President Bennet ’59 Named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Remember Dougie B? Neither do I—the last Wesleyan class to have overlapped with President Douglas J. Bennet ’59’s 1995-2007 term just graduated in 2010. Three cheers for limited institutional memory.

Turns out Bennet (whose son Michael ’87 was reelected Colorado senator in one of the nation’s most heated senate races just last fall, by the way) has just been named to one of the most prestigious academic honorary societies in the world—the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, which describes itself as  “an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems.” From the Wesleyan Connection:

As one of 212 new AAAS members, Bennet joins one of the world’s most prestigious honorary societies and leading centers for independent policy research.

“It is a privilege to honor these men and women for their extraordinary individual accomplishments,” said Leslie Berlowitz, Academy President and William T. Golden Chair. “The knowledge and expertise of our members give the Academy a unique capacity – and responsibility – to provide practical policy solutions to the pressing challenges of the day. We look forward to engaging our new members in this work.”

For more archival deets on our fifteenth president, you may be interested in . . .

• Wesleying’s storied “Dougie B” tag
• Douglas J. Bennet: Wesleyan’s Fifteenth President
• A 1995 Argus article discussing Bennet’s appointment (that same issue features this So-Wesleyan-It-Hurts headline)
• The 1995 Ampersand Welcomes Doug Bennet!

[Wesleyan Connection]