The Legacy Recognition Program, initiated in 2024, is an important part of the Academy’s overall effort to address and reconcile its history regarding racism, sexism, and inequality. The program highlights the contributions of scholars, researchers, writers, artists, business leaders, community leaders, and others whose accomplishments have been overlooked or undervalued due to their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

News about Academy events and projects, including the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Global Nuclear Future initiative, as well as new research and publications.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded by visionaries who foresaw that the nascent republic would benefit from the expertise of learned citizens to guide its development, health, and integrity through whatever challenges may arise.

Today, the clarity of that vision has never been more evident. We find ourselves in a time of deepening divides across lines of politics, race, religion, income, and opportunity. The institutions we have long turned to for leadership and information are under fire, as trust in the media, government, commercial enterprise, and academia declines. Strong and responsive institutions and a healthy civil society can carry us through crises and are vitally important in their aftermath.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded by visionaries who foresaw that the nascent republic would benefit from the expertise of learned citizens to guide its development, health, and integrity through any challenges that may arise.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded by visionaries who foresaw that the nascent republic would benefit from the expertise of learned citizens to guide its development, health, and integrity through whatever challenges may arise.

Members Elected in 2023

The University of West Georgia College of Arts and Humanities is serving as the statewide host site for discussion on a national report titled “The Heart of the Matter: the Humanities and Social Sciences” conducted by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences.

A profound lack of awareness of the unique, sovereign, and central role that Native Americans have played in the United States persists. And there is little recognition of how the knowledge of Indigenous people could contribute to a better shared future.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

The Academy holds events virtually as well as in person around the country and the world that bring members, representatives of the Affiliates, and others together to explore topics of national and global concern. Academy President David W. Oxtoby provided opening remarks for most of the meetings listed below.

The Academy presented its Emerson-Thoreau Medal to Maxine Hong Kingston for her distinguished achievement in the field of literature. The award, named after Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, was first given to Robert Frost in 1958 and has since been presented to several notable authors, including T.S. Eliot, Hannah Arendt, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood.

By Maggie Boyd, Associate Archivist at the Academy

The Academy, in partnership with the Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA) and the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program, launched the Modernizing Academic Appointment and Advancement (MA3) Challenge. The initiative invites U.S. colleges and universities to transform academic hiring, review, promotion, and tenure practices.

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

It’s 8 am on a sunny day in Miami, Florida, and the former chair of Shell is discussing mitigation with Indigenous leaders over arepas. Nearby, a reverend and youth activists chat about sea walls as they enjoy their coffee outside in the 70-degree weather. The diversity of these individuals, who are members of the Academy’s Commission on Accelerating Climate Action, speaks not only to the convening power of the Academy, but also to the growing interest in climate from sectors across America.

Noteworthy

A distinguished group of artists and leaders from all fields demonstrate the need for the humanities and social sciences to America’s future in a new film, "The Heart of the Matter," released today.

SELECT PRIZES AND AWARDS TO MEMBERS