2018 Projects, Publications, and Meetings of the Academy

Member Events, 2017–2018

Back to table of contents

The annual program of Academy events held around the country as well as internationally is designed to connect Members, experts, and audiences in diverse geographic locations; promote civic discourse on topics of national and global concern from multidisciplinary perspectives; and gather feedback on, raise awareness of, and amplify the impact of the Academy’s work. During the 2017–2018 fiscal year, the Academy held events in 31 cities with nearly a thousand Members attending at least one event in person.

* Activity of a Local Program Committee or Representative

California

Berkeley

October 26, 2017*
University of California, Berkeley

Priorities for Progress: Advancing Higher Education in America
Featured Speakers: Robert J. Birgeneau (University of California, Berkeley), Bob Jacobsen (University of California, Berkeley), Monica Lozano (College Futures Foundation), Michael S. McPherson (formerly, Spencer Foundation)

Los Angeles

July 18, 2017*
Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles Program Committee Meeting

October 22, 2017*
Los Angeles, CA

Creativity: What Is It and Can It Be Taught?
Featured Speakers:
Dianne Newman (California Institute of Technology), John Seely Brown (University of South
ern California; Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation), Leo Braudy (University of Southern California). Moderator: Louis Gomez (University of California, Los Angeles)

May 29, 2018*
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Program Committee Meeting

PASADENA

March 1, 2018
California Institute of Technology
Bryson Symposium on Climate and Energy Policy
Featured Speakers: Dallas Burtraw (Resources for the Future), Ralph Cavanagh (NRDC), Nathan S. Lewis (California Institute of Technology), Mary Nichols (California Air Resources Board), Ronald Nichols (Southern California Edison), Thomas Rosenbaum (California Institute of Technology), Maxine L. Savitz (Honeywell, Inc., ret.), Robert Weisenmiller (California Energy Commission)

SAN DIEGO

September 25, 2017*
University of California, San Diego
San Diego Program Committee Meeting

October 23, 2017*
Sanford Consortium

Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture
How Are Humans Different from Other Great Apes?
Featured Speakers:
Fred H. Gage (The Salk Institute; CARTA), Margaret J. Schoeninger (University of California, San Diego; CARTA), Pascal Gagneux (University of California, San Diego; CARTA), Ajit Varki (University of California, San Diego; CARTA)

February 1, 2018*
University of California, San Diego
San Diego Local Program Committee Meeting

February 13, 2018*
University of California, San Diego
Why are American Politics Polarized?
Featured Speakers: Gary C. Jacobson (University of California, San Diego), Thad Kousser (University of California, San Diego). Moderator: Peter Alexis Gourevitch (University of California, San Diego)

SAN FRANCISCO

October 26, 2017
The James Irvine Foundation
Democratic Citizenship and Civic Engagement
Featured Speakers: Deborah Cullinan (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), Thomas Ehrlich (Stanford University), Joseph 
Kahne (University of California, Riverside)

STANFORD

October 23, 2017
Stanford University

Civil Wars, Global Disorder, and the Future of the International System
Featured Speakers: Michael McFaul (Stanford University), Michele Barry (Stanford School of Medicine), Karl W. Eikenberry (Stanford University), James D. Fearon (Stan- ford University), Francis Fukuyama (Stanford University), Stephen D. Krasner (Stanford University), Stephen Sted-man (Stanford University), Paul Wise (Stanford University)

October 25, 2017
Stanford University

Citizenship in a Global Digital Era
Featured Speakers: Brittan Heller (Anti-Defamation League), Matt Mahan (Brigade), Adrian Reyna (United We Dream)

Connecticut

NEW HAVEN

September 8, 2017*
Yale University

Investment and Matching: The Economics of Specialized Markets
Featured Speaker: Larry Samuelson (Yale University)

November 3, 2017*
Yale University

Why Study Close Relationships?
Featured Speaker: Margaret Clark (Yale University)

December 1, 2017*
Yale University

Gains from Trade and Inequality
Featured Speaker: Samuel S. Kortum (Yale University)

February 2, 2018*
Yale University

Does Agency Structure Affect Decisionmaking?
Featured Speaker:
Roberta Romano (Yale University)

April 6, 2018*
Yale University

The Practice of Democratic Citizenship
Featured Speaker:
Stephen Heintz (Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

April 27, 2018*
Yale University

Who Is Elite Higher Education For? Some Data Points from the History of an Answer
Featured Speaker: Richard H. Brodhead (Duke University)

May 4, 2018*
Yale University

The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World
Featured Speaker: Richard O. Prum (Yale University)

District of Columbia

WASHINGTON, D.C.

November 30, 2017
National Press Club

Report Launch and Discussion: The Future of Undergraduate Education, The Future of America
Featured Speakers: Deborah Loewenberg Ball (University of Michigan); Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. (Purdue University); John J. DeGioia (Georgetown University); Roger W. Fergu- son, Jr. (TIAA); Michael S. McPherson (formerly, Spencer Foundation)

November 30, 2017*
The Cosmos Club

Member Dinner and Discussion: The Future of Undergraduate Education, The Future of America
Featured Speakers: Rebecca Blank (University of Wisconsin- Madison), Steven Knapp (George Washington University), Nicholas Lemann (Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism)

December 5, 2017
National Museum of Natural History
Objects of Wonder: The Face of Battle without the Rules of War
Featured Speakers: Jake Homiak (National Museum of Natural History), Scott D. Sagan (Stanford University)

Florida

HOBE SOUND

January 14, 2018*
Hobe Sound, FL

Member Luncheon

PALM BEACH

January 14, 2018*
Palm Beach, FL

Member Dinner

Georgia

ATLANTA

March 27, 2018
Georgia Institute of Technology
Roundtable Discussion: Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships
Featured Speakers: Wayne Clough (Georgia Institute of Technology), Arthur Bienenstock (Stanford University), Peter Michelson (Stanford University)

Illinois

CHAMPAIGN

April 25, 2018
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Roundtable Discussion: Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships
Featured Speakers: Arthur Bienenstock (Stanford University), Robert Jones (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), John Katzenellenbogen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Reitu Mabokela (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Peter Michelson (Stanford University), Gene Robinson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

CHICAGO

November 5, 2017
University of Chicago

Reception Honoring Alan Alda and Edward O. Wilson
Featured Speakers: Mark Hansen (University of Chicago), John McCarter (Field Museum of Natural History)

November 5, 2017
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Chicago Humanities Festival: The Humanities, Sciences, and the Origins of Creativity
Featured Speakers: Alan Alda (New York, NY), Edward O. Wilson (Harvard University), Natasha Trethewey (Northwestern University)

April 23, 2018
University of Chicago

R
oundtable Discussion: Stability and Instability in the Nuclear Age
Featured Speakers: Robert Rosner (University of Chicago), Francesca Giovannini (American Academy of Arts and Sciences)

April 23, 2018
Chicago, IL

Member Dinner

Featured Speaker: Diane Wood (United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit)

EVANSTON

April 24, 2018
Northwestern University

Roundtable Discussion: An Africa Story
Featured Speaker:
Natasha Trethewey (Northwestern University)

Maryland

BALTIMORE

January 24, 2018
Johns Hopkins University
Roundtable Discussion: Public Health and Local Communities
Featured Speakers: Paul Spiegel (Center for Humanitarian Health), Paul Wise (Stanford University)

Massachusetts

CAMBRIDGE

August 29, 2017
House of the Academy

A Discussion of Current Events

September 22, 2017
House of the Academy

An Evening with the Holberg Prize
Featured Speakers: Sigmund Grønmo (University of Bergen), Manuel Castells (University of Southern California), Stephen Greenblatt (Harvard University), Eliza Griswold (New America Foundation)

October 6, 2017
House of the Academy

A Celebration of the Arts and Humanities
Featured Speakers:
Elizabeth Broun (Smithsonian American Art Museum), Brenda L. Hillman (St. Mary’s College of 
California), Greil Marcus (Oakland, CA), Lynn Nottage (Columbia University), Faith Ringgold (University of California, San Diego), Mark S. Slobin (Wesleyan University), Arthur C. Sze (Institute of American Indian Arts)

October 7, 2017
Harvard University

Induction Ceremony

Featured Speakers: Ursula Burns (Xerox Corporation), James P. Allison (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Heather K. Gerken (Yale Law School), Jane Mayer (The New Yorker), Gerald Chan (Morningside)

October 8, 2017
House of the Academy

Annual David M. Rubenstein Lecture 
Looking at Earth: An Astronaut’s Journey
Featured Speakers: Kathryn D. Sullivan (Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum), David M. Rubenstein (The Carlyle Group; Smithsonian Institution)

October 17, 2017*
House of the Academy

Social Reception

Featured Speakers: Laurence Senelick (Tufts University), David Gullete (The Poets’ Theatre), Robert Scanlon (The Poets’ Theatre)

November 3, 2017
House of the Academy

Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free
Featured Speaker: Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot (Harvard University)

November 8, 2017
House of the Academy

Redistricting and Representation
Featured Speakers: Gary King (Harvard University), PattiB. Saris (United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts), Jamal Greene (Columbia Law School), Moon Duchin (Tufts University)

November 9, 2017
House of the Academy

Conversation with Robert Kraft
Featured Speaker: Robert Kraft (The Kraft Group)

November 17, 2017
House of the Academy

Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn
Chamber series in collaboration with the Cantata Singers

December 1, 2017
House of the Academy

American Philosophy: A Love Story
Featured Speaker: John Kaag (University of Massachusetts Lowell)

December 5, 2017
House of the Academy

The Origins of Creativity
Featured Speaker: Edward O. Wilson (Harvard University)

December 6, 2017
House of the Academy

Winter Concert featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra Horn Quartet

December 8, 2017
House of the Academy

The Collapse of Ancient Civilizations
Featured Speaker: Malcolm Wiener (Institute for Aegean Prehistory; Harvard University)

February 2, 2018
House of the Academy

Who Was Elizabeth Bishop?
Featured Speaker: Lloyd Schwartz (University of Massachusetts Boston)

February 2, 2018
House of the Academy

Music of South America and Spain
Chamber series in collaboration with the Cantata Singers

February 6, 2018
House of the Academy

Jefferson, Race, and Democracy
Featured Speakers: Annette Gordon-Reed (Harvard University), Peter Onuf (American Antiquarian Society; University of Virginia)

February 22, 2018*
House of the Academy

Boston-Cambridge Planning Committee Meeting

February 23, 2018
House of the Academy

The Leadership Challenges of Artificial Intelligence
Featured Speaker: Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard University)

April 6, 2018
House of the Academy
Dying in America
Featured Speaker: Marcia Angell (Harvard Medical School)

April 6, 2018
House of the Academy
Music of the Baltic Nations
Chamber series in collaboration with the Cantata Singers

April 12, 2018
House of the Academy
Annual Awards Ceremony: A Celebration of the Arts and Sciences
Featured Speakers: Martha C. Nussbaum (University of Chicago), Barbara J. Meyer (University of California, Berkeley)

April 19, 2018*
Fish Family Foundation
Luncheon and Discussion: The Future of Higher Education
Featured Speakers: David W. Oxtoby (Pomona College), Lawrence K. Fish (Fish Family Foundation)

May 3, 2018
House of the Academy
Member Luncheon

May 3, 2018
House of the Academy
Songs of Love and Death: Sonnets by Petrarch and others set by Cipriano de Rore in “I madrigali a cinque voci” (Venice, 1542)
Featured Speaker: Jessie Ann Owens (University of California, Davis). Introduction: Jane A. Bernstein (Tufts University).
Performance by Blue Heron

May 11, 2018
House of the Academy
The City in Film: How Watching Movies Taught Me To Read Cities
Featured Speaker: Ezra Haber Glenn (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

June 13, 2018
House of the Academy
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race
Featured Speaker: Beverly Daniel Tatum (Spelman College)

June 18, 2018
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Roundtable Discussion: Challenges for International Science Partnerships

Michigan

ANN ARBOR

November 1, 2017
University of Michigan

Member Breakfast and Discussion: The Public Face of Science
Featured Speakers: Arthur Lupia (University of Michigan); Mark Schlissel (University of Michigan)

Missouri

ST. LOUIS

April 16, 2018*
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis Program Committee Meeting

New Jersey

PRINCETON

February 21, 2018*
Princeton University

Research, Truth, and Academic Freedom
Featured Speakers: Anne A. Cheng (Princeton University), Jill Dolan (Princeton University), Hendrik Hartog (Princeton University), Joan Wallach Scott (Institute for Advanced Study). Moderator: Peter Brooks (Princeton University)

May 10, 2018*
Princeton University
Princeton Program Committee Meeting

New Mexico

SANTA FE

March 21, 2018
Santa Fe, NM

Member Dinner

New York

ITHACA

September 11, 2017*
Cornell University

Roundtable Discussion: The Public Face of Science
Featured Speakers: Diane Ackerman (Ithaca, NY); Nancy C. Andrews (Duke University)

NEW YORK CITY

September 7, 2017*
New York, NY

New York Program Committee Meeting

November 28, 2017
New York, NY

Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture
From Enrollment to Excellence: New Opportunities for American Undergraduate Education
Featured Speakers: Vartan Gregorian (Carnegie Corporation of New York), Nicholas Lemann (Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism), Michael S. McPherson (formerly, Spencer Foundation), Gail O. Mellow (LaGuardia Community College)

June 4, 2018
New York, NY

Reception for New Members
Featured Speakers: Jonathan F. Fanton (American Academy), Stephen Heintz (Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

North Carolina

Durham

September 26, 2017
Duke University

Member Reception: The Future of Undergraduate Education
Featured Speakers: Nancy C. Andrews (American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Michael McPherson (formerly, Spencer Foundation)

RALEIGH

September 29, 2017
Stough Elementary School

America’s Languages in North Carolina
Featured Speakers: Nancy C. Andrews (American Academy of Arts and Sciences); Jeffrey Braden (North Carolina State University); Karl W. Eikenberry (Stanford University); David E. Price (U.S. House of Representatives, North Carolina’s Fourth District); Frederick Rick Van Sant (Go Global NC); Randy Woodson (North Carolina State University)

Ohio

CLEVELAND

August 24, 2017
Cleveland, OH

Member Breakfast

Texas

AUSTIN

February 14, 2018
University of Texas at Austin
Roundtable Discussion: Perceptions of Science in America
Featured Speaker: Larry R. Faulkner (University of Texas at Austin)

HOUSTON

September 26, 2017*
Rice University

Genomics in Medicine
Featured Speakers: Huda Zoghbi (Baylor College of Medicine), Richard Gibbs (Baylor College of Medicine), Brendan Lee (Baylor College of Medicine), Andrew Futreal (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center). Moderator: John Mendelsohn (The University of Texas MD  Anderson Cancer Center)

April 26, 2018
Houston, TX

Roundtable Discussion: Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships

Washington

SEATTLE

May 30, 2018
University of Washington
Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture
How to Make Citizens
Featured Speaker: Eric Liu (Citizen University)

Wisconsin

MADISON

May 31, 2018
University of Wisconsin-Madison
A Dialogue on the Future of Higher Education in America
Featured Speakers: Rebecca Blank (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Michael McPherson (formerly, Spencer Foundation)

International Meetings

CANADA

May 29, 2018
Vancouver, British Columbia
Member Breakfast

UNITED KINGDOM

June 18, 2018
The British Academy
Member Reception and Dinner