President Barack Obama has named Stanford English and comparative literature professor Ramón Saldívar and Haas Center visiting scholar Bruce R. Sievers ’63 M.A. ’69 Ph.D. ’73  to sit on the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) advisory board.

Saldívar, who was awarded a National Humanities Medal in 2011 in honor of his cultural explorations of the U.S.-Mexico border, is also the director of the Bing Overseas Studies Program. He has served as the chair of the English Department and of the Comparative Literature Department, and also as the University’s first vice provost for undergraduate education. Saldívar started teaching at Stanford in 1991.

Siever helped found Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society in 2006 and has served as a Treasurer of the Fulbright Association. He was the founding Chief Executive Officer of both the California Council for the Humanities and the Montana Committee for the Humanities from 1974 to 1983 and from 1972 to 1974, respectively.

The NEH is an independent federal agency formed in 1965. The NEH board is a 26-member body of private citizens who serve six-year terms. They review grant applications three times a year and advise the chairman.

For the third opening on the board, Obama nominated Camila A. Alire, dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University.