A few days ago Jim got an email telling him he was elected to be a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Yesterday the FedEx package arrived with a few more details. It had been sent to his former department at Notre Dame and had to be forwarded to us in Princeton. Jim joins an illustrious group of fellows including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Willa Cather--and a few others from our own era that we know personally (all of whom were members of our rather small church in South Bend)--George Marsden, Al Plantinga, and Mark Noll. This year's group of over 250 folks includes Glenn Close and Salman Rushdie so it is a collection of scholars, performers, and artists. There will be an induction event in Cambridge, Massachusetts sometime next year. Jim needs to write an acceptance letter, some of which end up being framed and on the wall of the Academy offices.
A joy of the last few days has been his getting emails from former colleagues at Notre Dame and folks who are already members of the Academy who are congratulating him. Notre Dame was quick to seize on the publicity and a public relations person has contacted Jim for his comments. Jim received emails from the head of the theology department and from Father Jenkins, the president of the university. I passed on the news to our children, one of whom was curious as to who had nominated him. Well, a bit of detective work has answered that question when we saw who was copied into the letter of nomination that was in the FedEx package, not the original email.
Jim is retired but continues to enjoy doing his research. His work and his contributions are not over. I am very proud of Jim's accomplishments and so happy to have him receive this honor!
No comments:
Post a Comment