As I reflect on my first year as president of the Academy, I am struck by how our members came together in so many different ways to address such a broad range of challenges, including unprecedented threats to academic freedom, the research enterprise, and the rule of law. And while it was a year of great challenges, there were also moments of great hope. For me, top among those moments was the Induction of our 2025 class of new members here in Cambridge in October.

Benjamin Holtzman, Visiting Scholar at the American Academy, discusses Thomas Campanella's history of Brooklyn, "the once and future city."

Notice received through November 1, 2021

On October 8, 2016, 175 new Fellows and 37 new Foreign Honorary Members will be inducted into the American Academy. The Induction weekend is a wonderful occasion for Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members to meet one another, learn about the Academy’s work, and formally celebrate their election to the Academy.

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.

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

Mark S. Schlissel, Mary Sue Coleman, Patrick Doyle, M. Roy Wilson, and Lou Anna K. Simon participated in a discussion at the University of Michigan about public research universities and their role in serving the public interest in Michigan.

What challenges confront twenty-first-century China, and how might their resolution influence the country’s (and indeed the world’s) trajectory? The Spring 2014 issue of Dædalus considers China’s problems as the growing pains of a still developing country, not necessarily as the death pangs of a Communist state doomed to imminent extinction.

Academy projects in Science, Engineering, and Technology seek to strengthen the capacity of science, engineering, and technology to improve the common good. Leveraging the diverse expertise of its members and a wide network of external specialists, the Academy conducts in-depth studies to assess the implications of scientific and technological progress. These studies inform actionable policy recommendations for stakeholders across government, academia, the nonprofit sector, and industry.

The Academy, in collaboration with the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA), hosted the Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture on “How Are Humans Different from Other Great Apes?” featuring Ajit P. Varki, Pascal Gagneux, Fred H. Gage, and Margaret J. Schoeninger.

On December 12, 2016, at the Century Association in New York, the Academy hosted the Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture on “Communicating Science through Art” with Diane Ackerman and Alan Alda. This program served as the Academy’s 2048th Stated Meeting and included an introduction by Geneva Overholser.

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.

Morton L. Mandel, business leader and entrepreneur, named as the recipient of the American Academy's Scholar-Patriot Award in recognition of his philanthropy and dedication to public service.

On May 18, 2017, the American Academy, in partnership with the Carnegie Institution for Science, hosted a meeting at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., on “Communicating Science in an Age of Disbelief in Experts.”

Academy member Abraham Loeb connects the future of technological innovation to the lessons of the humanities, citing Academy report "The Heart of the Matter."

Major study by American Academy of Arts and Sciences seeks change in curriculum and assessment, commitment to funding public higher education, new ideas about the faculty role, and more.

“Anticorruption: How to Beat Back Political & Corporate Graft” explores the nature of modern global corruption – and how to defeat it. Highlighting examples from the United States, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Singapore, the authors in this issue – including both academics and law-makers – offer innovative, strategic, and practical recommendations to target public and private corruption.

Jack Fuller reflects on the speeches of Edward H. Levi, who "helped restore the belief that the Department of Justice was committed to the rule of law" and served as President of the American Academy from 1986-1989.

Caregiving is essential to the health and well-being of society. It is also a fundamental human experience: almost all of us will care for others and be cared for during our lives.