Penn Nursing’s Julie A. Fairman, PhD, Elected to American Philosophical Society

Fairman is one of 37 other distinguished individuals recognized for their outstanding achievements in the sciences, humanities, social sciences, and technology, as well as leadership in industry, higher education, and nonprofit administration. The current elected membership of the APS consists of 817 resident members and 159 international members. Only 5,854 members have been elected since 1743. “I am incredibly honored to be elected to this esteemed society and feel humbled to join the membership of internationally recognized scientists, scholars, and leaders,” she added.

Fairman joins a distinguished lineage of APS members, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, and Sandra Day O’Connor. The APS was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin to bring together creative thinkers in the sciences and other fields of study (then referred to as “natural philosophy”), for the broad purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” The APS continues to be a forum for the free exchange of ideas, exemplified by its twice-annual Members’ Meetings, the longest-running scholarly press in North America, a grants and fellowships program that brings scholars to the Society to perform research at its library and museum and sends them into field sites and archives across the globe, and a museum that welcomes upwards of 100,000 visitors each year.