Jonathan F. Fanton is president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which provides non-partisan policy recommendations through studies, programs, and publications that bring together research from the business, academic, and government sectors. Dr. Fanton is also the board chair of Scholars at Risk, an organization that protects the human rights of threatened scholars throughout the world, and he serves as Treasurer for the Asian Cultural Council. He began his career at Yale University where he taught American history, served as special assistant to University President Kingman Brewster, and was associate provost. From 1978 to 1982, Dr. Fanton was vice president for planning at the University of Chicago, where he also taught American history. From 1982 to 1999, he served as president of the New School for Social Research, where he led the integration and enhancement of the seven divisions of the university, expansion of the Greenwich Village campus, and several development campaigns. Later on he served as Chairman of the Board for Human Rights Watch and was President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Dr. Fanton received a Ph.D. in American history from Yale University.