Reflections from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on Receiving the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies

2106th Stated Meeting | April 20, 2022 | Virtual Event
Jonathan F. Fanton Lecture

Commentary in the Berkshire Eagle by Binyamin Appelbaum, a member of the New York Times's editorial board, considers ways to address the power possessed by the owners of social media sites. Options presented include a recommendation for a public-interest mandate from the Academy's Our Common Purpose report.

On October 18, the Our Common Purpose team returned to Lexington, Kentucky for a full day of events to shine a light on the contributions made by Kentucky residents to the Our Common Purpose report and engage with local leaders on strategies for implementing its recommendations.

The cochairs of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship issued a statement in advance of the midterm elections - identifying threats to free, fair, and participatory elections and ways to address them.

A CNN column about voting and equality features Academy recommendations for strengthening democracy - specifically to enlarge the House of Representatives - in the section titled "How to make the US more democratic"

On October 18, Stephen Heintz, President and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) and one of three cochairs of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, and Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer, a member of the Commission, sat down with Renee Shaw for the KET program Connections to talk about the Commission's bipartisan report, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century.

The new issue of Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, explores the loss of trust in experts and institutions: what are the causes and consequences of the loss of confidence and can they be reversed?

Dædalus is the journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and it's published by MIT Press. The Academy made the journal open access in 2021 as part of a commitment to making ideas and information freely available. During the first year of open access, Dædalus experienced an increase in online readership, downloaded articles, and citations.

North Korea has made steady progress on nuclear and missile technologies, but there has been little public awareness or policy-making attention due to other pressing global issues. To highlight the significance of North Korea's continued actions, the Academy convened a Congressional briefing with expert panelists analyzing the situation with regard to rhetoric, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and tense diplomatic relations.

Congressman Jim Himes (D-CT) and Congressman Bryan Steil (R-WI) were the featured speakers when the Academy hosted a bipartisan conversation about the economy and the future of democracy. They are the  chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. The event - now available for viewing - was an opportunity to hear how members of Congress think about economic issues—from trade wars and globalization to inflation and its impact on the day-to-day lives of their constituents.

Across the country, state and local referenda gave voters a chance to enact the recommendations in Our Common Purpose. Almost everywhere, they did just that, supporting ballot measures to expand ranked-choice voting, increase access to early voting, and improve transparency around election funding.

This was a year of reemergence and celebration for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Our building reopened for staff and events. We held a joyous Induction Weekend in September, making up for two years of cancellations due to the pandemic. And we finished a very successful capital campaign through the hard work of President David Oxtoby, campaign cochairs Louise Bryson and David Rubenstein, and Chief Advancement Officer Ginger Saariaho, exceeding our $100 million target. We are deeply grateful to them and to the members and friends who gave generously to support our work.

Greetings from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where earlier this fall the Academy celebrated its first in-person Induction weekend since 2019. We welcomed new members from the classes of 2020 and 2021 with an opening celebration featuring Yo-Yo Ma in conversation with David Rubenstein at Harvard Business School’s Klarman Hall. On the following day, new members gathered with governance members, project leaders, and Academy staff for a lively open house at the Academy’s headquarters in Norton’s Woods. Later that afternoon, the two classes of inductees gathered at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium for a resumption of the moving Induction Ceremony that we have all missed for so long.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”

Governance & Committees, 2022–2023

AAFCPAs conducted the audit of the Academy’s statements of financial position for the fiscal year 2022 (July 1, 2021–June 30, 2022). A copy of the audited financial statements is available on the Academy’s website and upon request.

In 2015, the Academy embarked on an ambitious fundraising effort to secure its rich traditions and advance its strategic aims. Over the past seven years, the Campaign has fueled remarkable progress in every facet of the organization.

American Institutions, Society & the Public Good