Two Hunter Profs Capture Prestigious CUNY Award

Hunter professors Mandë Holford and Zachery Shirkey have won two of the four Feliks Gross Endowment Awards for 2012. The honor is presented to assistant professors in the CUNY system for their outstanding work in the humanities or sciences.

Holford is a professor of chemical biology whose research into venomous sea snails has helped lead to the development of nonaddictive pain-relief drugs. She received her BS from York College, earned her PhD from Rockefeller University and did post-doctoral studies at the University of Utah, the Paris Museum of Natural History and the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. She is the winner of several awards, including a 2004-05 fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Shirkey is a professor of political science specializing in international relations. His 2009 book "Is This a Private Fight or Can Anybody Join?" was widely praised for offering new insights into why nations sometimes enter wars long after they have begun, and what the consequences can be when they do. He earned a BA from the University of Michigan and an MA, Master of Philosophy and PhD from Columbia University.

The Feliks Gross Award is presented by the CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences in honor of the Polish scholar who arrived in the U.S. after World War II. With his broad humanistic interests and his commitment to social activism and scholarship, Gross made a lasting contribution to the intellectual life of his adopted land.