Working with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the Academy convened college and university presidents and leaders of scholarly societies. Together, they developed and supported a unified defense of learning and higher education. More than 650 leaders signed the statement on behalf of their students, faculty, staff, and communities.

The American public holds the humanities in high regard, and most people engage in one or more humanistic activities at work and in their leisure hours, according to a recent national survey by the Academy’s Humanities Indicators project. The survey, conducted with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, asked 5,015 Americans age eighteen and older who participate in NORC at the University of Chicago’s nationally representative AmeriSpeak Panel about their engagement in a variety of humanistic activities, as well as their beliefs about the personal, societal, and economic benefits of the humanities.

July 2020 to June 2021 marked the most successful fundraising year in the Academy’s long history, with more than 1,200 donors contributing over $21 million. Over the course of the year, we celebrated the largest gift to the Academy on record, benefited from the most grant funding received in a single year from foundations, and together achieved a new high-water mark for the Annual Fund with over $2.1 million raised. At the close of the year, the Campaign for the Academy & Its Future had reached over 85 percent of its $100 million goal. On behalf of the Academy’s governance bodies and leadership team, we extend our sincere appreciation to all those who contributed to this remarkable outcome.

Randy Schekman will present the recommendations of the ARISE report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

The American Academy’s quarterly journal, Dædalus, has released its Winter 2009 issue, Reflecting on the Humanities. The issue coincides with publication by the American Academy of the Humanities Indicators, the first comprehensive data set about the humanities in America.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has received a $5 million gift from Irwin and Joan Jacobs to advance the recommendations proposed by the Academy’s crosspartisan Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. The new resources will help the Academy pursue its comprehensive multi-year implementation plan leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Released in June of 2013, The Heart of the Matter, the report of the American Academy’s Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, has become an integral part of an ongoing national dialogue about the state of the humanities and social sciences in the United States.

A new report provides data and insights about how Americans engage in the humanities and what their views are on the benefits of pursuits such as studying or participating in activities related to art history, languages, literature, history, and philosophy.

The Academy convened a workshop in Chicago to discuss how a regional working group of state, local, and university leaders from the plains states could help implement the recommendations from the Academy’s recent report.

Announcing Tacoma, Washington as a new city joining the Our Common Purpose Communities Project, led by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The city of Tacoma becomes part of a larger effort to advance local approaches to strengthening democracy.

The Academy, in conjunction with a consortium of national humanities organizations, will create a prototype set of indicators – statistical data about the people who work in the humanities and about the work they do – to provide a comprehensive picture of the state of the humanities in the United States, from primary to higher education to public humanities activities.

Robert H. Frank writes for the New York Times about income inequality and the justice gap, based on his longer essay in Daedalus issue on "Access to Justice."

The American Academy will brief the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) on the Academy’s ARISE II project.

The U.S. must bolster the competitiveness of its commercial space industry, expand international cooperation, and refocus on basic science in order to hold on to its traditional leadership position in space, according to the authors of a new paper from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Explanation for the estimates included in the state profiles, which were generated from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample.

In his keynote address, Academy President Jonathan Fanton emphasized the need for colleges and universities to do more to spread awareness about the positive impact of language and area studies.

Erica Kimmerling, former Hellman Fellow for Science and Technology Policy at the American Academy, explores how to break down silos between science engagement professionals, citing the Academy report on Encountering Science in America.