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

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.

Stephen Heintz, Cochair of the Academy's Commission on Democratic Citizenship, calls for greater philanthropic support for work that strengthens democracy in American democracy. He makes the case that a healthy, functional government advances every other investment.

Review of challenges faced by state governments will inform recommendations in support of public higher education.

On October 26, 2017, the American Academy hosted a conversation at the University of California, Berkeley, on "Priorities for Progress: Advancing Higher Education in America," which highlighted two Academy projects – The Lincoln Project: Excellence and Access in Public Higher Education and the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education.

Over the last few years, organizations across the United States – corporations, universities, and nonprofits like the American Academy – have begun to reflect on their ties to slavery, Native genocide, and other troubling elements of American history. The Academy’s virtual event on “Reckoning with Organizational History” explored why historical self-examination matters and what can be gained from these studies.

Tuition is the principal revenue source for many of these institutions; Teaching and research remain the two top expenditures.

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.

Noteworthy

A national survey of the public from June 2024 offers insights into how often the public engages with various aspects of the arts and humanities.

"Science & the Legal System," the Fall 2018 issue of Dædalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, features thirteen essays on topics including the state of the forensic sciences, expert testimony in court, the role of science in abortion law, neuroscience and law, and reforms to the U.S. adversarial system.

On November 11, 2015, Diane P. Wood, Goodwin Liu, and David S. Tatel discussed issues of access to the justice system. The program, which served as the 2027th Stated Meeting and the Inaugural Distinguished Morton L. Mandel Annual Public Lecture, was streamed to gatherings of members in four cities around the country: New York, Washington, Chicago, and Berkeley. The program concluded the first day of a two-day Academy symposium on the state of legal services for low-income Americans, which brought together federal and state judges, lawyers, legal scholars, and legal aid providers concerned about the state of legal services for Americans.

A survey of Americans showed substantial engagement with the Humanities - especially history programs on television - during the pandemic.

National Commission seeks recommendations on role of humanities and social sciences in local communities in preparation for report to Congress

A protracted debate within the Academy over Darwin’s Origin of Species began with a paper on Japanese flora presented by Asa Gray in 1858, leading to an exchange between Louis Agassiz and William Barton Rogers...