University of Dallas history professor Dr. Jon Paul Heyne, BA ’10, has received the prestigious 2027 Rome Prize in Medieval Studies. He will spend spring 2027 in Rome researching the influence of Franciscans in medieval Jerusalem, bringing new insights to his scholarship and teaching at UD.
By Rebecca Grillot, BA ’10
Associate Professor of History Jon Paul Heyne, PhD, BA ’10, has been named a Rome Prize Fellow in Medieval Studies for 2027 at the American Academy of Rome. This prestigious prize is awarded to outstanding applicants in a variety of fields, but only 30 fellows are selected each year. The Rome Prize offers winners the chance to live and work in community on site at the American Academy in Rome; Dr. Heyne will spend the spring 2027 semester there.
Twelve juries comprised of leaders in the various Rome Prize disciplines select finalists based on the excellence of their work, also taking into account the point of the applicant’s career when a Rome Prize is likely to be crucial to their future growth. Dr. Heyne was selected as an outstanding scholar in the field of Medieval Studies and based on his current research project, “Pawns Moving Kings: The Franciscans of the Holy Land and the Powers of the Medieval Mediterranean.” The project examines the influence of a small group of Franciscan friars and female tertiaries in Jerusalem under Islamic rule. Identifying the powerlessness of this small group, Dr. Heyne’s research explores how the position of the weak can make them strong and their actions can influence those in power, as a pawn influences the most powerful pieces on a chess board.
“So many of us in the modern world feel overwhelmed by the large movements and huge forces that we feel we can have no effect upon,” said Dean of Constantin College Dr. Gregory Roper. “Dr. Heyne is showing how simple, Christian care and prayer and duty, one person at a time, can indeed change the world.”
Dr. Heyne’s research will be completed with access to unedited registers in the Vatican archives, which the Rome Prize will provide him the opportunity to explore.
Dr. Heyne is the second Rome Prize winner from among the University of Dallas faculty, following after Professor Elizabeth Robinson, PhD, who won the prize during her doctoral studies in 2010-2012 and now teaches Art & Architecture on UD’s Rome campus. Dr. Heyne is also one of UD’s most beloved undergraduate professors. “Students flock to his classes for his joyful, youthful energy, his incredibly sharp mind, and the way he brings history alive,” Roper said.
“For UD to have Rome Prize awardees is further confirmation of the university's elite status among American universities,” explained Roper. “Many schools recommend their professors for their research and publications; others promote their caring, teaching faculty. UD uniquely does both exceptionally well, and for such a dynamic, caring classroom teacher to be recognized for his superior research is validation of that uniqueness.”
Heyne says that the Rome Prize fellowship will enrich his teaching. “Conducting research that I find exciting and fun helps me to remain enthusiastic about my teaching, and I think students enjoy learning about my research here and there. They like hearing about the work professors do, and I enjoy sharing my discoveries with them and giving them an idea of some of the adventures I get to go on as an historian.”
Dr. Heyne has also been the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, residential fellowships with the American Society of Overseas Research, the Albright Institute, and Notre Dame's Tantur Ecumenical Institute.
