Hollins University President Mary Dana Hinton has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, an organization established in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, and others among the nation’s founders to honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good.
Announcing this year’s new members, the Academy stated, “The 2021 election provides an opportunity to recognize extraordinary people who help solve the world’s most urgent challenges, create meaning through art, and contribute to the common good from every field, discipline, and profession.”
“We are honoring the excellence of these individuals, celebrating what they have achieved so far, and imagining what they will continue to accomplish,” added David Oxtoby, president of the Academy. “This is an opportunity to illuminate the importance of art, ideas, knowledge, and leadership that can make a better world.”
The Academy’s newest members are grouped in 30 sections within five classes. Hinton is among the seven elected in the Educational and Academic Leadership section from the Leadership, Policy, and Communications class. Other new members from this section are Joy Connolly, American Council of Learned Societies; Michael M. Crow, Arizona State University; John W. Etchemendy, Stanford University; Katherine E. Fleming, New York University; Kumble R. Subbaswamy, University of Massachusetts Amherst; and H. Holden Thorp, American Association for the Advancement of Science. They join other artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors elected this year including:
- Economist Dirk Bergemann, Yale University
- Civil rights lawyer and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, Columbia Law School; UCLA School of Law
- Neurosurgeon and medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, CNN; Emory University
- Civil rights activist and math literacy pioneer Robert Moses, The Algebra Project
- Composer, songwriter, and performer Robbie Robertson
- Journalist Kara Swisher, VOX Media Inc.; The New York Times
- Atmospheric scientist Anne Thompson, NASA/Godard Space Flight Center
- Media entrepreneur and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey
The Academy noted that 55% of the members elected in 2021 are women.
“While it is noteworthy that we continue to elect members more than 240 years after the Academy’s founding, this is about more than maintaining traditions,” said Academy Board of Directors Chair Nancy C. Andrews. “We recognize individuals who use their talents and their influence to confront today’s challenges, to lift our spirits through the arts, and to help shape our collective future.”
The new class joins Academy members elected before them, including Benjamin Franklin (1781), Alexander Hamilton (1791), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Charles Darwin (1874), Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost (1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Martin Luther King Jr. (1966), Anthony Fauci (1991), Antonin Scalia (2003), John Legend (2017), and Anna Devere Smith (2019).
