Commission cochair Michael S. McPherson and education program director Francesca B. Purcell provide an overview of work by the Academy’s Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, which offers a national strategy to improve the college student experience.

The closing program of the Academy’s 2025 Induction weekend featured a presentation by new member David Dunning on the psychology of overconfidence and its influence on decision-making, followed by a conversation with Academy President Laurie L. Patton. An edited transcript of the presentation and conversation follows.

Academy Vice President John Thornton Kirkland delivered “A Discourse in Commemoration of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” before the society on October 30, 1826. Adams was a charter member of the Academy and served as its second President; Jefferson was elected in 1787...

The Commission on the Arts is the Academy’s first major programmatic effort focused on the arts and culture. At its center is the belief that the arts are essential to both individual and civic life and that artists are crucial to the functioning and development of healthy communities.

Stem cell biologist Haifan Lin to receive Francis Amory Prize - awarded in recognition of outstanding scientific achievements in reproductive biology and medical care - from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

The closing program of the Academy’s 2024 Induction weekend featured a presentation by new member André Fenton about the science and stimuli of memory, followed by a conversation with incoming Academy President Laurie L. Patton. An edited transcript of the presentation and conversation follows.

At the 302nd Meeting of the Academy on December 7, 1847, an Academy committee submitted its opinions on the proposed plan for the Smithsonian Institution...

In a daylong symposium, the American Academy's Commission on the Arts explored the integration of arts, humanities, and STEM in higher education.

Over the past three years, the American Academy’s Commission on the Arts has developed a rich and diverse array of materials to elevate and promote arts education, the creative workforce, and the arts generally. Drawing on the expertise of artists, scholars, activists, and leaders of a variety of artistic institutions, the Commission developed two reports and a collection of artistic expressions.

One of the recommendations for strengthening American democracy proposed in Our Common Purpose - the report of a bipartisan Academy commission - is to invest in civic education programs and professional development opportunities for educators in all communities. This article examines legislative progress at the federal, state, and local levels concerning civics education.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced that David W. Oxtoby has been named the organization’s next President.

The best way we can transcend ideology is to teach our students, regardless of their majors, to think like scientists.

Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense, echoes the recommendations of Academy report on language learning, saying "we are constrained by our inadequate understanding of other nations and peoples, and by our inability to communicate effectively with them."

A protracted debate within the Academy over Darwin’s Origin of Species began with a paper on Japanese flora presented by Asa Gray in 1858, leading to an exchange between Louis Agassiz and William Barton Rogers...

At the 3rd Meeting of the Academy held on August 30, 1780, Academy members voted to appoint “a Committee to confer with the Reverend and Honorable Corporation of the University of Cambridge upon pursuing measures to procure an accurate observation of the Solar eclipse...”

In updates released this morning, the American Academy's Humanities Indicators report that visits to historic sites, museums, and art galleries are on the rise in recent years.

After 238 years, there are not that many “firsts” left for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to achieve. Yet on November 29, 2018, the Academy found one, hosting its first jazz performance at its headquarters in Cambridge.

To thwart the skepticism of prospective students, some map job options, offer guarantees.

On May 18, 1921, a Special Meeting was held at the House of the Academy at 28 Newbury Street in honor of Professor Albert Einstein of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, during his first visit to the United States...