stef m. shuster, associate professor of sociology in Michigan State University’s Lyman Briggs College and Department of Sociology, has been awarded a competitive 2024 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for their research. 

shuster's awarded fellowship was among $33.8 million in funding awarded to 260 humanities projects nationwide by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in January. Of the 260 projects, only 82 grants and fellowships were awarded to faculty and scholars involved in advanced research in the humanities (for a total of $4.7 million). 

shuster received a $60,000 NEH fellowship to fully dedicate their time this academic year to writing their in-progress book, entitled Trans Reproduction: Creating Productive and Socially Fit Transgender People. The project will explore the experiences of transgender individuals seeking reproductive care since the mid-20th century. In addition, it will consider contemporaneous medical and scientific attitudes toward gender and reproductive care. shuster seeks to place the experiences of transgender individuals in the American history of power struggles, practices and policies regarding the reproduction and rights of minoritized people, including people of color, women who were sexually active, queer people, immigrants, and people in poverty.