In the short month that has passed since John D'Arms' death, we have become more aware of how much he strengthened ACLS and how much we will miss his leadership for the Humanities. The ACLS Board of Directors convened for a previously scheduled meeting and began the difficult process of identifying his successor and settling arrangements for what may be an extended interim before a permanent successor can be identified. I am pleased to report that we now have in place both an interim president and a search committee charged with nominating to the Board a new president.

The Search Committee I have appointed will be co-chaired by Sandra T. Barnes, a member of the ACLS Board and Professor of Anthropology of the University of Pennsylvania, and by Neil L. Rudenstine, President Emeritus of Harvard University. Also serving from the Board of Directors will be Marshall Cohen, University of Southern California, and Nancy Dye, President of Oberlin College. Representing the constituent societies will be Anne Betteridge, University of Arizona and Executive Director of the Middle East Studies Association and Theodore Ziolkowski of Princeton University, the Delegate of the American Philosophical Society. I will serve ex officio on the Committee. The Committee will hold its first meeting in the next few weeks and shortly afterward publish an announcement seeking applications and nominations. If in the meantime you wish to nominate individuals or to apply for consideration, please write to:

Presidential Search Committee, ACLS, 228 East 45th St., NY, NY 10017.

I am especially delighted to announce that Francis Oakley, former Chair of the ACLS Board, and President Emeritus of Williams College has agreed to serve as Interim President of ACLS until a permanent successor takes office. It is a stroke of great good fortune for ACLS that Frank Oakley has consented to take on the interim presidency of ACLS at this time of painful transition. I hope you share my gratitude to him and my belief that the cause of the humanities will be greatly furthered by his presence at the helm.

-Patricia Meyer Spacks, Chair of the ACLS Board of Directors

Citation: Patricia Meyer Spacks, " Letters from the American Council of Learned Societies," SBL Forum , n.p. [cited March 2005]. Online:http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleID=71