Dean Ernest J. Wilson III has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies.
“Dean Wilson and Distinguished Professor Midori (another USC faculty member elected) continue to advance their respective fields with innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to ways of communicating – through new mediums of technology and through the beauty of a musical composition,” said USC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Elizabeth Garrett. “Their work and dedication reflect the values of our academic community, and their election into this venerated academy celebrates great scholarship of consequence.”
Dean Wilson is holder of the Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication. Wilson’s experience at the intersection of communication and public policy spans the private and public sectors. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the United Nations, led research centers and academic departments at premier institutions of higher education, such as the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, and worked in government at the White House National Security Council and the U.S. Information Agency. He also advised President Barack Obama’s transition team on matters of communication technology and public diplomacy.
Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 2000, Wilson served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2000 to 2010, the last year as chairman. He is a member of the Carnegie-Knight Commission on the Future of Journalism Education and The National Academies Board on Research Data and Information.
Wilson’s academic focus is on the convergence of communication and information technology, public policy and the public interest. His current work concentrates on China-Africa relations, global sustainable innovation in high-technology industries, and the role of politics in the diffusion of information and communication technologies.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be elected to the Academy of Arts & Sciences,” Dean Wilson said. “With its remarkable history and mission to solve complex and emerging social problems, the Academy is a testament to the power of collaborative thinking across the arts and sciences. I am delighted to be included in the company of so many distinguished, multidisciplinary scholars and leaders, and I look forward to contributing to the advancement of the Academy’s goals.”
Since its founding in 1780, the Academy 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 Winston Churchill in the 20th. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
With the election of this year’s class, the number of living fellows from the USC faculty is 27, in addition to five members from the USC Board of Trustees.
“Election to the Academy is both an honor for extraordinary accomplishment and a call to serve,” said American Academy of Arts & Sciences president Leslie C. 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.”
The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 6, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.
University professor Geoffrey Cowan, director of USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, was named an American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellow in 2009.
