Prof Akinwumi Ogundiran of the Northwestern University has been elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He was elected along with eight members of the faculty. Ogundiran, a professor of history and Cardiss Collins Professor of Arts and Sciences at Weinberg College and the only Nigerian on the board.
He is the author of The Yoruba: A New History (2020) among many other books and articles in journals. He specializes in the archaeology and history of Africa since 500 BC. His current research intersects cultural, political economy and environmental approaches to study the history of complex social systems.
Ogundiran directs the Material History Lab in the department of history. He is an elected member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, fellow of the Archaeological Association of Nigeria, and fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and has been awarded the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal for Research Excellence from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Certificate of Special U.S. Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Service.
His research has been supported by the National Geographic Society, the Carnegie Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Humanities Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
He is the current president of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists.
Other members elected from Northwestern University are Christine Brennan, Cynthia Coburn, Jennifer Lackey, Gregory Miller, Frederic Rasio, Sergio Rebelo, Daniel Rodriguez and Brian Uzzi.
They are among 250 members elected in 2025. They are recognized for their excellence and commitment to uphold the Academy’s mission of engaging with professions across different perspectives.
A statement by Laurie L. Patton, president of the Academy said, “These new members’ accomplishments speak volumes about the human capacity for discovery, creativity, leadership and persistence. They are a stellar testament to the power of knowledge to broaden our horizons and deepen our understanding. We invite every new member to celebrate their achievement and join the Academy in our work to promote the common good.”
The Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock and others. It was founded on ideals that celebrate the life of the mind, the importance of knowledge and the belief that the arts and sciences are “necessary to the interest, honor, dignity and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people.”
Ogundiran and other newly elected members are to join other prominent Academy members elected before them. These include Benjamin Franklin (elected 1781) and Alexander Hamilton (1791) in the eighteenth century; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Maria Mitchell (1848), and Charles Darwin (1874) in the nineteenth; Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost (1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Milton Friedman (1959), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966), and Jacques Derrida (1985) in the twentieth; and, in this century, Madeleine K. Albright (2001), Antonin Scalia (2003), Jennifer Doudna (2003), John Legend (2017), David W. Miliband (2018), Anna Deavere Smith (2019), Salman Rushdie (2022), and Xuedong Huang (2023).
The Induction ceremonies for new members will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October 2025.
