August 28, 2025 #1 Local News, Information and Event Source for the Century City/Westwood areas.

8 UCLA Professors Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Stuart Wolpert/UCLA Newsroom

Eight faculty members were elected April 22 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies. A total of 252 artists, scholars, scientists and leaders in the public, nonprofit and private sectors were elected to the academy today, including honorary members from 17 countries.

UCLA’s 2021 honorees are:

Terence Blanchard, a six-time Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter, composer and music educator, holds UCLA’s Kenny Burrell Chair in Jazz Studies in UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. Blanchard has released 20 solo albums and composed more than 60 film scores. Blanchard served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (now named the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz) from 2000 to 2011. In this role, he presented masterclasses and worked with students in the areas of artistic development, arranging, composition and career counseling. Today, the institute partners with music school to offer the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA, a special college-level program that allows masters of jazz to pass on their expertise to the next generation of jazz musicians.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a distinguished professor of law in the UCLA School of Law, is an expert on race and the law, structural racism and discrimination based on race, gender and class. A renowned scholar on civil rights and constitutional law, Crenshaw was a founder and has been a leader in the intellectual movement called critical race theory. She is the executive director of the African American Policy Forum, an innovative think tank connecting academics, activists and policy-makers to dismantle structural inequality and engage new ideas and perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” more than 30 years ago to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap.

Barbara Geddes, professor emeritus and former chair of political science, conducts research on the breakdown of authoritarian regimes, democratization, authoritarian transitions and political development, with a focus on Latin American politics. Geddes’ early work included studies of bureaucratic reform and corruption in Brazil and the politics of economic policy-making in Latin America. Early conclusions from her research about regime duration and modes of transition were published in “What Do We Know about Democratization after Twenty Years, Annual Review of Political Science 2” (1999). Geddes also published a book on comparative political research methods called “Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics” (2003).

Elisabeth Le Guin, professor of musicology in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, is a Baroque cellist, and was a founding member of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Artaria String Quartet. In recent years, Le Guin has become involved in the movimiento jaranero, a transnational grassroots musical activism in Mexico and Mexican immigrant communities in the United States. She has written two books, “Boccherini’s Body: an Essay in Carnal Musicology” (2006) and “The Tonadillo in Performance: Lyric Comedy in Enlightenment Spain” (2014), both published by UC Press. She received the American Musicological Society’s Alfred Einstein and Noah Greenberg Awards. She re-started UCLA´s Early Music Ensemble in 2009 after a 15-year hiatus.

Kelly Lytle Hernández, a professor of history and African American studies, is the director of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. Lytle Hernández was awarded a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which said her research on “the intersecting histories of race, mass incarceration, immigration, and cross-border politics is deepening our understanding of how imprisonment has been used as a mechanism for social control in the United States.” One of the nation’s leading experts on race, immigration and mass incarceration, she is the author of the award-winning books, “Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol” (University of California Press, 2010), and “City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles” (University of North Carolina Press, 2017). She holds UCLA’s Thomas E. Lifka Chair in History, and is the principal investigator for Million Dollar Hoods, a university-based, community-drive research project that maps the fiscal and human cost of mass incarceration in Los Angeles.

Daniel Posner, UCLA’s James S. Coleman Professor of International Development, focuses his political science research on ethnic politics, research design, distributive politics and the political economy of development in Africa. His most recent co-authored book, “Coethnicity: Diversity and the Dilemmas of Collective Action,” (Russell Sage, 2009) employs experimental games to probe the sources of poor public goods provision in ethnically diverse communities. His first book was “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa.” (Cambridge, 2005). He is the co-founder of the Working Group in African Political Economy, a member of the Evidence in Governance and Politics network, a faculty associate of the Center for Effective Global Action and a research affiliate of the International Growth Center.

Marilyn Raphael, professor of geography and interim director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, is the co-author of the award-winning book “The Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate Change: A Complete Visual Guide,” and the author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles. Raphael was elected vice president of the American Association of Geographers, the world’s largest geography society effective July 1 of this year. Her research expertise includes atmospheric circulation dynamics, Antarctic sea ice variability and global climate change. She has been committed to introducing undergraduates to the world of climatology and graduate students to the joys of research.

Victoria Sork, is a distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a renowned plant evolutionary biologist. Sork was award the 2020 Molecular Ecology Prize, which recognizes an outstanding scientist who has made significant contributions to the field. Elected in 2004 as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she has conducted pioneering research in the field of landscape genomics, which integrates genomics, evolutionary biology and conservation science. She is particularly concerned with the ecological and genetic processes that will determine whether California oaks will tolerate climate change. She and members of her laboratory conduct research throughout California and Western North America from Baja California through Alaska. Research she led in 2019 examines whether the trees being replanted in the wake of California’s fires will be able to survive a climate that is continuing to warm.

“We are honoring the excellence of these individuals, celebrating what they have achieved so far and imagining what they will continue to accomplish,” said David Oxtoby, president of the academy. “The past year has been replete with evidence of how things can get worse; this is an opportunity to illuminate the importance of art, ideas, knowledge and leadership that can make a better world.”

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock and others who believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals. Previous fellows have included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and UCLA astrophysicist Andrea Ghez.

It also is an independent policy research center that undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. Current academy members represent today’s innovative thinkers in many fields and professions, including more than 250 Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.

Related Posts

(Video) The Opening of Mr. Charlie’s with Santa Monica Mayor Lana Negrete

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Vegan burger restaurant with brightly colored decor now open on 26th street across fromthe Brentwood Country Mart. The Opening of...

California Pizza Kitchen Debuts Heart-Shaped Pizza Celebrating Swift–Kelce

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

13 Days of Engagement Pizzas, and Return of Hot Honey Flavors California Pizza Kitchen is rolling out a series of...

Culver Hotel Celebrates 101 Years With 101 Anniversary Menu and Live Music

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Guests Can Enjoy a Four-Course Meal, Nightly Performances, Trivia Contest The historic Culver Hotel is celebrating its 101st anniversary this...

Westside Chefs Shine at the Manhattan Beach Food & Wine Festival in September

August 27, 2025

August 27, 2025

South Bay’s Culinary Festival Returns With Two Nights of Food, Wine, and Music Santa Monica, Westchester, Los Angeles, and West...

(Video) Come Tour The Willows Community School!

August 27, 2025

August 27, 2025

Sign up for a tour at The Willows and come see what makes our school such a vibrant, inspiring place...

Jewish Clergy Rally in Los Angeles Urging Ceasefire, Hostage Release, and Food Aid for Gaza

August 27, 2025

August 27, 2025

Two Dozen Rabbis Gathered at Israeli Consulate, Hostage’s Family Appears at Second Rally Jewish clergy from across Los Angeles County...

Metro LA’s Aug. 30 Deadline for Public Comment on Sepulveda Transit Draft EIR Approaches

August 27, 2025

August 27, 2025

Community Members Can Weigh In Before the 90-Day Comment Period Closes. Metro is reminding community members that the 90-day public...

Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Culver City, and Uni High Gear Up for Early-Season Games

August 26, 2025

August 26, 2025

The Centaurs, Eagles, Normans, and Wildcats Face Key Matchups This Week Football season is heating up across our area, with...

I-405 to See Lane Reductions, Ramp Closures as Pavement Rehab Project Continues

August 26, 2025

August 26, 2025

Drivers Should Expect Delays With Overnight Work Aug. 26–28, Sept. 5 Motorists using Interstate 405 through the Sepulveda Pass should...

Kobe Day Tribute: Lakers Welcome UCLA Newborns With Purple-and-Gold Gifts

August 26, 2025

August 26, 2025

Babies Received Adorable Care Packages in Celebration of “Kobe Day.” Families welcoming newborns at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center and...

Suspect Arrested After Eight-Hour SWAT Standoff in Jefferson Park Shooting

August 26, 2025

August 26, 2025

 Police Say a Man Was Killed and a Suspect Barricaded Himself Inside a Home Hours after a fatal shooting near...

Attorney General Rob Bonta Secures Release of $900M in Frozen Education Funds for California

August 25, 2025

August 25, 2025

Trump Administration Agrees to Release Frozen Education Funds  California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday that the Trump administration has...

“Rich Rollin” Burglary Crew Linked to 92 Break-Ins Taken Down in LAPD Operation

August 25, 2025

August 25, 2025

Ten Suspects, Including Confirmed Gang Members, Face Charges Nearly 100 residential burglaries across the city have been tied to a...

Oakley Founder Relists Beverly Hills Fortress for $65.995 Million

August 25, 2025

August 25, 2025

James Jannard’s Brutalist Mansion in Trousdale Estates For Sale The brutalist estate built by Oakley founder James Jannard is back...

18-Year-Old Woman Fatally Shot While Trying to Break Up a Fight on a Metro Bus

August 24, 2025

August 24, 2025

Police Say the Teen Was Killed in Westchester After Intervening in a Dispute  Efforts to break up a fight on...