The American Philosophical Society Elects its First Woman President

Linda Greenhouse was recently elected the 37th president of the American Philosophical Society. She is the first woman to serve as president in the 273-year history of the society. Previous presidents have included Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

Greenhouse was elected to the society in 2001 and has served as vice president since 2012. In accepting the presidency, Greenhouse stated, “my involvement with the American Philosophical Society has been a source of learning and pleasure. My goal is to help the Society continue to fulfill its mission of intellectual inquiry and ‘promoting useful knowledge,’ and I am most honored by the confidence that my fellow members have placed in me.”

Greenhouse is the Knight Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence and the Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. She has had a distinguished 30-year career covering the U.S. Supreme Court for The New York Times. In 1998, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Greenhouse is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a master of studies in law degree from Yale Law School.

Linda Greenhouse’s sister is also member of the American Philosophical Society. Carol Greenhouse is the Arthur W. Marks Professor in the department of anthropology at Princeton University. They are the only sisters ever elected to the society.