Oxtoby and the Academy

Former Pomona College President David W. Oxtoby has been named the new president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A chemist by training, Oxtoby was elected a member of the academy in 2012. Founded in 1780, the academy honors and brings together members from across a wide range of disciplines to pursue nonpartisan research and provide critical insight on issues of importance to the nation and the world. The list of Oxtoby’s predecessors at the helm of the academy includes former U.S. presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams; the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Theodore William Richards; and the co-founder of the Polaroid Company, Edwin Herbert Land.