Google Senior Fellow Jeffrey Dean; Installation artist Theaster Gates; Irish author Eavan Boland; philanthropist Edythe Broad; Aspen Institute's Walter Isaacson among new members

The framers of the U.S. Constitution intended the House of Representatives to be “the People’s House.” For decades, the House grew as the nation grew. Then, in 1929, Congress capped the size of the House at 435 seats. A new Academy report assesses the impacts and alternatives with a proposal for enlarging the House now.

Members of the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT performed a staged reading of Chantal Bilodeau’s play SILA. The reading was followed by a panel discussion with Naomi Oreskes, Robert L. Jaffe, and playwright Chantal Bilodeau about the competing interests shaping the future of our planet.

In March 1945, Mrs. Laura M. Agassiz sent the Academy three portraits of members of the Agassiz family: her late husband, Maximilian (1866–1941); his father, Alexander (1835–1910; elected to the Academy in 1862); and his grandfather, Louis (1807–1873; elected a Foreign Honorary Member in 1846). Both elder Agassizes were active members of the Academy; Alexander served as president from 1894–1903. The Academy accessioned the portraits into its collections and put them on display in the Newbury Street headquarters, which the Agassiz family helped to build.

The Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE) is rethinking the values, policies, narratives, and metrics that shape the nation’s political economy. Rather than focus on how the economy is doing, the Commission seeks to direct a focus onto how Americans are doing. As part of this work, the Academy hosted a conversation with U.S. Representative Jim Himes, Chair of the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth and U.S. Representative Bryan Steil, the Ranking Member of the Committee.

2106th Stated Meeting | April 20, 2022 | Virtual Event
Jonathan F. Fanton Lecture

The Legacy Recognition Program, initiated in 2024, is an important part of the Academy’s overall effort to address and reconcile its history regarding racism, sexism, and inequality. The program highlights the contributions of scholars, researchers, writers, artists, business leaders, community leaders, and others whose accomplishments have been overlooked or undervalued due to their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

One of the recommendations for strengthening American democracy proposed in Our Common Purpose - the report of a bipartisan Academy commission - is to invest in civic education programs and professional development opportunities for educators in all communities. This article examines legislative progress at the federal, state, and local levels concerning civics education.

Institutions are critical to our personal and societal well-being. They facilitate relationships; they regulate behavior. They develop and disseminate knowledge, enforce the law, keep us healthy, and uphold social and religious norms.

The bipartisan Building Civic Bridges Act was reintroduced for consideration during the 119th Congress. The legislation, which aims to heal political polarization within communities, was initially introduced for consideration during the 117th Congress and was inspired in part by recommendations in the Academy’s Our Common Purpose report.

By Maggie Boyd, Associate Archivist at the Academy

The Academy’s Commission on the Arts created Mixtape - a multimedia gallery featuring poems, stories, songs, videos, and visual art contributed by members of the Commission and Academy. Mixtape offers art and inspiration wherever you are, whenever you want.

Profile of Kathy Cramer, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and her leadership of the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy and the work to advance an American economy that works for its people.

How did music in the twentieth century both influence and reflect American culture? The Fall 2013 issue of Dædalus examines how music—in Hollywood films, in concert halls, in private homes and public spaces—helped shape our modern selves.

Authors Stephen B. Heintz and Pete Peterson, coming from different sides of the political aisle, agree that term limits for Supreme Court Justices is a way to depoliticize the process and strengthen faith in democratic institutions.

After the Board of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences issued a statement attesting to the science and threat of climate change, the Academy launched a new project dedicated to accelerating climate action.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences receives a $10 million gift from David Rubenstein. This is the largest gift in the organization's 241-year history and will support a new facility for the Academy Archives and establish the Rubenstein Fund for American Institutions.