ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan professor Joseph Gone, whose work explores cultural psychology, has been awarded a coveted fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

The Guggenheim Fellowship is a prestigious national honor recognizing distinguished achievement in various fields. This year’s fellowship winners include 178 artists, scholars and scientists selected from nearly 3,000 applicants.

“Joe Gone’s work exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary research, providing important insights into cultural influences on mental health status,” said U-M provost Martha Pollack. “It is wonderful to see his work recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship.”

Gone’s projects are dedicated to integrating indigenous healing practices into clinical mental health settings that serve Native Americans. Residents in many marginalized communities are ambivalent and feel disconnected to conventional clinical services, but Gone wants to change this through his research with “with an eye toward developing alternative, locally responsive helping interventions.”

During his fellowship year, he plans to write a book titled “Rethinking American Indian Mental Health.”

“Drawing on the principles of community psychology, this project will afford me a unique opportunity to integrate my prior research into a single panoramic vision for crafting locally based alternatives to mental health services for American Indian communities,” said Gone, associate professor of psychology and American culture in the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has granted more than $315 million in fellowships to more than 17,700 individuals in the United States and Canada. Scores of Nobel, Pulitzer and other prize winners are listed among the rolls of the foundation’s fellows.

“The Guggenheim Foundation has always bet everything on the individual, and we’re thrilled to continue the tradition with this wonderfully talented and diverse group,” said Guggenheim president Edward Hirsch. “It’s an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do.”

Related Links:

• Guggenheim Foundation: www.gf.org
• Joseph Gone: http://bit.ly/PVrp5x