Women Scholars Elected to Membership of the American Philosophical Society

The American Philosophical Society was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. The society honors distinguished scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, artists, and societal leaders with membership in the society. More than 240 members of the APS have won Nobel prizes. Members have included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Frost, Thomas Edison, Sandra Day O’Connor, Charles Darwin, Toni Morrison, and Albert Einstein.

This year 33 new members were elected to the society. Of these, 28 are Americans and five new members are from foreign countries. Of the 28 new American members, 11 are women. Eight of the 11 women selected as new members of the society have ties to the academic world.

Joanna Aizenberg, Ann Martin Graybiel, Carol W. Greider, and Sara McLanahan

Joanna Aizenberg is the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University. She also serves as the director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard. Professor Aizenberg joined the faculty at Harvard in 2007. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Moscow State University in Russia and a Ph.D. in structural biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Ann Martin Graybiel is Institute Professor and professor of neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She joined the MIT faculty in 1993. Professor Graybiel is a graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in biology and chemistry. She earned a master’s degree from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in psychology from MIT.

Carol W. Greider is the Daniel Nathans Professor and chair of the department of molecular biology and genetics and the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Greider shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara and holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sara McLanahan is the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey. She also serves as director of the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at the university. Professor McLanahan is editor-in-chief of the journal The Future of Children. She is the author or editor of several books including Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution in Child Support Enforcement (Russell Sage Foundation, 1996). Dr. McLanahan is a graduate of the University of Houston and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas.

Ellen T. Harris, Irene J. Winter, Suzanne Farrell, and Joyce Carol Oates

Ellen T. Harris is the Class of 1949 Professor of Music Emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has served as president of the American Musicological Society. Her most recent book is George Frideric Handel: A Life with Friends (W. W. Norton, 2014). Professor Harris is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Irene J. Winter is the William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts Emerita at Harvard University. She joined the faculty at Harvard in 1988. Dr. Winter is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City, where she majored in anthropology. She holds a master’s degree in Near Eastern studies from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in art and archaeology from Columbia University in New York.

Suzanne Farrell is the Francis Eppes Professor of Dance at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She joined the Florida State faculty in 2000. Farrell is also the founder and artistic director of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. She has appeared in more than 2,000 ballet performances. Professor Farrell was trained at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

Joyce Carol Oates is the Roger S. Belind ’52 Professor in the Humanities Emerita and professor of creative writing emerita at Princeton University. She first joined the Princeton faculty in 1978. Professor Oates has authored more than 40 novels. She won the National Book Award for fiction in 1969 for her novel Them. Professor Oates was the valedictorian of her class at Syracuse University and earned a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin.