October 9, 2009 — John T. Casteen III, president of the University of Virginia, is among 212 fellows being inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' 229th class on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass.

The program celebrates pioneering research and scholarship, artistic achievement and exemplary service to society.

U.Va. faculty members who will be inducted are:

Kenneth Abraham, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law;
Judy S. DeLoache, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology; and
Timothy Wilson, Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology.

Several people with U.Va. affiliations are also in the 2009 class:

J. Harvie Wilkerson, judge on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a Law School alumnus, U.Va. law professor and the 2009 U.Va. commencement speaker;
Choreographer Bill T. Jones, who led a weeklong residency at U.Va. earlier this year in preparation for a work honoring the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth;
Michael Klarman, historian and legal scholar and Bancroft Prize-winning author, former U.Va. faculty member who now teaches at Harvard University;
Claes H. von Hofsten of Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, who was a visiting professor psychology in the late 1990s.

As part of the induction ceremony, five members of the new class will address their colleagues: Terence Tao, ground-breaking mathematician and Fields Medal recipient; Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California Ronald George; Edward Villella, celebrated ballet dancer and choreographer; and Kent Kresa, former Northrop Grumman Corporation chairman and CEO.

The ceremony will also include actor James Earl Jones and singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris reading from the letters of John and Abigail Adams.

"The induction ceremony celebrates the Academy's mission and the accomplishments of its newly elected members," said Leslie Berlowitz , the academy's chief executive officer. "Through three centuries of service, the Academy and its Fellows have been dedicated to intellectual leadership and constructive action in America and the world."

The 212 new Fellows and 19 Foreign Honorary Members are leaders in research, scholarship, business, the arts and public affairs. They come from 28 states and 11 countries and range in age from 33 to 83. They represent universities, museums, national laboratories, research institutes, businesses and foundations. This year's group includes Nobel laureates and recipients of the Pulitzer and Pritzker prizes, MacArthur Fellowships, Academy, Grammy and Tony awards, and the National Medal of Arts.

A complete list of new members is available on the Academy's Web site.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. Current academy research focuses on science and technology policy; global security; social policy; the humanities and culture; and education.

With headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., the academy's work is advanced by its 4,600 elected members, who are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business and public affairs from around the world.