ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan Provost Philip Hanlon and David Cohen, the John Dewey Collegiate Professor of Education at the School of Education, have been named as fellows by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

AAAS is a prestigious society that recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions in scholarly and professional fields.

Hanlon and Cohen are among 198 new members, who are some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders. 

”Election to the academy honors individual accomplishment and calls upon members to serve the public good,” said AAAS President Leslie Berlowitz. “We look forward to drawing on the knowledge and expertise of these distinguished men and women to advance solutions to the pressing policy challenges of the day.

Hanlon, executive vice president for academic affairs, closes his distinguished U-M career with the AAAS honor before departing to become the 18th president of Dartmouth College, his alma mater.

“Studies undertaken by the Academy often shape new fields of study, making important contributions to our understanding of the world,” said Hanlon, who is also the Donald J. Lewis Professor of Mathematics and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. “It is an honor to be asked to join in this work.”

Cohen, who also is a professor of public policy and education policy at U-M’s Ford School of Public Policy and currently a visiting professor at Harvard, has research interests in educational policy, the relations between policy and instruction, and the improvement of teaching. His work has included studies of the effects of schooling, various efforts to reform schools and teaching, the evaluation of educational experiments and large-scale intervention programs, and the relations between research and policy.

“I am honored to have been included in such distinguished company,” he said. “I am delighted to be in the same cohort with my friends Richard Murnane, Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot and Marshall Smith. And I am pleased to be in the company of such devoted conservationists as Pete Seeger and Wendell Berry.”

This year’s new members include director and actor Robert De Niro, actor Sally Field, jazz musician Herbie Hancock, singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and astronaut and former Sen. John Glenn.

Since its founding in 1780, AAAS 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 Margaret Mead in the 20th.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony Oct. 12, 2013, at AAAS headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Related Link:

• List of new AAAS members: www.amacad.org/members.aspx