Press Release - Incoming Chancellor Named to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

May 1, 2002

Incoming Chancellor Named to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

William E. "Brit" Kirwan, incoming chancellor for the University System of Maryland (USM) and the current president of Ohio State University, has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), the nation's preeminent learned society and research institution.

AAAS announced Kirwan's election on April 30 as one of 177 Fellows and 30 Foreign Honorary Members in the class of 2002. He is joined by one current and one former U.S. Senator, three other college presidents, three Nobel Prize winners, six Pulitzer Prize winners, three MacArthur fellows and six Guggenheim fellows.

"I am deeply honored and completely surprised to be recognized in this way by the Academy," Kirwan said from his office at Ohio State. "I was unaware that I had even been nominated.  In fact, I learned this news from an e-mail message sent by an Academy member late last night.  Needless to say, I was too excited to get much sleep."

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, former U.S. Sen. Warren Rudman, violinist Itzhak Perlman, Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston, author and physician Oliver Sacks, National Medal Of Science For Research On Mental Illness recipient Nancy C. Andreasen, and Nobel Prize winning chemist George Olah are among this year's new Fellows. This year's election maintains the Academy's practice of honoring intellectual achievement, leadership and creativity in all fields. A full list of new members is available on the AAAS website, http://www.amacad.org/members/new2002list.htm.

"The Academy is pleased to welcome these outstanding and influential individuals to the nation's most illustrious learned society. Election to the American Academy is the result of a highly competitive process that recognizes those who have made preeminent contributions to all scholarly fields and professions," said Patricia Meyer Spacks, AAAS president. "The Academy is pleased to welcome these outstanding and influential individuals to the nation's most illustrious learned society."

The Academy will welcome this year's new Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members at its annual induction ceremony at the AAAS headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. on October 5.

Kirwan assumes the chancellorship of the University System of Maryland on August 1. He succeeds Donald N. Langenberg, who retired on April 30.

The Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people."

The Academy has elected as Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members the best and brightest leaders from each generation, including George Washington and Ben Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th. The current membership includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.

Contact:

Chris Hart
Phone: 301/445-2739
E-mail: chart@usmd.edu