Helena María Viramontes, novelist and Cornell professor of English, received a $50,000 USA Ford Fellowship for artistic excellence from United States Artists, a national organization that supports living artists working in literature, architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, media, theater and visual arts. USA fellowships are funded by philanthropies including the Ford and Rockefeller foundations.

"These types of things are always a surprise, and I consider it a real gift," said Viramontes, who received her fellowship Nov. 17 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. "One of the things that's so wonderful is national recognition for all the arts. With a stipend that is so high, it shows that the foundation values what we do. I feel that the work that I've been doing for 25 or 30 years is validated."

James Webster, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Music, was elected to honorary membership in the American Musicological Society at its annual meeting Nov. 3. Only two society members are recognized in this way each year. Webster specializes in the history and theory of music of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Two Cornell faculty members were elected to the society before Webster: Donald Jay Grout (in 1971) and William W. Austin (in 1996). Both held the Given Foundation Professor of Musicology chair.