American Academy of Political and Social Science

The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James [Falkner, Roland P. (1896) "Editorial" "Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science" 7: pp. 74-77] and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Bryn Mawr College, the Academy sought to establish communication between "scientific thought and practical effort". [http://www.aapss.org/section.cfm/3/13 "About the Academy: History" "American Academy of Political and Social Science"] ] The goal of its founders was to foster, across disciplines, important questions in the realm of social sciences, and to promote the work of those whose research aimed to address important social problems. Today the AAPSS is headquartered at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and aims to continue to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on important social issues.

Establishment

The primary modes of communication were to be the bimonthly journal, "The Annals", ["Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science" ISSN 0002-7162] , annual meetings, symposia, and special publications. Difficult topics were not avoided. The 1901 annual meeting was on race relations in America, [http://www.aapss.org/uploads/futureofacademy.pdf Lara, Antonio and Rich, Paul (2003) "The American Academy of Political and Social Science in the Twenty-First Century" Special publication American Academy of Political and Social Science] ] and included a paper by Booker T. Washington. [Lindsay, Samuel McCune (1901) "Report of the Academy Committee on Meetings. Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Philadelphia, April 12 and 13, 1901" "Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science" 18: pp. 181-187 ]

Membership was "open and inclusive" with emphasis on intelligent inquiry, women were included in the initial membership. The Academy's members have included not only academicians, but distinguished public servants such as Herbert Hoover and Francis Perkins. Perhaps for this reason, it is not a member of the American Council of Learned Societies. [ [http://www.acls.org/ls-cao.htm#socs "ACLS Constituent Learned Societies" "American Council of Learned Societies"] ] Nevertheless in 2000 the Academy began selecting and installing "Fellows" in recognition of social scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the field.Pearson, Robert W. (2003) "A New Look at The American Academy of Political and Social Science" "Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science" 585(Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century): pp. 6-7, p.7 ]

Presidents of the Academy

* 1889-1895 - Edmund J. James
* 1896-1900 - Roland P. Falkner (acting in the absence of Edmund J. James)
* 1900-1902 - Samuel McCune Lindsay
* 1902-1929 - Leo S. Rowe
* 1930-1952 - Ernest M. Patterson
* 1953–1970 - James C. Charlesworth
* 1970–1972 - Richard D. Lambert
* 1972–1998 - Marvin E. Wolfgang
* 1998–1999 - Kathleen Hall Jamieson
* 1999–2001 - Jaroslav Pelikan
* 2001–2005 - Lawrence W. Sherman
* 2006–present - Douglas S. Massey

Publications

The Annals

"The Annals", a policy and scientific journal in political and social science, began publication in July 1890 and continues to this day (2007). Authors and special editors of The Annals have included influential individuals, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, W.E.B. DuBois, Margaret Mead, Thurgood Marshall, Mahatma Gandhi, Booker T. Washington. "The Annals" has been published by SAGE Publications since 1981. In 2003 it changed from its traditional plain orange cover to including photographs.

'The Annals" has covered topics ranging from “The World’s Food” (November, 1917) to “The Motion Picture and its Economic and Social Aspects” (November 1926), “Women in the Modern World” (May, 1929), “America and Japan” (May, 1941), “Urban Renewal Goals and Standards (March, 1964), and “The Global Refugee Problem” (May, 1982). More recent volumes have focused on such topics as “Confronting the Specter of Nuclear Terrorism,” and “Race, Ethnicity and Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market."

Editors

* 1890-1895, Edmund J. James
* 1896-1900, Roland P. Falkner
* Jan. 1901-Mar. 1902, Henry R. Seager
* May 1902-Sept. 1914, Emory R. Johnson
* Nov. 1914-July 1929, Clyde L. King
* Sept. 1929-July 1951, Thorsten Sellin

Academy Blog

In 2006, the "Academy Blog" [ [http://blog.AAPSS.org/ "AAPSS Blog"] ] was created to take advantage of the Internet to provide a forum for ideas and research in the social sciences.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.aapss.org/ "American Academy of Political and Social Science" official website]
* [http://blog.aapss.org/ "Academy Blog" official website]

Not to be confused with

* American Academy of Arts and Letters
* American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* American Association for the Advancement of Sciences
* American Political Science Association
* American Social Science Association
* United States National Academy of Sciences