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.

The overarching recommendation of the Academy's report on America's Languages was to establish “a national strategy to improve access to as many languages as possible for people of every region, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background—to value language education as a persistent national need.”

On April 11, 2019, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences presented the inaugural Award for Excellence in Public Policy and Public Affairs to Ernest J. Moniz, the 13th Secretary of Energy of the United States. Ashton Carter, who served as the 25th Secretary of Defense of the United States and is the current Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, introduced Secretary Moniz and presented the award. An edited version of Secretary Moniz’s acceptance remarks appears below.

2110th Stated Meeting | January 18, 2023 | Virtual Event | Morton L. Mandel Conversation

On March 30–31, 2023, the Academy gathered humanities scholars and leaders at the House of the Academy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mark the tenth anniversary of the release of The Heart of the Matter, the final report of the Academy’s Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. The goal of the meeting was to reflect on what has happened to the humanities over the past decade and to consider future directions for the field. To provide context for the conversation, Richard H. Brodhead (who cochaired the Commission with the late John Rowe) offered the following reflections, describing what shaped their thinking a decade ago and what has changed in the years since.

Ira Katznelson and Samuel Issacharoff discussed the state of security and freedom and the role of fear in a modern democracy.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences named Toni Morrison as the recipient of the 2016 Emerson-Thoreau Medal for her distinguished achievement in the field of literature. Established in 1958, the medal is awarded to an individual for his or her total literary achievement rather than for a specific work.

In this Washington Post column, Danielle Allen - who cochaired the Academy's Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship - proposes that Supreme Court justices "take it upon themselves" to establish term limits, which is a modified approach to a recommendation in the Our Common Purpose report.

On April 12, 2012, North Korea unsuccessfully launched a long-range missile that was intended to carry an Earth observation satellite into space. North Korea fired the long-range test rocket in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and an agreement with the United States. On the eve of the launch, the Academy convened leading North Korea experts to discuss the broader geopolitical and nonproliferation implications of North Korea’s nuclear program.

A panel discussion on Institutions of Democracy and the Public Good was the focus of the Academy's 2012 Induction Weekend, featuring Diane Wood, Governor Phil Bredesen, and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry alongside Judy Woodruff, Alex Jones, and Marty Baron. The discussion was moderated by Norman Ornstein.

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.

William H. Gates, Sr., Frank Thomson Leighton, Carolyn R. Bertozzi, and Michael Wood to Speak at Induction Ceremony Sherrill Milnes will Perform

Those of us who teach undergraduates are familiar with the trend revealed in these data. Baccalaureate graduates typically have earned more course credits in the humanities (about 17% as defined here) than in STEM fields (about 13%). STEM majors earn fewer credits in the humanities than do students majoring in other areas; and students majoring in the humanities, business, social sciences, and education apparently earn no more than a required minimum of their credits in STEM courses.

The Academy hosted a meeting at the University of California, Los Angeles, on public research universities in the twenty-first century. The speakers included Gene Block, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and Kim A. Wilcox.

Projects in the Education program area examine the vital role that education plays in our nation and the world. Work in this area seeks to inform policy and practice in support of high-quality educational opportunities for all Americans. From advancing equitable educational outcomes to leveraging new developments in the learning sciences and digital technologies to understanding the vital role that public universities play as engines of economic growth, innovation, social mobility, and citizenship, projects in this area draw on scholars and practitioners from diverse fields to provide guidance and actionable solutions to policymakers, higher education leaders, and philanthropists.

Now is the moment to think about the people, places, and practices of democracy, write Hollie Russon Gilman, Darshan Goux, and Elizabeth Youngling in this op-ed.

Climate change, soil erosion, human rights, Indigenous peoples, and “fixing” our democracy — the class speakers at the 2019 Induction Ceremony addressed major issues facing the world today, with calls to action and calls for change. Following a reading from the letters of John and Abigail Adams by humanitarian Jane Olson and attorney Ronald Olson, newly elected members spoke passionately about their life’s work. The ceremony featured presentations from paleoclimatologists Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie G. Thompson; microbiologist Jo Handelsman; former United Nations diplomat Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein; historian Margaret Jacobs; and lawyer and advocate Sherrilyn Ifill. An edited version of their presentations follows.
2083rd Stated Meeting | October 12, 2019 | Cambridge, MA