Richard Alba and Charles Mills Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced that Distinguished Professor Richard D. Alba (Sociology) and Distinguished Professor Charles W. Mills (Philosophy) [right] have been elected as members.
 
They join a 2017 class composed of some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, and artists, as well as civic, business, and philanthropic leaders.  
 
“It is an honor to welcome this new class of exceptional women and men as part of our distinguished membership,” said Don Randel, Chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors, in a statement. “Their talents and expertise will enrich the life of the Academy and strengthen our capacity to spread knowledge and understanding in service to the nation.” 

An esteemed scholar of race and urban sociology, Professor Alba also serves on the staff of the GC's Center for Urban Research. Increasingly, his teaching and research have taken on a comparative focus, encompassing the immigration societies of North America and Western Europe.
 
Professor Mills, a celebrated and prolific author, focuses on social and political philosophy, particularly in oppositional political theory as centered on class, gender, and race. His first book, The Racial Contract (Cornell University Press, 1997), is now read in hundreds of courses nationwide, from philosophy to anthropology.
 
Among the Academy's Fellows are more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as MacArthur Fellows; Fields Medalists; Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Arts recipients; and Academy Award, Grammy Award, Emmy Award, and Tony Award winners. 
 
The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 7, 2017, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.