President Barabino Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

April 30, 2021

Olin College President Gilda A. Barabino has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Academy announced on Friday, April 23, 2021.

Barabino joins 252 newly elected members in 2021, 55% of whom are women. Her class includes artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, non-profit and private sectors. The Academy’s annual Induction weekend will take place in spring 2022.

The complete list of members elected in 2021 is available on the Academy’s website HERE. A list of current Academy members in Engineering and Technology is also available to view.

The Academy was established in 1780 by the country’s founders to provide guidance to a young nation that would face challenges and need expertise and excellence to emerge stronger. While the founders did not anticipate a year with a historic pandemic, overdue racial reckoning, and political strife, the purpose of electing new members is more compelling than ever.

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,” said David Oxtoby, President of the American Academy.

“The past year has been replete with evidence of how things can get worse; this is an opportunity to illuminate the importance of art, ideas, knowledge, and leadership that can make a better world.”

- David Oxtoby, President of the American Academy.

With this election, Barabino joins the company of notable Academy members – from founders John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maria Mitchell, and Alexander Graham Bell. Other distinguished members include Margaret Mead, Jonas Salk, Barbara McClintock, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aaron Copland, Martha Graham, John Hope Franklin, Georgia O’Keeffe, I.M. Pei, and Toni Morrison. International Members include Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Laurence Olivier, Mary Leakey, John Maynard Keynes, Akira Kurosawa, and Nelson Mandela. The Academy’s current members represent today’s innovative thinkers in every field and profession, including more than two hundred and fifty Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.