Trinity College President and Professor of Neuroscience Joanne Berger-Sweeney was among the 213 newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this past spring.
Members of the academy, one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, include some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, and artists, as well as civic, business, and philanthropic leaders. Among the honorees joining Berger-Sweeney in the 238th class of new members are actor Tom Hanks, Netflix CEO W. Reed Hastings Jr., former U.S. president Barack Obama, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor. Members were elected in 25 categories and represent 125 institutions. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony in October in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“This is truly a great honor that I share with my family and friends and with Trinity College, which I’m privileged to serve,” said Berger-Sweeney, Trinity’s president since 2014. “To be elected to the academy is an extraordinary highlight of my career in science and education.”
Over the past four years, she has, among other accomplishments, overseen the completion of the college’s strategic plan, Summit; the creation of the Bantam Network mentoring program for first-year students; the launch of the Campaign for Community, a campus initiative promoting inclusiveness and respect; and the expansion of Trinity’s footprint to Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford.
Before coming to Trinity, Berger-Sweeney served for four years as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University. Prior to Tufts, she spent 13 years as a member of the Wellesley College faculty and as associate dean from 2004 to 2010. Berger-Sweeney received her undergraduate degree in psychobiology from Wellesley College and her M.P.H. in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. While working on her Ph.D. in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Berger-Sweeney did the proof of concept work on Razadyne, which went on to be the second-most-used Alzheimer’s drug in the world. She completed her postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Health (INSERM) in Paris, France.
Berger-Sweeney joins Trinity community members Francisco Goldman, Allan K. Smith Professor of English Language and Literature at Trinity, and Philip S. Khoury ’71, vice chair of the college’s Board of Trustees and associate provost and Ford International Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as members of the academy.
[icon] To see the full class of new members, please visit the American Academy of Arts & Sciences website.