Public research universities contribute to overall economy, research, and infrastructure in support of students, families, and the nation

The crafters of the Constitution expected the size of the House to grow as the U.S. population increased. Citing the American Academy report on “The Case for Expanding the House of Representatives,” Kevin Kosar calls for Capitol Hill to consider the proposition.

On behalf of the Development and Communications Committee, I would like to extend my deep gratitude to all the Fellows, friends, and foundations who supported the Academy this year.

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 nation’s public research universities serve approximately 3.8 million students each year and perform much of the country’s groundbreaking research.

Despite the many challenges to higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded by every field except the humanities increased through the end of the 2021 academic year.

Three of the nation’s leading private foundations have awarded funds totaling more than $1.6 million to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to support its initiative on the Global Nuclear Future.

Howard Mumford Jones was president of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences from 1944 to 1951. He was instrumental in transforming the Academy into a national organization dedicated to the interdisciplinary analysis of broad-scale intellectual issues.

In a new release today, the Humanities Indicators reports on substantial declines in the number of bachelor’s degrees conferred in the field. NCA Director Trevor Parry-Giles responds.

Mandel Family Support Now Exceeds $11 Million Overall

Wendy Freedman gives the remarks for Class I – Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the 2010 Induction ceremony.

Public-private partnerships, new sources of revenue among recommendations for strategic directions

One of the recurring questions the Humanities Indicators receives concerns the extent to which students are engaging with the humanities as undergraduates—a subject for which there is precious little data. The best available information comes from an occasional survey of college graduates, which includes a painstaking review of the college transcripts of a nationally representative sample of college graduates.

There is no resource more central to life on Earth than water, and it is impossible to overstate its role in shaping human history. Humanity’s need for water is inextricably linked to its need for security, energy, food, and community. The Summer 2015 issue of Dædalus moves beyond the problems and failures.

Dædalus is the journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and it's published by MIT Press. The Academy made the journal open access in 2021 as part of a commitment to making ideas and information freely available. During the first year of open access, Dædalus experienced an increase in online readership, downloaded articles, and citations.

First national study of language learning in 30 years was requested from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences by a bipartisan group of members of U.S. Senate & House of Representatives

This guest essay in The Hill sets forth that journalism should be treated like critical infrastructure, with the understanding that it is essential to a strong and healthy democracy. Rooted in Academy work, the oped explores how and why stabilizing media is part of strengthening democracy in America.

John Kaag describes his time as a Visiting Scholar at the Academy (2007-2008).

A new study from the American Academy's Humanities Indicators project reveals trends among U.S. residents, and the impact of respondents’ political leanings, socioeconomic status, gender, and race.