Two UF professors were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious societies and independent research centers.
Robert Dan Holt, who holds the Arthur R. Marshall, Jr. chair in ecological studies, and Michael Edward Moseley, distinguished professor of anthropology, attended the induction ceremony earlier this month in Cambridge, Mass.
Holt said he was taken by surprise when he found out he was nominated in the Spring.
“I was tickled,” he said. “It came totally out of the blue. I had no idea this was cooking out there.”
This year’s inductees include actress Sally Field, filmmaker Ken Burns and jazz musician Herbie Hancock, according to a news release. Inductees also included Nobel and Pulitzer Prize recipients and Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Academy Award winners.
“I was very pleased to be on the same list as the names of some of the other people who were elected to be fellows this year,” Holt said.
Susan deFrance, anthropology department chair and wife of Moseley, said she was excited Moseley was chosen to be a part of the Academy.
“This is such a diverse group of scholars,” deFrance said. “It’s a nice recognition of a lifetime’s worth of work.”
David Grove, Jerald Milanich and Maxine Margolis of the anthropology department were also inducted into the Academy in previous years, deFrance said.
Holt said other famous members of the Academy who he admired were Charles Darwin, Paul McCartney and the mathematician Leonhard Euler.
“You know, we don’t do what we do because we’re trying to get awards and honors like this,” Holt said. “It’s wonderful when it happens, but it’s because we think what we do is interesting, we love our disciplines and we think it’s important. We’re delighted when somebody thinks we’ve made a contribution.”
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/22/2013 under the headline "Professors inducted into academy"
