Three Penn Professors Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Three University of Pennsylvania professors have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Beverly Davidson of the Perelman School of Medicine, Samuel Freeman of Law School and School of Arts & Sciences and Pamela Grossman, dean of the Graduate School of Education.

The list of the 237th class of new members is available here. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 7 in Cambridge, Mass., where the Academy is based.

·      Beverly Davidson is the Arthur V. Meigs Chair in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine. A nationally recognized expert, she investigates gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases. Before joining Penn in 2014, she held several positions at the University of Iowa, including associate director of the Center for Gene Therapy.

·      Samuel Freeman is a professor of philosophy and law and the Avalon Professor in the Humanities in the Department of Philosophy. He works in social and political philosophy, ethics and philosophy of law. Freeman came to Penn in 1985, the year he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

​​​​​​​·      Pamela Grossman, the George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education, is a leading voice on quality teaching in the United States. Before joining Penn in January 2015, she was a professor at Stanford University’s School of Education. At Stanford, she founded and led the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching and established a fellowship for early career teachers in underserved schools.

“It is an honor to welcome this new class of exceptional women and men as part of our distinguished membership,” said Don Randel, chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors. “Their talents and expertise will enrich the life of the Academy and strengthen our capacity to spread knowledge and understanding in service to the nation.”