Patricia Meyer Spacks reflects on the life and work of Mary Maples Dunn, co-director of the Visiting Scholars Program at the American Academy.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences and TIAA Institute today released three videos focused on the national priorities set forth by the Academy’s Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education: quality, completion, and affordability.

The visual image that most people have of the Dead Sea Scrolls is likely of one of the beautifully preserved manuscripts stored in stone jars, discovered in the hill caves of Jordan in the late 1940s. Unfortunately, only a handful of the scrolls were preserved in this way.

As part of the Academy’s 2017 Induction weekend, Kathryn D. Sullivan discussed her experiences as a NASA astronaut and participated in a conversation with David M. Rubenstein.

On December 15, 2015, the Language Commission convened its first meeting at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA, under the leadership of Paul LeClerc.

The decennial census is the longest continuous scientific project in American history. It is also the largest applied social science project undertaken in this country.

Perceptions of Science in America offers an in-depth examination of the current state of trust in science among Americans. The data paint a picture of a heterogeneous public whose perceptions are dependent on context and values. The report underscores the need for additional studies on the influences on attitudes toward science, as well as how those attitudes impact both personal decisions and public support for evidence-based policy.

Following an introduction from Mary C. Waters, Douglas S. Massey and Jorge Castañeda described the current state of U.S. immigration policy.

On June 11, 2020, the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship celebrated the release of its final report: Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century. Nearly 1,200 people viewed the launch event, which featured Commission Chairs Danielle Allen (Harvard University), Stephen Heintz (Rockefeller Brothers Fund), and Eric Liu (Citizen University); Academy President David Oxtoby; as well as Commission members Judy Woodruff (PBS NewsHour) and David Brooks (The New York Times).

SELECT PRIZES AND AWARDS TO MEMBERS

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.

Academy President David Oxtoby speaks at the 2019 Miami Dade College commencement and receives an honorary degree.

By Poul Erik Christiansen, former Raymond Frankel Nuclear Security Policy Fellow at the Academy

Over the past two years, the Academy has conducted a major reexamination of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia. Under the leadership of Robert Legvold, the study’s committee members prepared a strategic assessment of the bilateral relationship and created a blueprint for conceptualizing a twenty-first-century policy toward Russia.

Does locking up more people reduce crime? More Americans are serving time in prison or jail than at any point in the nation’s history, reflecting an incarceration rate that greatly exceeds those found in other advanced democracies.

On Wednesday, the 19th of February of 1800 at 11:00 A.M., the Academy met pursuant to adjournment at the Senate Chamber of the Old State House and from there went in procession, at 12 o’clock, to the Meeting House on Brattle Street where a Eulogy on General George Washington was pronounced before the Academy by Dr. John Davis, Recording Secretary.