Hastings Center News

Michele Moody-Adams Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Hastings Center board member Michele Moody-Adams was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is the Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory at Columbia University.

Moody-Adams has published widely on equity and social justice, moral psychology and the virtues, and the philosophical implications of gender and race. She is also the author of a widely cited book on moral relativism, Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture and Philosophy. Her current work includes articles on academic freedom, equal educational opportunity, and democratic disagreement. Her next book, coming out in late 2021, is entitled Making Space for Justice: Social Movements, Collective Imagination and Political Hope.  She is also working on a project entitled Renewing Democracy and a book on the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The Academy was established in 1780 by the country’s founders to honor accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The Academy states that “the 2021 election provides an opportunity to recognize extraordinary people who help solve the world’s most urgent challenges, create meaning through art, and contribute to the common good from every field, discipline, and profession.”

Hastings president, Mildred Solomon, praised Moody-Adams, noting that “Michele has been a trusted colleague, whose wise counsel has steered The Hastings Center’s board for many years.  We salute her accomplishments and congratulate her on this very well-deserved honor.”