A big boost to college completion would pay off for students and the economy, a new paper finds, but would substantially increase the federal deficit. Academy report cited in coverage.

A growing numbers of parents are either delaying or selectively administering immunizations – or choosing not to vaccinate their children at all. A new Academy report makes clear that reversing this trend requires dedicated research on how vaccine decisions are made and the best ways to communicate factual information to vaccine-hesitant parents.

Noteworthy section from the Winter 2016 issue of The Bulletin.

Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson, members of the Academy's Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, write that the recent college admissions scandal represents a small fraction of college admissions and should not distract from persistent inequalities in higher education access.

An exploratory meeting at the Academy brought together more than 20 participants - spanning the fields of science, technology, journalism, museum education, and law - to discuss how to bridge the gap between science and the public. They discussed changes in the science engagement landscape and the challenge of not only reaching people but also cutting through the noise and making them care.

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.

This Annual Report comes at an important moment in the life of the Academy. After years of primarily virtual engagement, our members are again gathering in person with a renewed sense of energy, vitality, and hope. During the last year, we held major Academy events in a dozen U.S. cities, and this fall we visited international members in Mexico City and London. In September, we hosted a historic Induction weekend for the classes of 2022 and 2023, welcoming 366 new members and more than one thousand total guests—the largest single in-person event the Academy has ever hosted. And in October and November, we released the final reports of two major Academy commissions: the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action and the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy.

The Academy Archives preserves and shares the acceptance letters of members. Selected letters are shared in online galleries and include letters from George Washington, Mary Leakey, and Nelson Mandela.

What do Americans think about the arts and artists? A recent national survey by the American Academy offers a few answers.

Our focus on issues of inequality in many areas of the Academy’s work – from convenings, to commissions and projects, to issues of Dædalus – illustrates what the Academy does best: explore contemporary challenges, identify solutions, and offer ways forward to advance the public good.

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 Global Security and International Affairs program area draws on the expertise of policy-makers, practitioners, and scholars to foster knowledge and inform innovative and more substantial policies to address crucial issues affecting the global community. Projects underway in this area engage with pressing strategic development and moral questions that underpin relations among people, communities, and states worldwide. Each initiative embraces a broad conception of security as the interaction among human, national, and global security imperatives. Project recommendations move beyond the idea of security as the absence of war toward higher aspirations of collective peace, development, and justice.

Academy Publications

Public Higher Education and the Private Sector on Tap for Discussion

Language education is dwindling at every level in the US, from school to university, and a diminishing share of the country’s residents speak languages other than English, according to a new report from the American Academy.

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