[1] From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@utoronto.ca> (93)
Subject: Stan Katz resigns
Dear Colleagues:
I pass the following press release along because it concerns a man who has
been and, I hope, will continue to be important to humanities computing in
the U.S. and elsewhere. Those of you who attended the Santa Barbara
conference of the ACH/ALLC will recall Stan Katz's keynote address, in which
he identified computing as a top priority of the academy for the next
decade. It was with Stan's keen encouragement at the conference that I
applied to the ACLS to designate Humanist as an adjunct publication.
On behalf of Humanist, best wishes and deepest gratitude to Stan Katz for a
job well done.
Willard McCarty
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
American Council of Learned Societies
228 East 45th Strict, New York, NY
10017-3398
PRESS RELEASE
For Release: May 13, 1996
Contact: Douglas C. Bennett, Vice President 212-697-1505, ext. 124
Barbara Henning, Executive Assistant to the President 212-697-1505, ext.
123
STANLEY N. KATZ TO STEP DOWN AS PRESIDENT OF
THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES
NEW YORK, New York. Stanley N. Katz has indicated his intention to step
down as President of the American Council of Learned Societies
sometime in the latter half of 1997, dependent upon when a successor is
named.
"It is with the deepest regret and no little sadness," said Francis Oakley,
Chair of the ACLS Board and President Emeritus of Williams College,
"that I accept Stan Katz's decision to step down from the presidency of
ACLS next year after what will have been eleven years of notable
accomplishment in that position. These years have been very good ones
for ACLS, not least of all because of Stan's dedication, imagination,
entrepreneurial energy, thoughtfulness and forthrightness as an
advocate for the humanities. He himself has every reason to be proud of
his achievement, and we, who have been the beneficiaries of his efforts,
have every reason to be grateful to him."
Katz became President of ACLS in July, 1986. He has been a vigorous
advocate for humanistic scholarship throughout his tenure. During his
decade of leadership ACLS significantly expanded its range of program
activities on behalf of scholars and scholarly societies. Katz added a
concern with education at all levels to the traditional ACLS concerns with
scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. In 1991 the Council
initiated a project working directly with K-12 teachers in the U.S. and
Canada on curriculum and professional development. A succession of
projects on comparative constitutionalism was a second major
undertaking. Under his direction, ACLS also began work on a major new
reference work, the American National Biography, which will be
published in both paper and electronic forms beginning in 1999.
As President, Katz also emphasized the role of ACLS as an international
representative of U. S. scholarship. He promoted programs of
international scholarly exchange and international studies research. He
oversaw the affiliation of the Council for International Exchange of
Scholars with ACLS and was deeply involved in defending and
developing the Fulbright Program.
Katz early identified the potential for digital, networked technology to
restructure both scholarly communication and publishing. He drew ACLS
into closer partnership with scholarly libraries and publishers to develop
this new technology and explore its potential benefits. ACLS has recently
joined with over two dozen other organizations to form the National
Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH).
He refounded the ACLS publications program. The Council now publishes
a newsletter, a series of Occasional Papers, and reports on scholarly
issues. During his tenure he edited, with colleagues, two books which
developed out of ACLS activities: Constitutionalism and Democracy, and
A Life of Learning.
Under Katz's leadership the number of learned societies affiliated with
the Council increased from 45 to 58, and the value of the ACLS
endowment increased from $15.8 million to $37.2 million.
Katz will return to full-time teaching and research at the Woodrow
Wilson School at Princeton University. During his presidency he has
continued to teach one course each semester at Princeton. He also plans
to continue his research on the role of philanthropy and non-
governmental organizations in public policy. "My calling has always been
that of a teacher. I have enjoyed the challenge of administering ACLS
enormously, but I feel an obligation to return to my first love, the
classroom," said Katz.
Katz is a native of Chicago. He holds a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from
Harvard University. He taught at Harvard, the University of Wisconsin
and the University of Chicago before joining the faculty of Princeton
University as the Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor of the History of
American Law and Liberty, and, concurrently, Visiting Professor of Law at
the University of Pennsylvania.
The American Council of Learned Societies is the pre-eminent private
humanities organization in the United States. A non-profit organization
founded in 1919, it is a federation of 58 national learned societies in the
humanities and social sciences. The purpose of the Council, as set forth
in its constitution, is "the advancement of humanistic studies in all fields
of learning in the humanities and social sciences and the maintenance
and strengthening of relations among national societies devoted to such
studies."
A search committee for Katz' s successor is currently being formed and
will begin its work in the Fall.
Willard McCarty, Univ. of Toronto || Willard.McCarty@utoronto.ca
http://www.epas.utoronto.ca:8080/~mccarty/wlm/