The Academy celebrated Seamus Heaney’s birthday by sharing an audio recording of him reading “From the Frontier of Writing” and linking to a compete recording and transcript from his visit to the Academy in 1987.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

While many discussions in America are now focused on accountability versus unity, a concept that belongs in conversations about how America can recover from a divisive election, devastating pandemic, and long history of racial injustice is empathy. At a virtual Stated Meeting, Sherry Turkle (MIT) and Eric Liu (Citizen University) joined Academy President David Oxtoby in a conversation about what empathy looks like in an increasingly digital world, the search for authentic connections at a time of isolation and disunion, and the role authentic connection can play in repairing our civic culture.

The Academy awarded the 2020 Emerson-Thoreau Medal to Margaret Atwood for her distinguished achievement in the field of literature. The virtual award ceremony included remarks by Academy President David Oxtoby; a video message from The Honorable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Finance; and a reading of the Emerson-Thoreau Medal citation by Chair of the Academy’s Board Nancy C. Andrews. Following the presentation of the medal, Margaret Atwood delivered brief acceptance remarks and then joined author Gish Jen in a conversation.

Jeanne Gang, founding principal and partner of Studio Gang, is known for her forward-looking approach to design. She creates spaces that connect people with each other, their communities, and the environment. Her projects range from cultural centers to public projects that connect citizens with ecology to high-rise towers that foster community. At a virtual Stated Meeting, Jeanne Gang discussed how the design of physical spaces supports social, civic, and democratic infrastructure – a recommendation offered in Our Common Purpose, the final report of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.

The Linda Hall Library examines the first collection it ever acquired: the library of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Academy member Judith Butler discusses the Humanities Indicators’ survey on the humanities in American life, concluding that the future of the humanities may well depend on realizing that the best case for art, poetry, literature, and performance is already being made by our most publicly engaged fields.

Instituted incautiously, the public humanities can threaten faculty speech and encourage cash-chasing. Feisal G. Mohamed discusses how getting it right will require structural change on the American campus — and some institutional investment in humanities departments.

Proponents of the historical understanding of infrastructure think in terms of “hard” physical structures. To achieve real social progress, we must address the “soft” infrastructure that improves our quality of life, beginning with healthcare and education.

There are many rights that Americans living in poverty can’t access simply because they can’t afford a lawyer. This includes rights in housing, veterans’ benefits, disability access and many other areas of our civil justice system. This is called the access to justice gap, and it’s one of the most urgent — and under-discussed — civil rights issues of our time.

The American Academy’s Board of Directors issued a statement about climate change to stand explicitly with the scientific community and others to recognize the urgent need for a long-term commitment by every segment of our society to address this global issue.

Carolyn Lukensmeyer – an expert in deliberative democracy and a member of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship – describes the historical development of hyper-partisanship in the U.S., the opportunities that innovative political engagement offers, and suggests ways of healing the divides in our country in order to chart a collective path forward.

This summer, the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences held panel discussions on Public Governance and Civic Engagement. From these conversations emerged clear recommendations for policymakers to build a stronger civic culture and increase trust in government.

Why does academe still lack accurate information about non-tenure-track faculty members?

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post presents the recommendations in “Our Common Purpose” on social media and disinformation as key to restoring American democracy.

A new report from the Commission on the Arts - Art for Life’s Sake: The Case for Arts Education - sets forth recommendations to reverse the persistent decline in access to arts education in America. The report offers local, state, and national elected leaders recommendations in six areas, including elevating the arts, ensuring equitable access, and supporting educators.

After the Board of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences issued a statement attesting to the science and threat of climate change, the Academy launched a new project dedicated to accelerating climate action.

Africa is at the center of the global water predicament and climatic upheaval. The Fall 2021 issue of Dædalus, “Water Security in Africa in the Age of Global Climate Change,” guest-edited by Allen Isaacman, Muchaparara Musemwa, and Harry Verhoeven, features fourteen essays that explore policy debates and conflicts over water use as well as the efforts to mitigate these tensions.

Jotwell examines Aaron Nielson’s Dædalus essay, “Deconstruction (Not Destruction),” which reinterprets deconstruction in the “more technical sense of examining the administrative state to identify where theory and reality diverge and what can be done to fix it.”

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has received a $5 million gift from Irwin and Joan Jacobs to advance the recommendations proposed by the Academy’s crosspartisan Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. The new resources will help the Academy pursue its comprehensive multi-year implementation plan leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary.