Two faculty and two alumni have been recipients of the $500,000 Sarah MacArthur Fellowships, which have been awarded annually since 1981 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Sometimes called “genius awards,” the fellowships are annually presented to between 20 and 40 United States citizens or residents of any age and working in any field who “show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work.” The award, for which there is no application and no public statement of the selection process, is not designed as a reward for past accomplishments but as an investment in the potential of the recipients. The award is paid in equal installments, over a five-year period. The UT faculty recipients have been Dr. John Gaventa (sociology, 1981) and Dr. Jay Rubenstein (history, 2007). Alumni recipients have been Cormac McCarthy (1981) and John Rice Irwin (1989).