Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and inaugural director of the university’s SNF Agora Institute, has been named one of 22 recipients of a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship, among the nation’s most prestigious and significant recognitions.
The award, often called a genius grant, is given annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to “extraordinarily talented and creative individuals,” a mix of visual artists and writers, scientists and scholars. Honorees are nominated by anonymous experts in their fields and receive $800,000 over five years to advance their work in any way they see fit, “no strings attached.”
Han said she learned of her selection last month during a call with John Palfrey, the foundation’s president. She is the first political scientist chosen for the award since 2001 and the first Johns Hopkins faculty member recognized since 2008.
“I was completely floored—I had no idea,” she said. “Obviously it’s the kind of thing that no one ever expects. The entire process is shrouded in so much secrecy. It’s such an enormous honor and privilege to be a part of the cohort.”
“If democracy is about how we forge a common life together, then my work focuses on how we equip people with the skills and motivations they need to work with others from all different backgrounds to do the hard work of democracy.”
Hahrie Han
Johns Hopkins political scientist
Han studies political organizing, social movements, collective action, civic engagement, and democracy. She is the author of five books, most recently Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church (Knopf, 2024), an exploration of faith and race in America with a focus on evangelical megachurches.
“We are thrilled that the MacArthur Foundation has chosen to recognize Hahrie Han as worthy of their ‘genius’ grant,” JHU President Ron Daniels said. “She is, of course, the visionary inaugural director who brought our SNF Agora Institute to life. But this honor celebrates Hahrie Han, the researcher whose scholarship is transforming her field and deepening our understanding of how to build stronger democracies at this historic moment. We are so proud to call Hahrie one of our own at Hopkins, and even more so to know she will extend the reach of her insights in the years ahead thanks to the support of the MacArthur Fellowship. Congratulations to Hahrie and to the entire extraordinary class of 2025 MacArthur Fellows.”
Han said she is still formulating plans for how she will use the award but noted it “creates new opportunities and greater freedom to pursue my work.” She had already planned to move on from her role as director of the SNF Agora Institute at the end of the 2025-26 academic year to focus more fully on her scholarship as a political scientist.
“If democracy is about how we forge a common life together, then my work focuses on how we equip people with the skills and motivations they need to work with others from all different backgrounds to do the hard work of democracy,” said Han, who will remain on faculty at JHU after her term as SNF Agora’s director ends.
“I like to find unexpected places where collective life is strong and democracy is working to see what lessons we can learn. In this moment of political turbulence, it is especially meaningful to receive an award like this, to shine a light on the importance of understanding these questions.”
Han, who joined Hopkins in 2019, is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was named a 2022 Social Innovation Thought Leader of the Year by the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation. Her most recent book was named to The New York Times list of 100 Most Notable Books of 2024 and The New Yorker‘s list of recommended books for the year. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Literature with a focus in American Studies from Harvard and a PhD in American Politics from Stanford University.
Han is the first Johns Hopkins faculty member to receive a MacArthur Fellowship since 2008, when two JHU scholars—astrophysicist Adam Riess (who would go on to win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011) and critical care physician and renowned patient safety advocate Peter Pronovost, then at the School of Medicine—were recognized. A year earlier, Hopkins physician and public health researcher Lisa Cooper was among the honorees.
Several Hopkins alums have earned MacArthur fellowships over the years, most recently human rights strategist Greg Asbed, who was honored in 2017 for his advocacy on behalf of low-wage workers in Florida’s tomato industry. Other JHU alums selected include behavioral economist Colin Camerer (2013), bioengineer Melody Swartz (2012), historian Dylan Penningroth (2012), author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2008), environmental geographer Ruth DeFries (2007), molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler (2002), and anthropologist Erik Mueggler (2002).
This year’s cohort of MacArthur Fellows includes structural biologist Jason McLellan, who earned a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2009.