Courtesy of UCR Newsroom
Courtesy of UCR Newsroom

Budding writers may be eligible for a new award established in the name of former College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) dean and economics professor Stephen Cullenberg. The Cullenberg Award will be awarded for the best essay in the areas of science fiction, technoculture, or science and technology studies, and is offered by the Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies (SFTS) program.

Cullenberg, who stepped down as dean of CHASS in November, was an instrumental player in the creation of the SFTS program in 2007.

The program currently features three core faculty, as well as 17 supporting faculty. Academic tracks include a designated emphasis program for Ph.D. candidates; in addition, the SFTS program has begun offering a minor for undergraduate students for the first time this academic year.

The university’s Eaton Collection is well-known for being the largest publicly available collection of science fiction literature in the world. The collection contains over 300,000 items.

The Cullenberg Award is available to all UCR Ph.D. students on an annual basis, and carries a prize of $200. More information will be made available for interested individuals at the SFTS program’s website.