University President John T. Casteen, III and three faculty members were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on Saturday.
The AAAS has honored excellence and service to the nation and the world since 1780, according to the organization's Web site, electing members who are "men and women of exceptional achievement, drawn from science, scholarship, business, public affairs, and the arts."
This year, in addition to Casteen, the AAAS inducted Law Prof. Kenneth Abraham, Psychology Prof. Judy DeLoache and Psychology Prof. Timothy Wilson.
"These elections - of Tim Wilson, Judy DeLoache and Kenneth Abraham - represent the highest form of recognition from the national scholarly community, and acknowledge lifelong achievement at the highest levels," Casteen stated in an e-mail. "Professors Wilson, DeLoache and Abraham are to be warmly congratulated. As to my own election, I am deeply honored to be in such good University company."
The professors expressed similar gratitude for their inductions.
"It's very gratifying," said Abraham, who has published five books and numerous articles about tort law and insurance law. Being elected to the AAAS is "recognition of accomplishments I've had in my professional career by peers," Abraham said. "It means a lot to be recognized that way."
DeLoache echoed Abraham's sentiments. "It's extremely gratifying," she said, "because it indicates that some number of very accomplished people have respect for my work."
DeLoache's research has focused on early childhood development, particularly how children first start to learn about symbols, she said. DeLoache also published the first research about scale errors, "which refers to when a toddler will try to interact with a miniature object in the same way they would with a bigger version of it," she said. More recently, DeLoache has been focusing on infants' interest in animals. In addition to publishing her research in journals, DeLoache has written chapters in others' books and co-authored a textbook on developmental psychology.
Her colleague Wilson said part of the pleasure in becoming an AAAS member was being elected along with DeLoache and the other honorees. "It was a joy to be part of their class, so to speak," he said.
Being elected was "very flattering," Wilson said. "It was unexpected news." He has been at the University for 30 years and has researched various subjects in that time, he said, "but I guess the underlying theme has been self knowledge and its limits." In 2002, Wilson published a book on the topic, "Strangers to Ourselves."
Neither Wilson nor DeLoache could attend the induction ceremony Saturday, they said. "I was so upset," DeLoache said, but then she learned that inductees can attend future ceremonies. Both she and Wilson plan to attend next year, they said.
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