Select Prizes and Awards to Members

Induction Weekend 2024 began with an Opening Celebration that featured the first Legacy Recognition Honorees and a performance led by new member bassist Rodney Whitaker. The program also included a conversation between David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, and Grant Hill, a new member, basketball hall-of-famer, and philanthropist. An edited version of their conversation follows.

After issuing a final report and recommendations, members of the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action are attending events across the country to discuss the report with business leaders, professors, researchers, activists, and policy makers.

Academy member Douglas S. Massey discusses Ferguson and the meaning of race in America for the Bulletin’s new feature, “On the Professions.”

On October 25, 2011, the Academy convened a panel of global experts at Stanford University. Scott D. Sagan, Harald Müller, Noramly bin Muslim, Olli Heinonen, and Jayantha Dhanapala considered the global nuclear future in light of the accident at Fukushima.

We know what a novel is, but can we say the same about the novel? The Winter 2021 issue of Dædalus “On the Novel,” guest-edited by Michael Wood, features fourteen essays that, rather than surveying or summarizing the fate of the novel, offer remarkable insights into the behavior of this versatile literary form, glimpses of where and what it has been and where it may go in the future.

The Academy's Commission on Language Learning makes the case for increasing foreign language learning capacity in a political climate that's increasingly anti-global.

On April 1, 2022, the Academy presented Henry Louis Gates, Jr. with the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies in recognition of his groundbreaking work as a scholar and public intellectual. The program, which was the Annual David M. Rubenstein Lecture, included remarks by Academy President David Oxtoby, the presentation of the award by Chair of the Academy’s Board Nancy C. Andrews, and a conversation between Gates and David M. Rubenstein. An edited version of the presentations and conversation follows.

Henri was a highly respected business leader and entrepreneur, greatly admired for his energetic engagement in biotechnology, community, service, and philanthropy.

On October 7, 2017, the American Academy inducted its 237th class of Members at a ceremony held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The ceremony included presentations by five new Members: Ursula Burns, James P. Allison, Heather K. Gerken, Jane Mayer, and Gerald Chan.

Creating a “new normal” of multiliteracy and multiculturalism is key to the future of the United States as a leader on the world stage.

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.

It is with profound sadness that I note the death on October 10, 2014, of Robert W. Fri, my cochair on the Academy’s Alternative Energy Future project.

Throughout the period of social distancing, the Academy has worked to stay connected with members and continue the tradition of convening experts from across disciplines and professions to discuss important issues. As much of the world moved temporarily online, the Academy has leveraged video conferencing technology to hold a series of member events.

From the President

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

Vanesha Pravin, a lecturer in UC Merced’s Merritt Writing Program, receives prestigious May Sarton Prize for Poetry from the American Academy.

In December 2002, three months before the U.S. invasion, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences published a report speculating on the political, military, and economic consequences of a possible war with Iraq.

In a new release today, the American Academy reports on the first broad national survey on the humanities, which asked Americans about their engagement in a variety of humanistic activities, as well as their beliefs about the personal, societal, and economic benefits of the humanities.