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Dr.

Laurie L. Patton

American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Area
Humanities and Arts
Specialty
Religious Studies
Elected
2018

Laurie L. Patton currently serves as the President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the Academy, her first years have focused on engaging members in strengthening democracy, developing dynamic intellectual resources, learning from the local, and advancing the free pursuit of knowledge.

A scholar, poet, translator, and educational leader, she was the first female President of Middlebury College from 2015–2025, Dean of Arts & Sciences and Durden Professor of Religion at Duke University, and Inaugural Director of the Center for Faculty Development and Candler Professor of Religion at Emory University. She began her career at Bard College. At Middlebury, Patton raised over $600 million to begin a groundbreaking program in conflict transformation as a liberal art, a decade-long initiative to make the college the first of its size to be entirely powered by renewable fuels, and a new museum focused on democracy and the arts. 

Patton is a scholar of Indian religions, and religion and the public square. She has authored or edited twelve books and seventy articles in these fields. She is the translator of the classical Sanskrit text, The Bhagavad Gita, for Penguin Classics Series, and has lectured widely on interfaith issues and questions of religion, conflict, and civic life. She is also the author of three books of poems: Fire’s Goal: Poems from a Hindu Year (2003), Angel’s Task: Poems in Biblical Time (2011), and House Crossing (2018). 

Patton served as the President of the American Society for the Study of Religion from 2007–2010 and of the American Academy of Religion in 2019. She has received honorary degrees from Rutgers University and Hebrew Union College, as well as the Samuel Dubois Cook Award for social activism and leadership from Duke University and the Concordia Leadership Award for Civil Society from The Concordia Leadership Council. Patton was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018. 

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Academy Involvement

Governance and Committees

Events

Event |

Who is Ida B. Wells?

Featuring Paula J. Giddings and Laurie L. Patton
Cambridge, MA
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Why Does Debate Matter?

Featuring Will Baker, Liv Birnstad, Nancy Gertner, Norman Jay Ornstein, Laurie L. Patton, and Charlie Sadoff
Cambridge, MA
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Higher Education Forum 2026

Featuring Christina Alexis , Danielle Allen, Tony Banout, Kirk Carapezza, David J. Chard, Jeffrey Cohen, Ryan Craig, Dayna Cunningham, Andrew Delbanco, Brian Dille, Joan T.A. Gabel, Caroline Genco, Douglas Girod, Freeman A. Hrabowski, William Inboden, Harrison Keller, Anne Kim, Martin Lemelle, Jr., Arthur Elliott Levine, Dan Lothian, Mary B. Marcy, Michelle McCauley, Eric Mlyn, Jennifer L. Mnookin, Alexander Monge-Naranjo, Bobby Pace , Laurie L. Patton, David M. Rabban , David V. Rosowsky, Michelle Weise, Liz Willen, Kimberly Williams Brown, and Caitlin Zaloom
Aspen, CO
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Honoring Excellence: Awards Event

Featuring Roger Shaler Bagnall, Paula J. Giddings, Claudia Goldin, Greg Grandin, Fred Lawrence, Goodwin Liu, Laurie L. Patton, Stefanie Stantcheva, and Jan M. Ziolkowski
Cambridge, MA
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Chicago Members’ Dinner

Featuring Laurie L. Patton, John W. Rogers, Jr., and Teresa K. Woodruff
Chicago, IL
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Higher Education Forum 2025

Featuring Kevin Bae, Bonita J. Brown, Monique Chism, Michael Collins, Meagan Ehlenz, Matt Gianneschi, Jason Gonzales , Elizabeth L. Hillman, Jonathan Holloway, Jamie Lewis Keith, Robert Kelchen, Harrison Keller, Anne Kim, Timothy G. Lynch, M. Elizabeth Magill, Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, Kimberly D. McCorkle, Kelly McManus, Edward L. Mienie, Marie Lynn Miranda, Ted Mitchell, Na'ilah Suad Nasir, Kelly Otter, Laurie L. Patton, Skye L. Perryman, David J. Provost, Judith Scott-Clayton, Katie Shilton, Suzanne E. Spaulding, Nancy Thomas, H. Holden Thorp, Bill Tucker, Rajiv Vinnakota, Lee Andrew Weiss, Charles L. Welch, Daria J. Willis, and Jason Wingard
Aspen, CO
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The World in 2025

Featuring Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michael Froman, Laurie L. Patton, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Adam Tooze
New York
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Forum on the Future of Higher Education 2023

Featuring Mark Becker , Brandon Busteed , Nancy E. Cantor, Lynn W. Chang, Julio Frenk, Ann M. Fudge, Helene D. Gayle, Jason Gonzales , Hahrie C. Han, Sara Hebel , Mary Dana Hinton, Kaye G. Husbands Fealing, William Jarvis , Sonia K. Katyal, Earl Lewis, Goodwin Liu, Michael L. Lomax , Gary S. May, Jamie Merisotis, John C. Mitchell, Jennifer L. Mnookin, David W. Oxtoby, Bobby Pace , Laurie L. Patton, Jessica Pisano , Vincent E. Price, Emelia Probasco , Madeline Pumariega , Cybele Raver , Nabiha Syed , John Shattuck, Geoffrey Richard Stone, Ayanna Thompson, Ben Vinson, and Harry Williams
Aspen, CO
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Bridging Divides in America

Featuring Andy Barr, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Derek Kilmer, Farah Pandith, Laurie L. Patton, Eric P. Liu, and David W. Oxtoby
Online
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