Horace Bates Award Committee Chair Dr. Jack Falls presents Geoffrey Carter with the 2021 Horace Bates Award for Exceptional Scholarship in Arkology.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 21, 2021

The American Arkology Society has awarded Princeton University doctoral candidate Geoffrey Carter the prestigious Horace Bates Award for Exceptional Scholarship.

The Horace Bates Award was established by Jennifer Andrews and Martin Bates in honor of their father, a pioneer in the field of arkology. The award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to arkology among scholars under 40, is given biannually.

“Geoffrey Carter’s research has yielded remarkable insights into the inner workings of the Florida Zone economy,” said Horace Bates Award Committee Chair Jack Falls. “Geoffrey’s commitment to advancing our understanding of overlooked areas of arkology embodies the spirit of the Horace Bates Award. Bates himself would be proud.”

“When I received word about the award, I was floored,” said Carter. “Every scholar in this field is aware of Horace Bates’s work and how he shaped the way academia approaches arkology studies. To receive the Bates Award is a tremendous honor.”

Recipients of the Horace Bates Award are chosen by the Horace Bates Award Committee, which reviews nominations from American Arkology Society members. Other selection committee members were: Dr. Daniel R. Veiga, Yale University; Dr. Alexis Rogel, Villanova University; Dr. Sarah Brattinger, University of Florida; Dr. Greg Nelleck, University of Michigan; and Dr. Carla Jopnik, Stanford University.

Those selected for the award receive a $10,000 stipend paid out over two years.

Linda Moorehead, recipient of 2022-2024 Masters H. Knopf Diplomacy Lectureship.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, November 4, 2021

The American Arkology Society has selected Hope College professor Linda Moorehead to be the 2021-2023 Masters H. Knopf Diplomacy Lecturer.

Established in 1991 to encourage dialogue about the role Ark artifacts play in regional diplomacy, the holder of the Knopf Lectureship is recognized for his or her outstanding contributions to the study of the artifacts as they relate to understanding between peoples.

“From early in her career, Moorehead saw arkology as a way to connect people across the globe,” said Oliver H. Trantel, the Masters H. Knopf Diplomacy Lecture Committee Chair. “Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Moorehead was one of the first U.S. scholars to make contact with her arkologist counterparts in the former Soviet Union. Her tireless work promoting educational exchanges between countries is just one of the many reasons she was awarded the Knopf Lectureship for 2022-2024.”

“I’m thrilled to be have received the Knopf Lectureship,” said Moorehead. “It means so much that the Society has recognized my work in this fashion.” Moorehead will receive a travel stipend and honoraria for a series of 10 lectures she will give in the U.S. and abroad over 2021-2023.

Moorehead is a professor at Hope College, in Holland, Michigan, where she heads the arkology department. Her work studying foreign relations in the New Era has been recognized by the United Nations, Le Institut Pour L’étude des Artefacts Inconnus, based in France, and Institut der heiligen Gefäße, based in Germany.

Recipients of the Masters H. Knopf Diplomacy Lectureship  are chosen by a dedicated Committee, which meets biannually to review nominations. Other selection committee members were: Harriet Carlisle; Dr. Mikhail Neru, Indiana University; Bradley Durst, Hunter College; and Dr. Bill Scharfling, Lehigh University.

The Lectureship is currently held by Dr. Saatwa Javel of the University of Kentucky.

American Arkology Society Outreach and Education Committee Chair Will Ollcrime.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, September 8, 2021

American Arkology Society Vice President for Academic Outreach Gregor Blackwell today announced its new ArKids initiative to bring arkology arkology-related educational workshops to public elementary schools.

“Public interest in the Arks has not been this high since the heyday of the mid-1970s,” Blackwell said. “We saw an opportunity to share the joy and mystery of arkology with a younger audience.”

The initiative was spearheaded by the Society’s Outreach and Education Committee, led by Committee Chair Will Ollcrime. Participating schools will receive an “ArkBox” kit filled with simulated artifacts, maps, quizzes, and copies of the “ArKids” magazine, which contains stories about children whose artifacts have been found in Arks. The kits are geared toward third- and fourth-grade classrooms.

“ArKids has been in the works for two years,” said Ollcrime. “We’re so excited to launch the initiative and get these kits into the hands of public schoolkids across the country.”

The initiative was launched in response to a 2019 survey by the Society, which found that understanding of arkology facts and concepts among U.S. high school seniors was at a ten-year low. “The rise of social media and misinformation have had a deleterious effect on the public’s understanding of arkology and the role arks play in our daily lives,” said Ollcrime. “ArKids aims to give kids a factual foundation about the Arks upon which they can build a lifetime of learning.”  

The initiative was funded in part by a grant from the National Educational Association.