz Book Prize
Philip Levy · History
The Permanent Resident: Excavations and Explorations of George Washington’s Life
~ Winner of the 2024 James Deetz Book Prize, Society for Historical Archaeology.
Publisher page — University of Virginia Press
Geography
Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography
Christopher F. Meindl · Geography / Florida Studies
Florida Springs: From Geography to Politics and Restoration
~ Winner of the American Association of Geographers’ Globe Book Award for Public Understanding
of Geography and the Gold Medal in Florida Nonfiction from the Florida Book Awards.
Publisher Page — University of Florida Press
Religious Studies
Best First Book Award; Best Book Award
Gil Ben-Herut · Religious Studies
Śiva’s Saints: The Origins of Devotion in Kannada according to Harihara’s Ragaḷegaḷu
~ Winner of the 2019 Best First Book Award, Southeastern Medieval Association, and the 2020 Best Book Award, Southeastern Conference of the Association for Asian Studies.
Publisher Page — Oxford Press