Hatch elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

April 24, 2014

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected Nathan Hatch, president of Wake Forest University, among its newest members.

One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to Academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts and education.

“It is a privilege to honor these men and women for their extraordinary individual accomplishments,” said Don Randel, chair of the Academy’s board of directors. “The knowledge and expertise of our members give the Academy a unique capacity – and responsibility – to provide practical policy solutions to the pressing challenges of the day. We look forward to engaging our new members in this work.”

The Academy membership encompasses over 4,600 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members and reflects the full range of disciplines and professions: mathematics, the physical and biological sciences, medicine, the social sciences and humanities, business, government, public affairs and the arts.

Members of the 2014 class include winners of the Nobel Prize; the Wolf Prize; the Pulitzer Prize; National Medal of the Arts; MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Fulbright Fellowships; and Grammy, Emmy, Oscar and Tony Awards.

“I’m thrilled to be named to one of the oldest and most prestigious honorary societies in America,” said President Nathan Hatch. “To join the company of such extraordinary leaders is an honor and a privilege.”

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 11, 2014, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Since its founding in 1780, the Academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation — from its founders John Adams, James Bowdoin, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maria Mitchell and Alexander Graham Bell.

Other distinguished members include Margaret Mead, Jonas Salk, Barbara McClintock, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Aaron Copland, Martha Graham, John Updike, Georgia O’Keeffe, and John Hope Franklin.

Foreign members have included Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Laurence Olivier, Mary Leakey, John Maynard Keynes, Akira Kurosawa and Nelson Mandela.

The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

A complete list of the new members is available on the Academy’s website at https://www.amacad.org/members.