The British Academy, a prestigious organization of accomplished scholars in the social sciences and humanities, has elected TC’s Amy Stuart Wells as a corresponding fellow.
Wells, Professor of Sociology and Education, was honored for her research and promotion of anti-racism education and for founding the Reimagining Education Summer Institute, an annual professional development conference in anti-racism education that attracts educators, policymakers and administrators from the United States and around the world.
“I am deeply honored to have been elected as a corresponding fellow of the British Academy and to have my scholarship, at the nexus of sociology and education, recognized in this way,” said Wells, who joined TC in 2001. “My induction into this storied institution is not only incredibly rewarding for me as a U.S. researcher, but it is also a tribute to the interdisciplinary field of education, which is too often wrongly perceived as not as rigorous as other areas of the social sciences.”
At the helm of Reimagining Education, of which Wells is the founding director, the organization has grown from 130 participants in its inaugural year to a high of 1,200 in 2021. The Institute also provides training and development education in culturally responsive teaching and learning throughout the academic year, by tapping the collective expertise of TC faculty on issues concerning race and education.
With her induction on Oct. 10, Wells joined an elite group of scholars who have been recognized for exceptional work in the humanities and social sciences. Established by royal charter in 1906, the British Academy supports research, engages in public debate and advocates for policies “for the benefit of everyone,” according to its website.
Each year, the British Academy elects up to 52 outstanding scholars from the U.K. as fellows; up to 20 “corresponding fellows” who live outside of the U.K.; and up to four “honorary fellows” from other fields or outside academia who have an impact on the humanities or social sciences.
Only one other American scholar of education — Gloria Ladson-Billings, past president of both the National Academy of Education and the American Educational Research Association — has been named as a corresponding fellow by the academy.
The Academy’s more than 1,700 fellows include the British historian Sir Kenneth Clark, the American philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky, and the French philosopher Claude Levi-Strauss. There are 31 honorary fellows, including Winston Churchill.
This year marked the highest proportion of women elected in the U.K. (56 percent), while outside the U.K., 55 percent of scholars chosen are women.