ACLS News

James O’Donnell Appointed Chair of ACLS Board of Directors

The ACLS Board of Directors has appointed James O’Donnell, University Professor at Georgetown University, to serve as its chair. O’Donnell will fill the term of Earl Lewis, who leaves the post to lead the Mellon Foundation. O'Donnell's term as chair begins January 1, 2013.

“Jim O’Donnell takes up the chairmanship after years of dedicated service to ACLS and its mission of advancing the humanities,” said Pauline Yu, president of ACLS. “Jim is a scholar of tremendous accomplishment whose work has influenced fields from classics and religious studies to digital humanities and cyberculture. He has also distinguished himself as a dynamic academic administrator and as a leader of a learned society. In each of these roles he has emphasized the vital importance of humanities research to the future of higher education. I join the officers and members of the ACLS Board in congratulating Jim. We have all benefited from his counsel, and I have every confidence in his vision for the future of ACLS.”

O’Donnell served as provost of Georgetown from 2002 to 2012.  He has been a member of the ACLS Board of Directors since 2005, holding the post of secretary of the Board since 2008.

A list of past chairs of the ACLS Board of Directors and Council is available here.