Dave Frohnmayer, University of Oregon president emeritus and law professor, has been named to the board of directors for the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Frohnmayer joins one of the nation's oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, focused on contributing to academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, education, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions and the humanities.

"I am honored to share the responsibility to be a steward of the great legacy of this distinguished academy, and its heritage of cherishing knowledge," Frohnmayer said. "I continue to be impressed by the distinction of the academy's membership and significant projects that it undertakes for the common good."

The academy's membership of 4,600 fellows and 600 foreign honorary members includes many of the most accomplished scholars and practitioners worldwide.

Frohnmayer's appointment will be made official during a ceremony on Oct. 12 at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. He joins UO archaeologist Jon Erlandson, who was named to the AAAS 2013 class earlier this year.

"This is a testament to Dave's remarkable stature within the academy," said Michael Moffitt, dean of the law school. "We are proud to count him as one of ours."

Frohnmayer was appointed university president on July 1, 1994; he retired from the post on June 30, 2009. He formerly served as the law school dean from 1992 until he was named university president, as Oregon's attorney general, as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, and as a law professor and legal counsel to the president of the UO.

Since its founding in 1780, the academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

- from the UO School of Law