University of Richmond Professor Elected Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
May 21, 2003
James MacGregor Burns, senior fellow in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The academy is the nation's oldest learned society. "Election is an honor that acknowledges the best of all scholarly fields and professions," said Patricia Meyer Spacks, academy president. Executive Officer Leslie Berlowitz said that throughout its history "the academy has gathered individuals with diverse perspectives to participate in studies and projects focusing on advancing intellectual thought and constructive action."
Of the 187 people named fellows this year, four are college presidents, three are Nobel Prize winners, and four, including Burns, are winners of the Pulitzer Prize. The 2003 class includes Kofi Annan, Walter Cronkite, novelist Michael Cunningham and William H. Gates Sr., father of Bill Gates, who was named a fellow in the 1990s.
For more than 220 years, the AAAS has served as an intellectual catalyst. Members work collaboratively on multidisciplinary studies of complex problems ranging from race relations to global security, health care, poverty and the state of the humanities.
Burns is author of "Leadership," which helped establish leadership studies as an academic discipline. His 1956 biography "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" was followed in 1970 by "Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom," which won the Pulitzer and National Book Award.
Burns is a graduate and professor emeritus of Williams College and received master's and doctoral degrees in government from Harvard. His affiliation with the Jepson School is his only current formal academic appointment. He was a founding faculty member of the school.
"This is an outstanding honor and further evidence how privileged we are to have him as our colleague," commented Kenneth P. Ruscio, dean of the Jepson School.
Burns is author of more than a dozen books, including the first biography of John F. Kennedy. His most recent book is "Transforming Leadership, A New Pursuit of Happiness," published this year. It looks at leadership in terms of issues leaders face today.