KU professor researching immigration receives Carnegie Fellowship

Cecilia Menjívar

A University of Kansas professor has received a prestigious Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, the university announced Wednesday.

Cecilia Menjívar, who joined KU as a Foundation Distinguished Professor of Sociology in 2015, is one of 35 scholars to receive the award from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, according to the university’s announcement. The fellowship supports research in social sciences and humanities and awards each fellow up to $200,000.

Menjívar co-directs KU’s Center for Migration Research with Victor Agadjanian, also a Foundation Distinguished Professor of Sociology. According to KU, her research explores U.S.-bound migration from Central America, and the fellowship will allow her to expand research on immigrants living between legal statuses. Menjívar plans to write a book, tentatively titled “The Temporariness of Legality.”

Cecilia Menjívar

“Her project comes at a crucial time, when immigration is one of the most widely discussed issues in current politics,” Carl Lejuez, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, said in KU’s news release. “Her research promises to enhance our understanding of how a complex system affects individuals on a deeply personal basis.”

Menjívar’s planned book will build on previous studies she’s co-authored that aim to reveal “what it means for immigrants to live for years, if not decades, in tenuous legal spaces created by gaps and inconsistencies in federal immigration law,” according to KU. It will also be one of the first studies to look at effects of the new trend of integrating local-level enforcement into federal immigration control efforts.

“This is critical, especially given the conditions for immigrants today and the importance of disseminating evidence-based research about their lives that can dispel myths about who they are,” Menjívar said in KU’s news release.

Menjívar is the second KU researcher in three years to be named a Carnegie Fellow. Greg Cushman, associate professor of history and environmental studies, received the award in 2015.