Jonathan Fanton

I am an American historian and President Emeritus of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Before coming to the Academy, I served as Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. From 1999 to 2009, I was President of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and for seventeen years was President of The New School for Social Research. Earlier in my career, I was affiliated with University of Chicago and Yale University, where I was Special Assistant to President Kingman Brewster. I have long been associated with charitable or development organizations and have chaired Human Rights Watch, Security Council Report, The Union Square Local Development Corporation, and The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in New York. At the moment, I am focused on Scholars At Risk and serve on the board of the Asian Cultural Council. I am also a member of the World Refugee Council. I am currently a Senior Fellow at Hunter College and the Centennial Fellow at the New School for Social Research, both in New York City. I look forward to being part of the Lowell community this year and encourage Lowell students to call on me if I can be helpful to them, either in Cambridge or New York. My email is jonathanfanton@gmail.com.