“Access to Justice,” the Winter 2019 issue of Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, is a multidisciplinary exploration of the challenges, costs, and opportunities related to the crisis of limited civil legal services.

One of the great strengths of the Academy is its ability to bring together members with other experts from many disciplines and professions to explore contemporary challenges, identify solutions, and offer ways forward to advance the public good.

The Chronicle interviewed Michael S. McPherson, cochair of the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, to hear about improving educational quality, raising completion rates, reducing inequality, and making college more affordable.

Scott Sagan discusses the nuclear necessity principle and Academy project on ethics, technology, and war with Randall Pinkston of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Danielle Allen, cochair of the Academy's Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, writes in the Washington Post that "There is something we can do" to move the nation toward a better normal - and peace.

Since 1780, the Academy has advocated for the importance of the humanities, arts, and culture in American society, and has called on both private citizens and the nation’s government to help foster advances in these areas. Today, the Academy conducts research and develops policy recommendations to advance the humanities in academic scholarship and in the public sector, to display the importance of the arts in society, and to enrich the nation’s cultural life. By bringing together scholars, artists, and leaders from both the public and private sectors, Academy programs in The Humanities, Arts, and Culture put practitioners and scholars in conversation with individuals from other disciplines, ensuring that the arts and humanities are valued in all areas of civic life. Projects in this area demonstrate the value of the arts, humanities, and culture to the nation’s security and prosperity, and call attention to the role played by work in these fields to enriching the health of communities and the daily lives of its citizens.

Learn about the Academy event -- "What are the Challenges and Opportunities of AI in Mental Health Care?" -- which brought together members of the Academy’s AI and Mental Healthcare project to discuss what they learned and the publication they released.

On October 7, 2020, over two hundred members of the class of 2020 gathered on Zoom to celebrate their recent election to the Academy. This virtual convening was not designed to replace Induction, but rather to capture some of the camaraderie, joy, and ceremony of the traditional weekend in Cambridge.

Communities with strong civic infrastructure engender greater civic engagement and a sense of belonging. Stephen Heintz, cochair of the American Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, argues that philanthropy should lead in funding projects across the country that would connect people to their neighbors, communities, and government institutions.

In my previous message, I discussed how – despite the challenges of the pandemic – our community of members has remained active and engaged in the life of the Academy. During the past year, our virtual events reached more audiences in more places than ever before. Our project work continued unabated, including the release of Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century and the development of new major projects on climate change and inequality. And despite great uncertainty, our members came together to produce a record-breaking fundraising year.

On February 4, 2015, Andrea Roth and Franklin Zimring participated in a conversation at the University of California, Berkeley, on police use of lethal force against civilians.

It is my pleasure to present this edition of the Annual Report of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the first since I officially began my term as president in January 2025. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the hundreds of members whom I have had the opportunity to meet and learn from this year.

A lively look at the importance of civics education, teaching the Constitution, and the responsibility of stewarding America, featuring a keynote address by NEH Chairman William “Bro” Adams

The 2011 Induction weekend included a symposium on American Institutions and a Civil Society, which featured two panel discussions: The American Military and American Democracy and The Constitution, the Practice of Democracy, and Unintended Consequences.

Richard Saller, Elaine Treharne, Franco Moretti, Joshua Cohen, and Michael A. Keller discussed the humanities in the context of rapidly developing new technologies.

On October 24, 2023, the Academy released Forging Climate Solutions: How to Accelerate Action Across America, the final report of the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action. Prompted by a statement by the Academy’s Board in 2021, the report addresses the need for a climate strategy that breaks through the divisions that characterize politics in the nation today.

American Academy of Arts & Sciences Commission on the Humanities & Social Sciences releases report, "The Heart of the Matter"

A poll sponsored by the Academy, and conducted by the Center for Public Opinion at UMass-Lowell, reveals displeasure with the state of American politics and receptivity to changes in how we elect Congressional representatives.

Alexei V. Filippenko discusses supernovae and the accelerating expansion of the universe.