The LSA is pleased to announce that sociolinguist and former president of the LSA, Walt Wolfram, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).

The AAAS is an organization that recognizes and celebrates researchers and the advancement of their research. Aside from honoring prominent researchers, the AAAS makes it a mission to bring leaders together in order to solve important issues. Only 250 new AAAS members are elected yearly out of over 1,300 nominations. Elected members are those leaders that come together through the AAAS with the aim of directing their own research and the research of their respective fields toward the public good.

Walt Wolfram is Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University. His work is centered on social and ethnic dialects of English, and his pioneering work on these dialects began in the 1960s. He has connected his work to the public through museum exhibits, television documentaries and materials created to promote and celebrate linguistic diversity.

Congratulations from the LSA to Walt Wolfram!