Mahoney, Jeffries Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
by Mary Wood
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University of Virginia Law School Dean Paul G. Mahoney and former dean John C. Jeffries, Jr. have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the organization announced today. They join 227 other leaders in the sciences, the humanities and the arts, business, public affairs and the nonprofit sector named today to one of the world’s most prestigious honorary societies.
“I am deeply honored to join several outstanding members of the Law School faculty as a fellow of the American Academy,” Mahoney said.“It is inspiring to be part of an organization of which John Adams was a founder and Thomas Jefferson a member.”
“The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a group that anyone would feel honored to join,” Jeffries said.“I am pleased and deeply grateful.”
Established in 1780 by John Adams and other founders of the nation, the academy undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems and conducts a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. A complete list of the 2010 class of new members is available online.
“We are pleased to welcome these distinguished individuals into the Academy,” said Leslie Berlowitz, chief executive officer and William T. Golden Chair. “We look forward to drawing on their knowledge and expertise to provide practical policy solutions to the pressing issues of the day.”
Mahoney and Jeffries join Law School Professors Kenneth S. Abraham, Frederick Schauer and G. Edward White as fellows of the academy. Professor Douglas Laycock, who will join the Law School faculty in the fall, is also a fellow.
“I am delighted with the election of John Jeffries and Paul Mahoney as fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,” White said. “In addition to a well-deservedrecognition of their scholarly and professional accomplishments, their election is an indication of the growing number of current Virginia faculty members who have become members of the academy over the past few years. Election to the academy is a rigorous process that includes assessments of candidates by fellows from multiple disciplines, and the number of law faculty selected each year is quite small. This is an honor in which all of the UVA Law community can take pride.”
The new class will be inducted at an Oct. 9 ceremony at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.
Since its founding by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin 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 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
