By Maggie Boyd, Associate Archivist at the Academy

Recent Member Events

Lack of health care, food and shelter typically kill more civilians than bombs and bullets.

Audrey Williams June explores key findings from a recent Humanities Indicators report, which shows that college graduates who major in humanities outearn people with no degree and earn similar median salaries as those who major in behavioral or social sciences, arts, or education.

The Academy’s Special Collections include materials related to the family life of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, an American-born thermodynamic physicist, military officer, and inventor. Elected a Foreign Honorary Member in 1789, Rumford donated $5,000 in stock to the Academy, which later formed the basis of the prize that bears his name.

Recent Member Events

At an event cosponsored by the American Academy and Resources for the Future about lessons learned from the Clean Air Act, former congressman Henry Waxman is realistic about the obstacles presented by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration.

A list of all active Members, arranged by Class and Section, Affiliation, or Year of Election, is available on the
Academy’s website at www.amacad.org/directory. IHM designates an International Honorary Member.

The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) presented to the American Academy the 2014 Arts & Sciences Advocacy Award for issuing "The Heart of the Matter" and for its long-standing commitment to recognizing outstanding scholars and for working to address critical challenges facing our global society.

Elizabeth J. Perry explains the means by which the Chinese Communist party-state maintains campus calm, despite the many unpopular and potentially unsettling higher education reforms.

David Oxtoby announces that Goodwin Liu (Supreme Court of California) has been elected as the next Chair of the Academy's Board of Directors effective July 1, 2023.

Discoveries are often amazing moments in archival work. In 2010, the Academy’s archivists sent several pieces of artwork, part of the Academy’s Special Collections, to an art restorer for treatment.

Michelle Weise, member of the Academy's Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, explores the 'black box' of college outcomes facing education consumers.

Financial Statements

How do younger scholars think about new nuclear challenges? The Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies invited early- and mid-career experts to share their thoughts on the Academy publication The Fragile Balance of Terror.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Affiliates
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as of June 30, 2023

Notice received through November 3, 2020

Cultural institutions across the United States—regardless of type or size—are facing unprecedented uncertainty, which is challenging long-standing models for communicating the value of arts and culture, for supporting these institutions, and for collaborating across the sector. To help address this uncertainty, the Academy held three virtual roundtable discussions in the fall of 2025 that brought together leaders from the arts and culture sector to reflect on these challenges and begin to outline strategies to move forward. To encourage open and candid dialogue, the discussions were held under the Chatham House Rule, so neither participants nor their comments can be identified in any materials related to the roundtables.

With generous support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education is conducting an analysis of American undergraduate education and looking ahead several decades at the educational challenges and opportunities facing Americans.

On March 26, 2024, stem cell biologist Haifan Lin received the Francis Amory Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. First awarded in 1940, the Amory Prize recognizes significant scientific advances in reproductive biology and medical care. The award ceremony included remarks by Yale University President Peter Salovey and Academy President David W. Oxtoby, a reading of the Amory Prize citation by Dean of the Yale School of Medicine Nancy J. Brown, and a presentation by Professor Lin. An edited version of the remarks and presentation follows.