More Laurels

Dateline staff

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences staged an induction ceremony Oct. 1 for the academy's 231st class, including Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi.

The ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., drew 179 inductees, described as being among the nation's most influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders, and including winners of Nobel, Pritzker and Pulitzer prizes; the Turing Award; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships; Kennedy Center Honors; and Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy awards. Foreign honorary members from Argentina, India, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom also were inducted.

Founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the academy is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious learned societies.

The academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each generation — including more than 250 Nobel laureates, some 100 Pulitzer Prize winners, and many of the world’s most celebrated artists and performers — creating an independent research center that draws from its members’ expertise to conduct studies in science and technology policy, global security, the humanities and culture, social policy and education.

“Induction recognizes extraordinary individual achievement and marks a commitment on the part of new members to provide fundamental, nonpartisan knowledge for addressing today’s complex challenges,” President Leslie C. Berlowitz said.

Besides Katehi, the academy's class of 2011 includes 18 other UC faculty members. Overall, UC Davis is represented by 14 professors in the academy.

Katehi came to UC Davis in 2009, becoming the campus's sixth chancellor. The academy elected her to its section on Educational, Scientific, Cultural and Philanthropic Administration, within Public Affairs, Business and Administration.

She is a professor of electrical and computer engineering whose work in electronic circuit design has led to numerous national and international awards both as a technical leader and educator, and 19 U.S. patents and five U.S. patent applications. She holds a dual appointment in the Women and Gender Studies Program.

Other college and university leaders in the class of 2011, and who, like Katehi, participated in the induction ceremony: Francisco Cigarroa, University of Texas; Steven Knapp, George Washington University; David Skorton, Cornell University; and Debora Spar, Barnard College.

Other scientists in the class of 2011, and who participated in the induction ceremony: Frances Arnold, a groundbreaking researcher and biologist from the California Institute of Technology; Clara Bloomfield, who proved that adult acute leukemia can be cured; Julio Frenk, dean of the faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a former minister of health in Mexico; chemist Ei-Ichi Negishi, a Nobel laureate; and geneticist David Page, director of the Whitehead Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The academy provided this list of other new members who participated in the induction ceremony:

Humanities and the arts — author and literary critic Denis Donoghue, University Professor and the Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University; Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family; poet and essayist Rachel Hadas, the Board of Governors Professor of English at Rutgers University; novelist Oscar Hijuelos; Hollywood film producer Kathleen Kennedy; Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro; singer-songwriter Paul Simon; novelist and short story writer Luisa Valenzuela; and landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

Social sciences — Anthony Bryk, president, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Russian studies scholar Timothy Colton; sociologist Claude Fischer, whose research illuminates social networks in urban settings; Nancy Foner, a scholar of the American immigrant experience; and Sir Adam Roberts, president of the British Academy and an expert on international strategic affairs.

Public affairs, civic leadership, philanthropy and business — Wanda Austin, The Aerospace Corp.; veteran diplomat Edward Djerejian; Hugh Grant, Monsanto Co.; Robert Haas, Levi Strauss & Co.; Robert Kraft, New England Patriots and The Kraft Group; Will Miller, president, The Wallace Foundation; and Robert Reischauer, Urban Institute.

The new academy class in alphabetical order and by discipline.

Earlier coverage: "Linda P.B. Katehi elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences," UC Davis news release (April 20, 2011)