Three Named to AAAS

Three prominent Maryland faculty members are among the 178 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this week.

Heading the list is Maryland President C.D. Mote Jr., elected to the educational, scientific, cultural and philanthropic administration non-profit sector.

Ira Berlin, Distinguished University Professor of history in the College of Arts and Humanities, was elected to the arts and humanities sector.

William Galston, Saul I. Stern Professor of Civic Engagement in the School of Public Affairs, was elected to the political science, international relations and public policy sector.

Among public universities, Maryland this year ranked sixth in the number of electees to the academy, trailing only the University of California, Berkeley (7), UCLA, Michigan, UCSF and Washington (4 each). Texas, Ohio State and UC Irvine had three also, and no other public school had more than two.

The Academy, now in its 224th year, honors distinguished scientists, scholars and leaders in public affairs, business, administration and the arts. The academy's mission is to "cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people." Members participate in projects, publications and other activities in pursuit of that tradition.

Mote has been president of the University of Maryland since 1998. A mechanical engineer, he is a leader in research on the dynamics of gyroscopic systems, including high-speed translating and rotating systems.

Berlin, former dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, is nation's leading scholar on the history of slavery and slave life in the United States. He has published widely in both the popular and scholarly press, and he has written or edited five books on slavery in the U.S.

Galston, who was deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy during the first Clinton Administration and executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal, studies and teaches social policy, family policy, normative analysis, education policy and civic renewal.

A total of 16 University of Maryland faculty members are now Fellows of the AAAS. U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) also was elected a fellow this year.