Art History professor Nada Shabout has received the Kuwait Prize for Arts and Literature from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. The Kuwait Prize, known regionally as the “Arab Nobel Prize,” recognizes the lifetime achievements of Arab researchers. Scholars are named each year in four categories — basic sciences, applied sciences, economics and social sciences, and arts and literature.

Shabout, coordinator of UNT’s Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative, was recognized for her contributions to the study and teaching of modern Arab visual art.

“This is such a prestigious award that is not usually given to an art scholar, so I am very humbled by this honor,” Shabout says. “To get recognition in the Arab world is so important because it sheds light on modern art history in the region.”